A bunch of penguins just mapped the Patagonian Sea. (They had some help.)

In a novel experiment, the Wildlife Conservation Society and BirdLife International teamed up on a major project. Stretching from the coast of Brazil to the waters off Chile, the Patagonian Sea is one of the least understood marine ecosystems in the world. But there are those who do know its ins and outs: the marine animals who populate the region.

With that fact as their premise, researchers fitted out more than a dozen marine species (including penguins, sea lions, elephant seals and albatrosses) with GPS-tracked collars. They then followed the movements of these animals, collecting hundreds of thousands of data point.

The result is a 300-page atlas of the entire ecosystem, available from the organisations.

It just goes to show: if you want to get to know a place, spend some time hanging out with the locals.

(Image credit Holger Leue. You can purchase it here.)

As excuses for being late go heavy pack ice in the Weddell Sea sure beats a Spanish air traffic controllers strike.

This week brought news that the Kapitan Khlebnikov , one of the hardy icebreakers which carries passengers to and from Antarctica had, in the grand manner of polar exploration, got stuck. Inclement weather – on a continent which specialises in making life hard for visitors – caused sea ice to compact and locked in the 12,288 ton ship.

Once concerns for the safety of those on board had been allayed, it quickly became apparent that far from pining for a swift return to Ushuaia in Argentina and flights home, the 101 passengers on board were hugely enjoying their adventure.

Antarctic cruises tend to attract two types of travellers: those looking to follow in Shackleton, Amundsen and Scott’s footsteps, and those looking for penguins. On this trip cruisers found both. It’s a misconception that everyone on an Antarctic cruise sees Emperor Penguins, but this journey did on a visit to Snow Hill Island.

The ship’s roster included a BBC film crew as well as scientists, the Observer notes, who put the unexpected amounts of spare time to good use by holding seminars and lectures for all aboard.

Over the past few days the weather has improved, and the Khlebnikov is on its way again to the relief of all aboard.

Paul Goldstein, who is leading the tour for UK-based company Exodus, appeared in a message cable from the ship to have read a few too many Antarctic adventure books, noting:

There is movement, slow agonizing movement but movement all the same. The re-enforced bow worries the ice sheet relentlessly, sending jagged fissures hemorrhaging to infinity. It may only be a couple of nautical miles but it is progress and as my fingers fuse with the keyboard, the ship’s heartbeat throbs and our neighbourly berg of the last few days slips quietly into another postal district.

Milk may turn quicker than this lusty leviathan but frankly who cares. There is a triumphant feeling pervading all decks. Triumph is a dish best taken cold, on ice, but the most triumphant a la carte meal is one taken after an hors d’oeuvre of adversity.

The ship should be back in Argentina within a few days, and all will have a story to tell.

Anyone have any tales of derring-do to share?

‘Your mother was a hamster!’ yelled the taunting Frenchman in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

A pair of hotel owners in Nantes appear to have taken this line a little too seriously. They’re offering a unique experience at the Hamster Villa: the opportunity to be a hamster for a day (and night).

For €99, you get a ‘room’ populated by a giant hamster wheel (your exercise machine) and several haystacks (your bedding for the night). You also get fed seeds.

Here’s an inside look at the rodent race:

What is going on here? It’s not as though Nantes suffers from a dearth of accommodation options.

We’re as confused as you are. Anyone with a clue -- let us know.

(Image by cdrussorusso, Flickr Creative Commons)

First up, December 13: the first date of operation for the speeded-up Paris and Brussels to Amsterdam Thalys service. This train was already pretty zippy, but with the completion of the 78 mile Hogesnelheidslijn Zuid (High-speed Line South) in the Netherlands, journey times have been further slashed.

Amsterdam Centraal: closer

Brussels is now seven minutes under two hours from the Dutch capital. Paris is a shade over three. Intriguingly for city-hoppers, London is now four hours ten minutes from Amsterdam by rail, using Eurostar and Thalys trains, changing in Brussels.

