Selected presS Coverage
This mollusk possesses an anti-freezing shell
Science et Vie, April. 2022 (in French)
Under the Antarctic sea ice, the landscape is magical. Sediments, stones, sponges and all mineral structures dead or alive are bristling with needles of glittering ice crystals. Only one seems to escape this fate: the Antarctic scallop (Adamussium colbecki)…
Ice-free in icy words: Special shell protects Antarctic scallop from ice build-up
Max Planck Institute, Mar. 2022
Airplane wings that don't ice up or solar cells that generate electricity even in winter - ice-free surfaces are important for many applications. A team of scientists has now studied an Antarctic scallop species that opposes the icing process with the help of its shell surface.
Scientists at work: New recordings of ultrasonic seal calls hint at sonar-like abilities
I’m sitting on the edge of a hole drilled through 15 feet of Antarctic sea ice, about to descend into the frigid ocean of the southernmost dive site in the world…
Antarctic seals Vocalize in Ultrasonic-but Not for the Usual Reason
Scientific American, Jan. 2021
Nearly one fifth of the underwater vocalizations produced by Antarctica’s Weddell seals occur at pitches above the limits of human hearing, according to a recent study…
Weddell Seals Sing Songs Humans Can’t Hear
A new research paper published in the December edition of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America shows that Weddell seals vocalize underwater at frequencies too high for humans to hear…
UO team finds Weddell seals make unheard-of sounds
University of Oregon news, Jan. 2021
Two years of recordings…have led to a startling discovery. The seals, the world’s southernmost-ranging mammal, regularly produce chirps, whistles and trills at frequencies that are inaudible to humans...
Curious: To the End of the Earth for Science (Audio interview)
Jefferson Public Radio, Jan. 2021
In this month's edition of Curious: Research Meets Radio, Dr. Cziko talks about his work with the McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory, what he hopes to detect with the instruments, and what it feels like to dive in water cold enough to freeze.
(VIDEO) Why Fish Don’t Freeze In Antarctica | Antarctic Extremes
…The water is so cold that fish inhabiting it should freeze like an icicle, a phenomenon that evolutionary biologist Paul Cziko uses supercooled water, snow, and fish guts to demonstrate…
(VIDEO) U of O gives a glimpse under Antarctica
KGW-8, Portland Oregon, June 2019
Scientists at the University of Oregon are giving the public a rare glimpse at what’s happening below the ice in Antarctica, some 9,000 miles away. It’s an area relatively few people have ever seen. But now, we can see it in real time thanks fo the University of Oregon assistant professor Paul Cziko…
(VIDEO) Opening a Window on Life Under Antarctica
University of Oregon Media Relations, April 2018
With a National Science Foundation grant, University of Oregon biologist Paul Cziko installs a video camera, microphone and ocean sensors 70 feet under the Antarctic sea ice...
(VIDEO) Antifreeze Proteins Keep Antarctic Fish Alive and Icy
The New York Times - ScienceTake and Video, Sept. 2014
...What is surprising is that the proteins latch on to ice crystals in the body of the fish and prevent them from growing also prevent the ice from melting. Paul A. Cziko and other researchers in the United States and New Zealand reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday...
The Tough as Hell Antarctic Fish with Antifreeze for Blood
Wired Magazine - Absurd Creature of the Week, Feb. 2015 PDF
...Studying these critters is evolutionary biologist Paul Cziko of the University of Oregon, who happily drills through Antarctic sea ice and jumps into the water. Cziko is tougher that you. So much tougher than you. "It's not that brave," he says, "in part because the water is amazingly clear." So, at least there's that...
Antarctic Icefish Survive in Sub-Zero Waters Thanks to 'Anti-Melt' Proteins
Financial Times (UK), Oct. 2014 PDF
More surprisingly, the ice crystals can be superheated , remaining solid above the temperature at which they would normally melt...
Antifreeze Proteins in Antarctic Fish Prevent Both Freezing and Melting
National Science Foundation, Sept. 2014. PDF
"This long-standing and continuously refined work on the antifreeze properties of Antarctic fish exemplifies one of the best and defining features of good science," said Charles Amsler, organisms and ecosystems program director in Polar Programs.
(AUDIO) Frostschutzmittel im Fisch (Antifreeze in Fish)
Deutschlandfunk (German National Public Radio), Sept. 2014. PDF MP3
"...Das ist in der Evolution häufig so: Jede gute Anpassung hat auch ihren Preis. Man löst ein Problme und schafft gleichzeitig ein neues, für das man eine Lösung braucht. Es ist immer ein Kompromiss." ("...Every good adaptation has its price, when you solve one problem you create another for which you need a solution. [Evolution] is always a compromise.")
Growing Cold: Scientists Study Adaptations of Antarctic Fish to Freezing Waters
The Antarctic Sun, July 2013. PDF
The aquarium tanks in McMurdo Station’s research laboratory, the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center , contained a species of Antarctic fish during the 2012-13 austral summer that has been a rare sight in recent years — Dissostichus mawsoni...
Graduate Student Spotlight - Paul Cziko, Antarctic Research
U. of OR Biology Department annual newsletter, Oct. 2008. PDF
"...The pace of research here at Palmer Station (Antarctica) has been steady and strong over the past six weeks, and my hours in the lab drag on long after the 4 o'clock sunsets..."
Exploration of Frigid Water Yields One Cool Discovery
The News-Gazette, Jan. 2007. PDF
The day they added a new entry to the list of fish species on the planet, Paul Cziko and Kevin Hoefling were on a routine dive for the University of Illinois lab of animal biology professors Art DeVries and Chris Cheng...
McMurdo Fish May Prove to be New Species
The Antarctic Sun, Jan. 2006. PDF
You can count the variety of visible animals at McMurdo Station on one hand, so the idea that a new species would wander up to station might initially seem absurd...
Protection Against Freezing
The New York Times, June 2006. PDF
...a new study of Antarctic fish reveals a different origin for their antifreeze proteins. None of them are synthesized in the liver. Most originate in the pancreas and protect the digestive fluids...
Cold, Hard Fact: Fish Antifreeze Produced in Pancreas
Live Science, June 2006. PDF
...In a new study, published in the June 19 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists have revealed the source of the fishes' key to survival...
Tough Skin Helps Baby Antarctic Fish
Chicago Sun Times, Feb. 2006. PDF
...At the McMurdo Sound research station by the Southern Ocean, a five-hour flight from New Zealand, undergrad Paul Cziko raised hundreds of hatchlings from three notothenioid species...
Thin Skin, Slow-Growing Gills Protect Larval Stage of Antarctic Fish
UIUC News, Feb. 2006. PDF
Very thin but hardy, unblemished skin and slow developing gills appear to be keys to survival for newly hatched Antarctic notothenioids, a group of fish whose adults thrive in icy waters because of antifreeze proteins (AFPs) in their blood...
Mystery Fish Discovered Near McMurdo Station
The Antarctic Sun, Dec. 2004. PDF
Paul Cziko and Kevin Hoefling were diving in about 15m of water, at the intake jetty at McMurdo Station last month when they spotted an unusual fish perched on a rock...