Newswise — The scientific discoveries of North Dakota State University geosciences researchers Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis appear in the documentary film "Ice People," scheduled to premiere on the Sundance Channel on May 5 at 9 p.m. CT, with additional airings May 6 and May 10. Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion offers a rare glimpse of scientists at work under extreme physical conditions. The film documents the geologists' field work, while capturing the austere beauty of Antarctica.
As noted in a USA Today article, "Ice People takes you to scientists' extreme lab," the film shows the cold and sometimes backbreaking field work conducted by scientists Ashworth and Lewis and NDSU students Kelly Gorz and Andrew Podoll. An international team of scientists headed up by Ashworth and Lewis and David Marchant, an earth scientist at Boston University, combined evidence from glacial geology, paleoecology, dating of volcanic ashes and computer modeling, to report a major climate change centered on 14 million years ago.
Ashworth, a distinguished professor of geosciences, notes in the film, "To be in a place which is so underexplored, as a geologist, and to have the opportunity of making a discovery is pretty powerful medicine for a geologist." According to Lewis, the discovery of lake deposits with perfectly preserved fossils of mosses, diatoms and ostracods is particularly exciting to scientists. "They are the first to be found even though scientific expeditions have been visiting the Dry Valleys since their discovery during the first Scott expedition in 1902-03," said Lewis.
Documentary filmmaker Aghion spent four months at the U.S. research station McMurdo, and camped out for seven weeks with Dr. Ashworth and his research crew as they studied fossilized vegetation in Antarctic lakebeds. The film "Ice People" has been screened at science museums and film festivals in Australia, Vancouver, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Jerusalem and Fargo. Select theaters across the U.S. will also be showing the film in the coming months.
Note: The research of Dr. Allan Ashworth described here is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs. The film "Ice People" is a co-production of Dry Valleys Productions, ARTE France, ITVS International, in association with Sundance Channel and is produced with a grant from the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
For more information:Ice People Takes You To Scientists' Extreme LabUSA Todayhttp://www.usatoday.com/weather/research/2009-05-04-ice-people_N.htm
Ice People on Sundance Channelhttp://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500335381
Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienceshttp://www.pnas.org/content/105/31/10676
Dr. Allan Ashworth, North Dakota State Universitywww.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/ashworth/
Dr. Adam Lewis, North Dakota State Universityhttp://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/adalewis/Adam_Lewis.html
Ice Peoplehttp://www.icepeople.com
Science Magazine"Freeze-Dried Findings Support a Tale of Two Ancient Climates" http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5880/1152
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