Optical Express South Pole Challenge

From 05.12.2007 to 25.01.2008 - Status: success

Cameron Hudson & John Huston

Two young adventurers, the British Cameron Hudson and the American John Huston, are going to attempt the traditional Hercules Inlet - South Pole trek. They want to help the visually impaired by supporting various associations such as the 'Guide Dogs for the Blind', the 'International Glaucoma Association (IGA)' and the 'Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB)'

Although described on their website as historic, there's nothing exceptional about this adventure, apart from the study that the two young men will be carrying out. Indeed, they intend to investigate the effects on the human organism, and particularly on the eyes, of living in twenty-four hours of daylight every day.

This could have a direct effect on the melatonin, or the sleep hormone. Melatonin is the central hormone that regulates our chronobiological rhythms. From a certain point of view, it regulates practically all hormonal secretions in man, in mammals and, it would seem, in most complex animal species.

The two men will set out from Hercules Inlet and will attempt to get to the South Pole taking the most usual and direct route. They will probably set out with the other expeditions at the beginning of December. They hope to reach their goal by about the middle of January.