Counting down to speedy Italian trains

The following day, Italy’s Red Arrow service opens for newly souped-up business. This train, which sounds much better in Italian as ‘Freccia Rossa’, will whizz between Rome and Milan in an improved journey time of two hours and forty-five minutes. That’s no slouch considering the journey is 389 miles. This saucepot of a train service also trumps the air corridor between the two cities, Europe’s second busiest, by an hour or more.  Look for some smart fares as Trenitalia, the Italian state railway look to steal a march on privately-owned trains which will compete with the Red Arrow from 2011.

This adds to Europe’s enviable set of high-speed rail links. Are there any journeys you’d like to see speeded up?

OK, I promise, no more trains for a while after December 13. Except for a report, hopefully, on the new Thalys line later in December.

Tom Hall

It’s the time of year when Caribbean dreams consume a wide girth of North Americans seeking a break from chilling temperatures. That’s cool. But it reminds me once again, frustratingly, how little most of us actually know of pirates del Caribe. Much less what would have happened if they had ventured far north — with a saucy swagger, plus a time machine — to the year 1000 AD and faced down Eric the Red, or his son, off the shores of Viking settlements of present-day Newfoundland?

Movies never ask this crucial question, but I will. Pirates versus Vikings? Who wins?

For help I turned to travel — asking pirate and Viking experts at Moorhead, Minnesota’s Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center; Nassau, Bahama’s Pirates of Nassau museum; North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, NC; and the fascinating L’Anse Aux Meadows National Historic Site.

What do you think?

Here at Lonely Planet, we declared it Science Week.

Why? Well, it was a great week for science in general – and science in travel, in particular.

The week kicked off with a story straight from science fiction, when it was postulated that a time-travelling bird might have sabotaged Switzerland’s Large Hadron Collider.

Sabotaged by future birds? Photo by sbisson

On theme, as always, was our US Travel Editor Robert Reid, who interviewed the (technical) inventor of ‘augmented reality’ and came up with the Top 3 Augmented Reality Achievements.

How is this highway augmented reality? Click to find out.

Halfway around the globe, consummate innovator Matthew Cashmore ran a series of Hack Days to fashion the pointy end of travel technology. Lonely Planet is already on the iPhone, and we’ve just released a new product line on the Android platform. Surely jet packs can’t be far away.

Champing at the bit to flash his nerd credentials (in a lovable way) was Community Liaison Andy Murdock, who put together an intriguing list of ways to travel like a geek.

Giant sloth skeleton, London. Photo by Juan N Only

And not to be outdone, Robert had the last word – in, of all places, Las Vegas. In the latest episode of the 76-Second Travel Show, Robert demonstrated how Sin City is actually ScIeNce City.

Any major science-travel happenings we missed? Let us know.

Giant sloth skeleton, Natural History Museum, London
[Photo by Juan N Only]

John Graham-Cumming, the author of The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science & Technology Come Alive, is an expert in the art of geek travel and has extensive experience visiting some of the nerdiest spots in the world. John kindly took a moment in between writing some lines of code and programming his GPS unit to give us some of his personal geek travel tips.

The Geek Atlas includes 128 science-related travel destinations – what are your personal favourites?

1. Bletchley Park, England

“This is the place that helped shorten the Second World War by at least two years, and the people who worked here thought their way through the war rather than fought. They were the elite code breakers assembled under Churchill’s orders who broke the Nazi Enigma and Lorenz codes (amongst others) and enabled the allies to read messages from Nazi commanders in the field and from Hitler himself.

“It’s now a museum which explains the work that was done there. There’s nothing quite like being led to stand outside British mathematician Alan Turing’s office where he worked on breaking Enigma. Turing is the father of modern computer science and the father of AI. He also used to chain his tea mug to the radiator so that no one would take it (during the war metals were in short supply making a tea mug a valuable item).”

