Web offers trek to find ice worms

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Armed with a sophisticated ice borer, professor Daniel Shain went hunting on Byron Glacier for a scientific treasure -- the tiny, fragile ice worm.

"We know there are millions of worms on Byron Glacier in the summertime and unless they migrate to Florida or something, there aren't too many other places they could be," the Rutgers University professor said over the weekend, as he prepared to tackle the glacier about 50 miles southeast of Anchorage.

"The prediction is that they dive straight down into the glacier to stay warm," he said.

Students worldwide may find out if Shain is right by logging onto the Internet and joining the scientist in the JASON Project's "Frozen Worlds" expedition.

The star of the show, of course, is the cold-loving ice worm.

The worms, which are found only in a coastal region extending from Washington to Alaska, spend their entire lives on ice. Their health depends on it. They die if the temperature drops below 20 degrees or above 40 degrees. At room temperature, they disintegrate in 15 minutes.

That's exactly why Shain is interested in them.

"If scientists can unravel the ice worm's secret, we could potentially learn how to keep human organs alive on ice longer than a few hours to help organ transplant patients," he said.

Clues to life elsewhere

The ice worm, at just 2 to 3 centimeters, also could hold a clue about life on Jupiter's moon Europa, Shain said.

"If there is life elsewhere in the solar system, it's probably on Europa. Conditions on Europa are similar to life here on an Alaska glacier," he said.

The worms might even hold a clue about how to keep a person in a state of suspended animation for space travel to Europa, Shain said.

If Shain finds ice worms -- and he's convinced he will because Byron hosts eight colonies -- they will be placed in a plastic tray filled with ice and brought to the Begich Boggs Visitor Center in Portage, where students from schools around the world can interact with the expedition team via the Internet. A second interactive classroom was set up at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward.

The project, which is being led by National Geographic explorer in residence Robert Ballard, will pair 33 students and teachers from around the globe with a team of scientists.

The expedition team will be working with students daily on what makes ice worms different from other worms.

The project will run through Saturday, and then from Feb. 2-8. It also will air on the National Geographic Channel.