“The lowest temperature was -81 °C. If you add in wind chill, it can drop below -100 °C. It’s pretty chilly. It was a shock to the system when I arrived.” – Dr. Beth Healey looks back at her one year journey to Antarctica. Dr. Beth Healey is a research doctor in the European Space Agency (ESA). She spent a year at ESA’s Concordia base in Antarctica with 12 other people. The crew at Concordia lived for one year in extreme isolation, without any sunlight for 100 days in a row, and with a temperature that could drop below -100 °C. Beth studied the physiological and psychological effects these extreme conditions have on humans. “I had worked in lots of polar regions up north before, and was used to the cold environment, so I flew out to Concordia feeling a bit smug. But our circadian rhythms are synced to sunlight, and without it I really struggled. For the first few days I just didn’t sleep at all.” “You don’t get any smells there because it’s very clean and there are no mud or plants, so it just doesn’t really smell of anything. When you come back everything smells so strongly, and just walking down the street …