Enigma code machine at Bletchley Park
[Photo by david.nikonvscanon]

2. Institut Pasteur, Paris

“Louis Pasteur is probably best known for having invented pasteurization (the process of heating milk, and other liquids, to kill harmful bacteria and make them last longer).  But he’s also the father of immunization, having created vaccines from attenuated live viruses such as rabies.

“His home at the Institut Pasteur (including his laboratory) is open to the public. It’s possible to see how he lived and how he worked. Both are fascinating and Pasteur is buried in a Byzantine crypt in the building. In his laboratory it’s possible to see his long necked bottles of chicken broth that have sat for 150 years untainted as proof that without germs getting to them they aren’t going to go bad. It’s a simple demonstration of the truth of the germ theory of disease.”

Institut Pasteur [Photo by NatalieMaynor]

3. Deutsches Museum, Munich

“Probably the best science museum in the world. It is truly massive and has a fascinating collection of seemingly everything (including a jet aircraft with a slice removed so that it’s possible to see the arrangement of seats, floors, baggage and cabling). It also has a wonderful miniature railway set which isn’t just for kids, and a reproduction of a Spanish cave complete with paintings. And there are two annexes in Munich with really large exhibits (where you’ll find trains, planes and automobiles). If you are in Munich, this is the place to go.”

Bottling plant miniature at the Deutsches Museum, Munich
[Photo by svenwerk]

4. National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC

“I can never spend enough time in this museum.  There’s simply so much to see, and so many of the exhibits are rare, valuable and moving. The history of air and space travel is illustrated with the key pieces of equipment that made it possible. Here you can see everything from the first aircraft to recent rockets.”

Watching a 3D IMAX film at the National Air and Space Museum
[Photo by nasa hq photo]

5. The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California

“Unsurprisingly, Silicon Valley is the place to go to understand the history of computing (even though computing has foundations in many countries including the UK and Germany). If you just turn up in Silicon Valley you’ll probably be disappointed since it’s just one big suburb of anonymous buildings.

“Happily, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California has a wonderful collection of almost all the important pieces of computer history and enthusiastic and experienced staff to explain it all. Mountain View is also centrally located making it a good starting point for any trip to see some of the other highlights of the area (including the garage where Hewlett-Packard was started, or the building where the first silicon chips were made).”

Tomy Omnibot 2000 at the Computer History Museum
[Photo by Marshall Astor]

Do you have any suggested destinations for travellers who aren’t normally interested in science?

“I think there are two things people can do if they aren’t super-interested by science: go to a science museum that’s aimed at children (since the explanations tend to be simpler and clearer) or go to a science location that has something else to offer (such as a great walk in the country).

“Two places from The Geek Atlas that fit the bill are Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York and Jodrell Bank in the UK. Both feature an outdoor walk around a scale model of the solar system.  Just walking from the Sun to Venus will give you an idea of the distances between the bodies in our solar system.  In Ithaca it’s a walk through the town itself. At Jodrell Bank it’s a walk through a beautiful arboretum.

“The Ithaca walk ends at the Sciencenter which is very good for kids, or the science-challenged. At Jodrell Bank you’ll see one of the largest radio telescopes in the world, and one of the first, which has been involved in everything from tracking quasars to spying on Soviet space probes (including scooping the Soviets to pictures from the moon sent by their own lander!).”

Jodrell Bank radio telescope
[Photo by maya]

For more science destinations around the world, visit The Geek Atlas online at http://www.geekatlas.com.

Do you have a favourite science travel destination or travel tip? Let us know below.

SCIENCE WEEK CONTINUES…
You not into casinos, cheesy night shows, smoky restaurants and $25 taxis to go anywhere on the strip? Me neither. But Vegas still works.

Flights there can be found for cheap, car rentals run about $20 to $25 per day, it’s a nice jumping off point for a loop to the Grand Canyon’s rarely seen North Rim and national parks in southern Utah, and while in town — get your lab coat ready — the place is lousy with science.

In nominating Las Vegas as the new “ScIeNce City,” the SSTS (76-Second Travel Show) happily presents Vegas’ SIX BEST SCIENCE ATTRACTIONS.

