Polar Police

'We don't have Polar Police because it is all consent based... rights and responsibilities go together'

- Dr Julia Jabour's 'Introduction to International Law'

It's the end of week one already and things have gone by in an absolute blur. Naming every new and exciting thing I have learnt or has happened would be like counting snowflakes in a blizzard, but here are a few of the crystals I have managed to keep.

Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, Antarctica is a continent devoted to Science and Peace. Science is the one that tends to get the most press because it is 'the currency of diplomacy', right at the heart of the cooperation between treaty signatories. It's quite remarkable that although the treaty was adopted in 1959 and came into force in 1961, both Russia and the USA were original signatories and continued to turn up to meetings throughout the cold war. This links to the peace aspect of the agreement. Although the USA used to have a nuclear power plant at McMurdo, the testing of nuclear weapons, nuclear explosions and the disposal of nuclear waste are all forbidden. We don't have 'polar police' because the treaty system is all consent based and 'rights and responsibilities go together'. Still, I can't get the image if a penguin in a blue cap flashing a badge and demanding entry into a base out of my head...

Other than that, Nationals of each country are subject to the jurisdiction of their homeland, meaning that different laws apply to different people.The rest of the base can happily stand to take a leak at any time of day, but the poor Swiss need to keep an eye on their watches and ensure their buttocks and the toilet seat make contact as soon as it strikes 2200 hours. Or else. It's never really ok to go around murdering people left right and centre a la horror classics, but it does raise an interesting question: what if you have more than one passport? Which set of laws apply?

Prince Albert of Monaco didn't seem too worried about falling foul of the law when he visited Scott Base. He was too busy enjoying the prawns that were served. If the menu were designed to stimulate conversation, it would have provided a nice segway to krill, the most successful and abundant creatures ever to inhabit the bottom rung of the Antarctic food chain. Their high fluorine content makes them somewhat unsuitable for human consumption, as the Russians found out after some culinary experimentation, but they do have super powers. Really. Krill are super neat because they can SHRINK. If there is not enough food they can feed off their own protein and get smaller, only to grow again when they have enough to eat. The 'cup of tea' principle espoused in Alice in Wonderland is alive and well under the ice shelves of the Southern Ocean after all.

There are some other pretty neat critters down South as well, not least the carnivorous duck. That's right, the yellow billed pintail duck of South Georgia has something of a taste for flesh and it doesn't just stop at shrimps either. These bloodthirsty birds have been known to feast on seal carcasses, a fact their benign appearance seems to bely. At least they will not have any problems with vitamin C, raw seal meat is known to be an excellent way to ward off scurvy, so perhaps they are onto something after all...

To finish off the week, a beer is probably in order. After hearing all about the fly infestation at Scott Base, I was keen to steer well clear of Guinness though... No one could figure out where the flies were coming from until a gruesome discovery was made in the storeroom. No, not a rouge member of the penguin police gone on a rampage! Instead, a few cans of Guinness had burst and soaked through their cardboard wrapper. The maggots were having a field day, as apparently the sweet and mushy habitat of rotting alcoholic cardboard is the best kind of Kindergarten. Who would have thought it?