The South Pole, one of the most desolate places on Earth.

The temperature dips to 117 degrees below zero.

55 mile an hour winds whip the dry powdery snow into a frenzy,

and the brutal conditions are intensified by six months of complete darkness.

This is winter at the South Pole. There's no sun, the cold temperatures plummet, and any

exposed flesh can suffer frostbite within just a few minutes. Nothing. I mean, nothing can survive for long under these harsh conditions.

It's so cold that when I go outside, I have to wear long underwear and then at least two or three

sweaters, and then usually a fleece jacket.

And then over top of all of this, I wear one of these Canada goose down-filled jackets that we call a big

red. And then a very good...

Don't believe me? Just ask Mac von Rossum. He lives at the South Pole. Inside the Amosin-Scott

South Pole Station, you gain about two or three inches on your height when you wear them.

And then on my hands, I wear liner gloves and underneath my mittens.

And I usually have to wear some sort of handworm or something underneath.

And then on my head, I have three balaclavas on where I have like a synthetic material

and then a fleece balaclava over top of that.

And then on top of both of those, I have this very colorful rural balaclava that I got in Ecuador.

I'm Kim Commando, host of the nation's largest radio show about everything digital.

And today, I'm talking about the coolest place on Earth, literally the South Pole.

We'll find out how a select few elite scientists live

in one of the most extreme environments in the world and try to answer one of the most important

questions. Why?

...