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Outside/In

On the edge of the ice

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is massive, bigger than the state of Florida. If it collapses, it could reshape every coast on this planet during this century. That’s why it’s sometimes known as “the Doomsday Glacier.” And yet, until recently, we knew very little about it. Because Thwaites is extremely remote, reachable only by crossing the wildest ocean on the planet, scientists had never observed its calving edge firsthand.  In 2019, a ground-breaking international mission set out to change that, and writer Elizabeth Rush was on board to document the voyage.  We caught up with her to learn about life on an Antarctic icebreaker, how she grappled with classic Antarctic narratives about exploration (and domination), and how she summons hope even after coming face-to-face with Thwaites.      This episode was first published in early 2024. Featuring Elizabeth Rush.   SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.  Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.   LINKS If you’re interested in reading more about the journey to Thwaites, check out Elizabeth’s book, “The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth”. A paper published in Nature with some of the findings from Elizabeth's voyage, showing that Thwaites has historically retreated two to three times faster than we’ve ever observed. Here’s the one detailing findings about Thwaites’ past extent, extrapolated from their study of ancient penguin bones, and another sharing observations about water currents beneath its ice shelf. The Trump administration has pulled funding for the US’s only Antarctic icebreaker dedicated to scientific research. Read about the fate of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer in Scientific American.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

At Radio Lab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science, neuroscience, chemistry.

0:06.9

But, but we do also like to get into other kinds of stories.

0:10.2

Stories about policing or politics.

0:12.9

Country music.

0:13.9

Hockey.

0:14.5

Sex.

0:15.5

Of bugs.

0:16.7

Regardless of whether we're looking at science or not science, we bring a rigorous curiosity

0:21.5

to get you the answers.

0:23.3

And hopefully make you see the world anew.

0:24.9

Radio Lab, Adventures on the Edge of what we think we know.

0:28.7

Wherever you get your podcast.

0:30.4

It was February 2019, and Elizabeth Rush couldn't sleep.

0:35.2

It was really early in the morning, and I felt like a kid on Christmas who just kept waking

0:41.7

up and is like, is it Christmas yet?

0:44.0

No, it wasn't Christmas.

0:45.8

Elizabeth was aboard a special ship called an icebreaker at the western edge of Antarctica.

0:51.4

Sometime between four or five in the morning, I woke up.

0:55.9

You know, there's not really night in Antarctica. Sometime between four or five in the morning, I woke up. You know, there's not really night in Antarctica at this time of year, but it's a little

1:00.2

bit darker at this time of day.

1:03.8

After a month at sea, she was about to witness something nobody had ever seen up close.

1:10.8

The leading edge of an absolutely enormous wall of ice.

...

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