The extreme expatriation of a Swiss doctor on the ice continent
For a year, Swiss Jessica Studer lived in a scientific base in the middle of Antarctica, where she was tasked with studying the effects of extreme conditions on the human body. She told Wired about her long and grueling journey and what she discovered upon arrival.
When we talk about moving to the other side of the world, we tend to think of coconut trees, a blue sea, and an encounter with another culture. For Jessica Studer, the other side of the world had a different meaning, made of white, cold (down to -80 °C), and total isolation. “The most distant destination on the planet, more distant than the International Space Station (ISS),” writes Wired . This mysterious place is none other than the Franco-Italian scientific station Concordia, in the middle of Antarctica.
The Swiss doctor was able to discuss this comparison with the ISS with one of her eminent and media-savvy colleagues isolated in the middle of the infinite white, Thomas Pesquet. The French astronaut, commander of the orbital station in 2021, spent only five days at Concordia, compared to a year for Jessica Studer, who studied the effects of extreme conditions on the human body there.
But in this context, RTS emphasizes that "on the International Space Station, it is possible to evacuate someone within twenty-four hours in the event of a medical emergency. On Concordia Station, this is not possible during the winter months." Jessica Studer explains: "We depend on what's on the station."
It took the scientist more than a week to reach
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