Freeze Frame: Sights, Sounds And Science From The Bottom Of The World NPR science producer Jason Orfanon guest blogs as he journeys to the Antarctic Peninsula. Keep up with him on Twitter: "@jorfanon." And view the whole series page.

By Jason Orfanon

At the center of the main square in Punta Arenas, Chile, is a towering bronze statue of Ferdinand Magellan, the legendary explorer who visited Patagonia in the early 1500s. Below him, also in bronze, is an indigenous Patagonian, whose low-hanging foot has been rubbed to a shine by travelers headed out to sea.

Local legend says that a kiss to the statue's foot will bring you good luck and calm seas as you pass through the Drake Passage's notoriously rough waters. According to some, if one passenger skips the smooch, everyone onboard will suffer the barftastic wrath of the Drake.

I didn't want to be that guy. So, with just a few hours before our ship was scheduled to depart, I ran to town to get a kiss in before it was too late.

There, I met a group of geoscientists from our ship, half from the University of Washington, headed by paleontologist Peter Ward, and another from CalTech, headed by paleomagnetist Joe Kirschvink.

They're studying the islands in the Weddell Sea, just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Some are looking at invertebrate fossils in the rocks to determine what the temperature was 65 million years ago. Others are analyzing the magnetic signature of the rocks to determine their age.

Together, this information will help paint a picture of what was going on in this part of the world around the same time that dinosaurs disappeared. It may also shed light on earlier mass extinctions in this area and could even provide insight into the role that climate change played in them.

With kisses firmly planted, we loaded onto the ship and finally set out to sea. Calm waters and beautiful weather awaited us all the way to the mouth of the Straits of Magellan, and a few dolphins even paid us a visit along the way. But the Drake still lies ahead, and we'll just have to wait and see if those kisses will really do us any good.

Coming up next: The Laurence M. Gould enters the roller-coaster waters of the Drake Passage, one of the roughest patches of ocean in the world.

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The Tibetan struggle for sovereignty is a story often sung. It's hard not to sympathize with a cause headed by the lovable Dalai Lama. But there is a story in December's National Geographic magazine about a contemporaneous struggle for survival in China: that of the Uighur people, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group in Central Asia. Photographs by Carolyn Drake bring this previously marginalized story into the fold.

The history of the Uighur people, who now live mostly in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, is incredibly vast and rich. A sort of buffer between Europe and China, the Xinjiang region has historically been a hub for trade and travel, but it has also benefited from its remote and sometimes inhospitable location: It has, until recently, retained a cultural identity. In recent years, though, the Chinese government has come to recognize the valuable resources indigenous to Xinjiang, which contains 40 percent of China's coal reserves -- more than a fifth of its natural gas, as well as gold and mineral deposits.

It's been a hot zone for development -- and thus a region of escalating violence and unrest. As the Uighur struggle to preserve their culture, they are also, in some cases, forced to modernize. Learn more about the Uighur people and their situation by reading the full article and viewing more photos on ngm.com.

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Freeze Frame: Sights, Sounds And Science From The Bottom Of The World NPR science producer Jason Orfanon guest blogs as he journeys to the Antarctic Peninsula. Keep up with him on Twitter: "@jorfanon." And view the whole series page.

By Jason Orfanon

One of the first questions people ask me when I tell them I'm going to Antarctica is, "What kind of cold weather gear are you bringing?" The answer, which usually comes as a shock to gear junkies like me, is: Nothing at all.

It's true. But that doesn't mean I'm going gearless. Quite the opposite, actually.

The National Science Foundation, with the help of its logistical coordinators Raytheon and Agunsa, maintains a warehouse in Punta Arenas chock-full of all the clothes a person needs to stay warm in Antarctica.

They lend you everything from your outermost layer, usually a standard-issue red Extreme Cold Weather parka that can stave off the coldest of the cold, down to your base layer of long underwear, socks, and wool glove liners. They even supply Sorel Sno-pak boots, thick rubber-soled snow steppers lined with a dense layer of insulation that make tromping in the ice and snow a breeze. In all, I received some 40 pieces of clothing, mostly used, but in great condition.

