Medieval man believed that the
world was flat. It was feared that anyone who dared venture too
close to the edge would fall off---and disappear into the unknown.
But humans are curious. Driven by a quest for knowledge and the
thrill of adventure, the explorers pressed on. They sailed around
the world.
In the nineteenth century, a fascination
with collecting and cataloging the diversity of nature prompted
natural historians and explorers to venture far from home in search
of flora and fauna unknown to science. They studied the geography
and geology of the lands they visited and the characteristics
of the sea. Among these men were Charles Darwin aboard HMS Beagle,
Alfred Russell Wallace in the Indonesian Archipelago, and Sir
Wyville Thomson on HMS Challenger. Far from the familiar
European countryside, they risked the vagaries of the sea, hostile
natives, injury, and disease for the thrill of collecting strange
and marvelous creatures and plants from the ends of the earth
and the depths of the ocean. What they discovered created a revolution
in scientific thought.
Today there are few areas of the
earth's surface that have not been explored or pinpointed with
great accuracy by global positioning systems. A plethora of scientific
instrumentation and computer systems has given us tools to gather
data from remote or inhospitable locations without leaving the
laboratory. But an adventurous spirit is integral to a scientist,
and many of us take delight in the challenge of hands-on, often
strenuous field work. Like those before us, we dream of discovering
something so unique that it changes our view of the world. Sometimes
there is even the allure of danger.
This issue of Maritimes
ventures around the world and back in time: above the Arctic Circle
with Brad Moran and John Smith to investigate the environmental
legacy of nuclear testing conducted during the Cold War; beneath
the sea floor with Steven D'Hondt and David Smith to look for
buried life; and deep in the ocean with Karen Wishner to discover
zooplankton living where oxygen is a scarce commodity. Witness
the extreme, destructive power of a volcanic eruption with Steven
Carey. Consider that not all seas are wet: David Fastovsky vividly
reconstructs ancient seas of sand, an unforgiving environment
once home to the little dinosaur Protoceratops. Scott McWilliams
discusses a strategy commonly employed by songbirds (and people
like me) who choose to avoid the extremes of a North American
winter: fly south. I can personally attest to how strange it seems
to encounter orioles and tanagers---summer residents of my Rhode
Island garden---side by side with toucans and macaws in the jungles
of the remote Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. It took me many long
hours to get there by plane; these tiny bundles of feathers did
it all on their own.
Life shows an amazing ability to
adapt, and even thrive, in extreme environmental conditions. Examination
of how this is achieved is relevant to understanding the origins
of life, here on earth and perhaps elsewhere. There remains much
to be discovered beyond the edges of the familiar world. 
