It is often an advantage of retiring that one finally is able to say things that have long been on one's mind and to acknowledge those who have contributed to one's career or profession. Better yet is retiring as an editor of a journal or magazine, because then those thoughts and the mention of significant individuals can be recorded on paper for posterity. Having just retired after some 14 years as editor of Polar Record, I am pleased to be in that position now, because there are many people — both before my tenure and during it — who deserve mention for their contributions to what this special and very visible aspect of the Scott Polar Research Institute has become and to how it will develop.

Griffith Taylor (1880–1963) was a scientific member of the Terra Nova expedition. Although he published initially on his geomorphological, glaciological and meteorological research, conducted between 1910 and 1912, he was also a teacher, lecturer, publicist and later political commentator on Antarctica. Initially a loyal ‘Britisher’ he developed an internationalist perspective on Antarctica without compromising his self-promotional ambitions. Through his professional career in Australia, the US and Canada over the early to mid twentieth century Antarctica's shifting scientific, cultural and political history can be mapped. Just as self-interest permeated the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, so Taylor's ambitions persisted as he fashioned himself into a scientific prophet for peace. Taylor's Antarctica, an amalgam of sentiment and science, rivalry and cooperation, imperialism and internationalism, popular culture and global politics, was the twentieth century's Antarctica.

In October 2002, following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, the Unified Command Plan (UCP), that sets out the geographical responsibilities of combatant commanders, was revised with regard to their areas of responsibility. Accompanying these changes was a map, which detailed the geographical boundaries of the US Northern, Pacific, Southern, European and Central Commands. The map indicated that two of these Commands, Southern and European Command stretched as far south as the Antarctic coastline while a third (Pacific) not only did that but also included the entire Antarctic continent. In 2007, a new Africa Command comprising the southern part of European Command, was instituted and this, too, stretched to the Antarctic coastline. This note briefly considers some of the implications that might follow from these changes to the UCP and highlights logistical patterns, search and rescue matters and the question of the demilitarisation of Antarctica.

The generally accepted date of birth of F.R.M. Crozier is 17 September 1796. On the basis of a fresh scrutiny of the evidence, it is suggested that 16 August 1796 is more probable.

Each year Polar Record calls upon numerous scholars to assist in the demanding and intensive refereeing and peer-review procedures for manuscripts submitted for publication. These individuals give generously of their time and expertise to help insure that a high academic quality is maintained in Polar Record. During the preparation of the four issues for 2005, some 100 individuals assisted in the review and refereeing process.

The requirement for an Antarctic component to the 2001 Australian State of the environment report initiated the development of a state of the environment system designed to remain current, yet minimize the resources required for maintenance. A series of environmental indicators was developed and refined by a group of experts during a period of 18 months. A simple descriptive template and data for each indicator were incorporated into a web-accessible database system called SIMR (System for Indicator Management and Reporting). The system captures indicator data either dynamically from sensors or by web input by indicator custodians. The system also prompts custodians for regular input of evaluations of indicator status. The system (http://www-aadc.aad.gov.au/soe) has been an effective framework for considering all aspects of state of the environment reporting and a practical tool in research and operational aspects of the Australian Antarctic Division.

Polarbjørn (‘Polar Bear’) was launched at Narvik in 1919, having been constructed for work in the Arctic. In 1923 she was the expedition ship for Adrian Jacobsen's expedition to Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, and Novaya Zemlya. The following year she was the expedition ship for George Binney's Oxford University expedition to Svalbard. She sailed twice to the Arctic with aeroplanes onboard to chart the region, in 1924 to Svalbard and in 1932 to northeast Greenland. Between 1931 and 1948 she was expedition ship for 10 scientific expeditions to Svalbard, Jan Mayen, and northeast Greenland organized by the Norges Svalbard-og Ishavsundersøkelser, the forerunner to the Norsk Polarinstitutt. In 1940 Polarbjørn was engaged by the Norwegian government in exile in London to deliver equipment and supplies to wintering trappers and wireless operators and to bring secret codes to the telegraph stations in northeast Greenland. From autumn 1941 to the end of the war she was chartered by US government forces and shuttled between Boston and Halifax to Greenland, Baffin Island, and Labrador. After the war she returned to sealing under Norwegian ownership, and in 1949 caught fire and sank off Belle Isle, Newfoundland.

Over a period of 70 years, the lifestyles and belief systems of indigenous Siberian peoples were transformed by Soviet policy, based on the idea of assimilation and homogenisation of the peoples in its territory, in compliance with the idea of a ‘people's friendship’. The fall of the Soviet Union has given people the opportunity to rebuild their identity, as well as to provide a means of cultural revival for each ethnic community. The case study of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in northern Siberia shows a new relationship, already started during perestroika and developing between the Russian Federation and its peoples. This relationship favours the development of each people's culture within the broader context of their integration into Russian society. The issue of the instrumentalisation of indigenous peoples’ cultural and religious heritage is part of a broader picture of a global affirmation of peoples’ indigenousness. The identification of ethnic Sakha (Yakuts) with other northern peoples is a means of entering the international political arena, pushing far away the geopolitical and cultural boundaries imposed by the Russian Federation and highlighting the idea of a circumpolar civilisation.

The International Conferences on Contaminants in Freezing Ground are organised under the auspices of an International Steering Committee to promote a better understanding of the unique characteristics and problems posed by contaminants in freezing ground. The first meeting was held in Cambridge in 1997 and was attended by 33 participants from nine countries. Results from the meeting were reported in Polar Record in 1998 (volume 35). The themes covered at the first meeting reflected a broad range of interests, including a synthesis of the Arctic environmental strategy as it stood in 1997; the fundamental physical, chemical, and biological properties of contaminated frozen soils; experimental approaches to determining contaminant movement; and possibilities for in situ bioremediation of petroleum spills.

The insulin responsive glucose transporter, GLUT4 is found predominantly in muscle and adipose cells. Maratou and others (2007) reported that there is GLUT4 in white blood cells (WBC) collected from human subjects in response to insulin activation. This study was designed to validate the presence of GLUT4 in white blood cells of sled dogs and furthermore to investigate whether changes in levels of the GLUT4 protein might be associated with aging. Additionally, we examined the blood insulin concentration of two populations of dogs, young and old, before and after a meal to observe their insulin response. It is documented in skeletal muscle that GLUT4 expression is increased as a result of conditioning, making sled dogs an excellent model in the circumpolar north for studying the effects of exercise, nutrition and diabetes (Felsburg 2002; Kararli 2006). Blood was withdrawn from 11 healthy sled dogs: 6 young (1–5 years) and physically fit, conditioned for racing and 5 old (7–13 years), retired from racing. The insulin response was determined using blood plasma and ELISA. The buffy coat (containing WBC) was collected with a glass pipette after centrifugation and washed and suspended in 1x phosphate buffer. GLUT4 was measured using ELISA kits (USCN Life Sciences). The results validate that GLUT4 is present in white blood cells in sled dogs. Age had no significant effect in the concentration of GLUT4 between the populations of old and young dogs. A significant difference in insulin levels pre and post meal in young (0.13 ± 0.03 ng/mL (pre), 0.22 ± 0.04 ng/mL (post), p < 0.05) and old (0.13 ± 0.02 ng/mL (pre), 0.22 ± 0.03 ng/mL (post), p < 0.05) dogs was observed, displaying the typical postprandial insulin spike. No significant difference was found in insulin concentration comparing old versus young dogs. Our data shows that white blood cells in young (40.4 ± 2.4 ng/mL) and old (35.3 ± 8.8 ng/mL) sled dogs have quantifiable but non-significant different GLUT4 levels (p > 0.05). Detecting GLUT4 via an ELISA in white blood cells, opens up minimally invasive avenues for studying the underlying molecular mechanisms associated with insulin resistance in more complex, dynamic and physiological systems. This project was the first step in developing a protocol for this simple, technique with a potential clinical application for diagnosing insulin resistance.

An oil spill that occurred on 21 August 1944 near the Inupiat village of Barrow on Alaska's North Slope provides the focus for a brief history of activity in the face of extreme conditions and the evolving relationship of US Navy personnel and Inupiat natives of the region. The emotional recollections of an Inupiat elder are contrasted with the growing respect of the navy personnel for the Inupiat. The economic and social effects of oil explorations towards the end of World War II and the early post-war years are briefly discussed. These events form a part of the socio-economic background of current and proposed arctic oil development.