The Arctic social science program has pioneered new ethics for studying human beings and involving them as partners in research. Scholars are combining archeology and anthropology with studies of sea ice and mammology to examine whaling practices over two millennia. On the right is another Arctic society. Reindeer are rounded up in Chukotka in the Russian Far East. In the North Atlantic, the Vikings met and traded with the Inuit peoples from North America.
Studies now trace medieval interactions between environmental and cultural change.
During the lifetime of the National Science Foundation, the extreme environments of the polar regions have become learning environments. The program aims to help change the face of science education to reflect the dynamic spirit of inquiry. In the field and back home, teachers share their experiences and mentor other teachers. Antarctica has proven to be a singular site to collect meteorites. The number found there equals the sum total of all those collected in the rest of the world.