I spotted my first penguin while waiting for my connection in Santiago, Chile.

It's summer now in Antarctica, which means that temperatures at Palmer Station hover just above freezing most days. Not too bad for the world's coldest continent, but definitely chilly enough to make this Alabama native shiver in his Sorels.

So, I'll definitely take that parka, and put it to good use. And its not just because it has a cool patch that reads "United States Antarctic Program." They also come in handy if you ever want to send a message to the folks back home.

Coming up next: the life aquatic. I set sail on the NSF research vessel Laurence M. Gould, headed south for Antarctica.

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By Claire O'Neill

It's not often that a photographer can literally stand inside of his camera. But Shaun Irving, who has transformed a truck into a giant, mobile camera obscura, does it all the time. And he says it's the largest, mobile camera in the world.

Shaun Irving's Cameratruck

Like many a great idea, the Cameratruck was conceived over beers -- in Irving's college dorm room. Three years later, he bought a truck on eBay and put the idea to the test.

It's a simple construction: There's a small hole with a lens on one side of the truck's lightproof interior. This lens projects an upside-down and backward image on the opposite wall. On that wall, Irving hangs 4-by-8-foot sheets of photo paper, which, when exposed to 5-30 second exposures, serve as giant negatives. He then takes his jumbo negatives to a darkroom, or just a room that's dark, and processes them. The whole process, he says, takes anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.

Irving's Cameratruck is a simple device, with a hole and lens on one side, which projects the image on the opposite wall.

The pinhole and camera obscura date back centuries. But the idea of a mobile camera in which the photographer can be the mechanics -- that's novel. Irving received funding to photograph on a tour of Spain, and some of the photographs are below.

Irving takes time away from his one-man ad agency to photograph with his Cameratruck on the weekends. He's also finally devised a way to generate revenue for what was once a money pit by selling some of his enormous prints. Learn more about Irving's projects on his Web site.

Irving's Cameratruck prints are displayed in a gallery.

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A few months ago, we featured photographs from Harold Feinstein's new book, One Hundred Butterflies. Curious about how these photographs were made, we submitted a brief Q&A to the photographer. His response to the most basic question about his choice of camera is fascinating.

Brazilian morpho, Morpho aega, South America (Harold Feinstein)

What kind of camera did you use for these photographs?

I used an my Epson 10000 scanner as a camera... and set up a black background.

Where did you find these butterflies?

They were provided by Fred Gagnon of the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens in South Deerfield, Mass. It is an 8,000-square-foot conservatory housing 4,000 species of butterflies. He loaned me the specimens, all of which had died naturally and were preserved.

Is there a particular photograph or photographer that has been on your mind lately?

When I was younger, it would have been Henri Cartier Bresson or Brassai. As I've aged, I've been very attracted to Selgado's work. But the truth is that now, at the age of 78, my focus is on Harold Feinstein. I love the work I do. Ask me again when I'm 99. (I was going to say 100, but I was afraid of being too redundant).

At the moment, my favorite photograph of mine is My Mother's Curtains. Most of my work has been black-and-white 35mm photography up until about 10 years ago. But I've always loved color also and had earlier series of 35mm color of flowers and seashells. But the digital world has further opened up the world of color to me. There's much more on the way! Wait until I grow up!

Freeze Frame: Sights, Sounds And Science From The Bottom Of The World For the next five weeks, we will feature dispatches from NPR science producer Jason Orfanon as he journeys to the Antarctic Peninsula, documenting life on the front lines of climate change research. You can also keep up with him Twitter: "@jorfanon."

By Jason Orfanon
Geographical coordinates: 53 degrees 9' 0" South, 70 degrees 55' 0" West

After three flights and more than 30 hours of traveling, I have arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile. This wind-swept town of some 150,000 people serves as a launching point for National Science Foundation (NSF) research vessels headed south to Antarctica.

The Laurence M. Gould, one of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic research and supply vessels, awaits its cargo of scientists, research assistants and crew at a dock in Punta Arenas, Chile. (Jason Orfanon/NPR)

Pictured above is one of them: the Laurence M. Gould, or LMG. This 230-foot, steel-hulled brute of ship will be my floating home for the next week. My final destination is Palmer Station, Antarctica, one of the most remote permanent research stations on Earth.

