The International Polar Year just wrapped up. Yeah, I didn’t know anything about it, either. It involved 160 scientific projects conducted by researchers from over 60 countries, so you’d think it might have gotten a little more mainstream press. You’d think the construction of cyborg seals would garner some attention, at least!

Okay, so they’re not really cyborg seals. Using custom-made radio transmitters, scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute not only monitored the behaviour of elephant seals, they also recorded data about temperature and salinity of waters around Antarctica. The transmitters fell off when the seals molted, so there was no long-term damage to these majestic animals. Neat!

Via CNN.