CSN PLANETARIUM
The College of Southern Nevada (CSN) opens its observatory on Friday and Saturday nights for a full-on glimpse of the stars. There’s also astronaut ice cream. It’s $6, beginning with an astronomy program at 7:30pm. Go by rental car. The taxi would run $75 minimum, one way.

ATOMIC TESTING MUSEUM
Off the strip, this Smithsonian affiliate has a fairly defensive look at the state’s involvement in atomic testing from 1961 to 1992. Plenty of videos with former employees talking about their role in the Cold War, and an interesting shop. You can also arrange tours of the Atomic Testing Site, north of town from here.

NEON MUSEUM
All the glitter of Vegas’ neon past has been collected in this non-profit museum. There are some objects to see around Fremont Street, but the real attraction is its “boneyard,” an outdoor collection of rescued neon signs that can be seen by reservation only. Call 702-387-6366.

SPRINGS PRESERVE
Appearing in reality TV shows on occasion, this $250 million education complex features a “Desert Living Center” and two miles of (free) walking trails that piece together Nevada’s cultural and natural history. Right in town.

VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK
At first glance, the park looks like decayed nougats of red fudge bursting from the desert floor. It’s stunning and well worth bringing a picnic for the retro picnic shelters, and a walk around Silica Dome, where Captain Kirk perishes in “Star Trek Generations,” or so we think. Only pop and some snacks available — bring what food you’ll need. They sell “Nevada State Park” hats for $15.

HOOVER DAM
Tours of the he New Deal 726-foot dam – packed between Lake Mead on one side and the distant hydroelectric plant on the other – are available, but it’s worth even just a walk across. Drive to the Arizona side for free parking.

–> STTS scientific experiment: It took 38 seconds to enter the Hoover Dam gift shop and find the first souvenir that did some “dam” word play (t-shirt: “This is My Dam T-Shirt”).

Newquay: note palm trees and surf dude

All this for a 708 mile rail odyssey which will take you from one end of the country to the other. It’s also enough, as some commentators have pointed out, for a round-the-world air ticket visiting four continents or across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner.

Journey's end, Kyle of Lochalsh, lighter pockets

But let’s not get carried away waving the ‘rip-off Britain’ placards and vowing never again to set foot on a train. CrossCountry, the company responsible for ticketing this service, have never sold a ticket to anyone at this price. Even expense account-toting business travellers would usually pay £561 for this fare and £228 in Standard Class. But on the off chance you fancied a very long train trip, I found tickets for as little as £59.50 for each direction of this journey, easily available if you can be flexible on dates and are prepared to travel in Standard Class. That for what is almost the longest possible rail journey in Britain.

It’s a similar story with pretty much any other route in the country: book in advance online and you’ll save bigtime on quoted fares. Bus travel is usually even cheaper.

Here are a few suggestions on how to save some money when booking rail travel in the UK

• You’ll get the worst fare if you walk up and book. You can book in advance before you arrive and it is a good idea to do so.
• Tickets tend to go on sale twelve weeks in advance. This is when the cheapest fares should always be available. Booking after this date? Be flexible when you travel and avoid morning and evening peak travel times.
• Start your search at the train operating company’s website for your train – you can find out which one via National Rail (www.nationalrail.co.uk).
• If you have to get on a specific train, consider splitting the journey – so if a London to Edinburg fare is too pricey you may well save money by buying one ticket from London to Peterborough or Grantham, then another from there to Scotland.
• Check out some of the real bargains: bargain berths on Caledonian Sleeper services start at £19, and you get a bed for the night on one of Europe’s great sleeper trains. Some trains sell seats through Megabus which can cost as little as £1 for an inter-city service.

Any got any other train travel tips?

Tom Hall

This dosage of science into travel means a new way of searching out a good bagel or a B&B without bedbugs. Or finally joining Jay Maynard and living a life akin to the film “Tron,” but with better acting.