Screen grab of Google Maps

I'm here to accompany researchers studying issues related to climate change, ranging from ice and ocean currents, to microbes that feed on penguin poop, and even a possible ancient ecological disaster that could shed light on what's happening to our world today.

And the timing couldn't be better -- the Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than anywhere else on the Earth. How these changes, and others like, will influence our climate -- and ultimately the future of our planet -- is one of the most pressing questions of our day.

A map shows Punta Arenas, Chile. (Jason Orfanon/NPR)

Coming up next ... a gear-lover's dream: I get outfitted with everything I need to survive Antarctica's icy extremes.

The winners from National Geographic's International Photography Contest will be announced in early December, but viewers have been voting on their favorites for the past few weeks. Here's a selection of a "viewer's choice" photographs. You can see more, or even vote yourself, at the contest page.

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By Claire O'Neill

Tim Burton is probably the only person who could get away with using a monster's mouth as the entrance to an art exhibition. You know him for his films Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Of all film director-producers today, Burton probably has the most singular vision: one of whimsy, gothic gore and hallucinogenic fictions.

Tim Burton on the set of Corpse Bride (Derek Frey)

But Burton has been an artist his whole life. Well before Beetlejuice and Batman, he was escaping into illustrated fantasy worlds as a child in Burbank, Calif. To celebrate his career, New York's Museum of Modern Art has curated a major retrospective exhibition, opening Sunday.

The exhibition contains hundreds of creations from throughout Burton's career, including little-known short films, sketches of unrealized projects from his days at Disney and seven new pieces, created just for the show.

MOMA asked Burton to produce a trailer for the retrospective and, in collaboration with Mackinnon & Saunders, the animation and puppeteer firm that helped with Corpse Bride, he produced this little short. Learn about the making of it on MOMA's site.

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By Debbie Elliott

A well-recognized foot soldier in the Civil Rights movement died Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala. James Armstrong marched at the head of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. The Army veteran carried the American flag across Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge as state troopers beat back marchers in what became known as Bloody Sunday. The struggle galvanized national support for the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Witnesses said Armstrong dropped to his knees, but never dropped the flag during the clash.

James Armstrong on election day 2008. (David Gilkey / NPR)

Armstrong ran a Birmingham barbershop for more than 50 years, and was instrumental in civil rights activities there. He sued to integrate schools, and helped coordinate sit-ins and demonstrations.

"I was always involved, always going to jail, always in the newspaper." Armstrong told NPR's David Gilkey on election day 2008. (Watch the video above).

"If you want a voice, you want things to be better, you have to vote.....I don't come to work until I vote, makes no difference how long the line is. I vote first." He said he votes because older generations didn't have the chance. "I never heard my Daddy talk about voting. I never heard my Mama talk about voting," he said.

Year after year, Armstrong carried the flag during reenactments of the voting rights march in Selma.

Armstrong was 86. His family said he died of heart failure.

By Claire O'Neill

Has Google joined the ranks of Robert Frank and Helen Levitt? Can Google capture what Cartier-Bresson referred to as the "decisive moment"? Does Google have the cool, objective perspective that photojournalists strive to attain? Jon Rafman might argue so. By scouring the street view offered by Google Maps, he has culled dozens of image that Google can add to its art portfolio.

In 2007, Google dispatched a fleet of cars -- each one bearing a pole with nine cameras -- with the goal of documenting the streets of the world. The images taken by these cameras have been available on Google Maps for a while, but Rafman took it upon himself to find the views worth looking at.

"This very way of recording our world," he wrote in a recent article, "this tension between an automated camera and a human who seeks meaning, reflects our modern experience." Of course the Google camera is completely indifferent to what it sees -- which makes its fleeting images of burning houses or stolen kisses all the more intriguing.

Surprisingly, Rafman remarked, the Google car was met with delight as much as it was with dismay, which may be a testament to our time: we've become habituated to lost privacy and heightened surveillance -- sometimes we even welcome it. Here's NPR; what does your street view look like? Upload it to our Flickr group pool.

Google Street View of NPR

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