Jane Francis on Antarctica

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2015

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Just twenty years ago, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) would not allow women to camp in Antarctica. In 2013, it appointed Jane Francis as its Director. Jane tells Jim Al-Khalili how an intimate understanding of petrified wood and fossilised leaves took her from Dorset's Jurassic coast to this icy land mass. Camping on Antarctic ice is not for everyone but Jane is addicted, even if she does crave celery and occasionally wish that she could wash her hair. Fossils buried under the ice contain vital clues about ancient climates and can be used to check current computer models of climate change. The earth can withstand a great range of temperatures: Antarctica was once covered in lush forest. But the question is: can humans adapt? As the ice caps melt, sea levels will continue to rise. And, says Jane, the time to start planning for that is now.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Once you've wrapped up this podcast, how about trying a very British cult?
0:06.0	What happens if the person you trust with your future isn't what you think they are?
0:10.0	I did feel the whole time he was watching me Yeti. I saw a footprint and that really gave me gusmas.
0:16.4	Or people who knew me. Emme, I remember every secret, every lie. I'm the only one who knows the truth.
0:23.0	Discover more of our biggest podcast from 2003.
0:27.0	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:29.0	Hello and welcome to the podcast of the Life Scientific.
0:33.4	First broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
0:36.2	I'm Jumal Kiele and my mission is to interview the most fascinating and
0:40.4	important scientists alive today and to find out what makes them tick.
0:45.0	Being stranded in a tent on Antarctic ice isn't my idea of a fun camping trip,
0:52.0	but for Professor Jane Francis, it's not being able to go to Antarctica
0:56.3	that's stressful. She's director of the British Antarctic Survey, also known as Bass, which supports
1:02.4	all the British science that's done on this vast icy
1:05.3	lamass that's bigger than Europe, as well as maintaining Britain's presence there.
1:10.9	But her career began in gentler climbs, studying fossils on Dorset's Jurassic Coast.
1:16.0	Her intimate knowledge of petrified trees has taken her all over the world.
1:20.0	By studying plant fossils in microscopic detail, she's been able to build up a picture of ancient ecosystems,
1:27.0	and so draw conclusions about what our climate was like hundreds of millions of years ago,
1:32.0	which of course is all valuable
1:34.0	information for understanding global climate change today. In 2002, Jane was
1:39.2	awarded the Polar Medal for her outstanding contributions to British Antarctic science and
	...

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