A University of Minnesota professor is in Antarctica working to preserve three huts built by the continent's early explorers. Microbiologist Bob Blanchette is studying the slow deterioration of the wooden structures and testing different types of preservatives. The explorers Sir Ernest Shakelton and Robert Scott set up basecamp in the huts in the early part of the 19th century, when they both launched multiple expeditions on the continent. Scott reached the South Pole in 1912, but died on the return trip. Blanchette says the Scott hut is filled with materials his team left behind: