North Pole news stories on Newser

Queen's Cousin: I Cut Off My Toes on Arctic Trip

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:56:19 CST

A distant cousin of the queen of England visited Antiques Road Show recently and revealed a personal anecdote—that she had cut off her own toes on an Arctic expedition, the Daily Mail reports. Rosie Stancer, 52, said she was trying to be the first woman to trek to the...

Russia Poised to Make Mammoth Arctic Sea Grab

Rob Quinn — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:29:00 CDT

As melting ice continues to make more of the Arctic Sea accessible every year, Russia is planning to annex an area of the sea the size of Texas and Arizona combined. The Kremlin is expected to stake its claim to the waters at the United Nations, arguing that the Siberian...

Magnetic North Pole Moves, Closing Part of Tampa Airport

Kevin Spak — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 07:45:46 CST

Hey kids, did you know that the magnetic north pole is moving almost 40 miles a year toward Russia? Well, neither did we, but it is, and it’s screwing with, of all things, Florida air travel. Tampa International Airport has had to shut down its primary runway until Jan. 13...

Righty Bloggers Bully Bear-Maker Into Submission

Will McCahill — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 05:14:20 CST

The politics of climate change has claimed another victim: a video series on the web site of toy outfit Build-A-Bear, in which cartoon animal characters described how global warming threatened Santa and his people at the North Pole. After conservative bloggers called for a boycott, the company is taking the...

Post Office Drops North Pole Letter Program

Kevin Spak — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:18:57 CST

Furious North Pole residents are accusing the Postal Service of playing Grinch by ending its letters to Santa program—because it attracted a sex offender. Since 1954, the Postal Service has happily sent letters to Santa to North Pole, Alaska, where volunteers respond and mail them back with a North...

Acid Ocean Will Dissolve Sea Creatures' Shells

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:40:14 CDT

Waters around the North Pole are absorbing so much carbon dioxide that acid in the ocean will soon begin dissolving sea creatures' shells, scientists warn. By 2018 10% of the Arctic Ocean will be corrosive, spelling potential disaster for the food chain as crustaceans begin to die off, reports the...

US, Canada Team Up to Explore Uncharted Arctic

Rob Quinn — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:50:00 CDT

Canada and the US are letting their Arctic rivalry thaw long enough to launch an exploration mission, the Globe & Mail reports. A pair of icebreakers—one from each country—will set off next week into uncharted waters, working in tandem to clear a path and map North America's continental...

Polar Meltdown Threatened This Summer

Peter Fearon — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:24:53 CDT

The North Pole may become free of ice this summer for the first time in human history. Thick Arctic sea ice that normally covers the polar region has been replaced by ice that formed only in the last year and is susceptible to seasonal melting, reports the Independent. It's a...

'Doomsday' Seed Vault to Open

Caroline Zimmerman — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:57:03 CST

The North Pole is no Fertile Crescent, but it will house collections of the world's crop seeds in a doomsday vault that will open tomorrow, AFP reports. The vault, built on Norwegian territory, contains three cold chambers that can hold a total of 4.5 million seed samples—twice the...