Curiously Polar is a weekly podcast about all things very north and very south. It was initially kicked off by professional photographer, author and podcast veteran Chris Marquardt and marine biologist Mario Acquarone after spending time together on a ship around Svalbard. Initially, the show’s main focus was on every day life in the Arctic and Antarctic regions and on the flora and fauna on land and in the sea. In 2019, naturalist, film maker and polar expedition guide Henry Páll Wulff joined the team and brought his own expertise and interests to the show and helped developing it. In 2022, Mario finally returned after a 3-year hiatus, completing the line-up to the podcast’s current form.

The most important driver at Curiously Polar is our very own curiosity. We are educated, but not necessarily part of the academic world. We are involved, but with enough distance. Our interests and backgrounds make us the ideal conduit to bridge the gap between academic field studies, research papers, and the interested audience.

Of course, it’s not always bitter seriousness on Curiously Polar. We also inject a good amount of humor and want our listeners to have fun with what we do. Aside from climate and geopolitical issues, you will also find interesting historic tidbits, the occasional worshipping of ice, some Arctic lore, sports in the Arctic, book recommendations, and simply very practical every-day issues that people in the polar regions have to deal with.

In the end, we want to make the not always easy to understand scientific world a bit more accessible to everyone in an entertaining way. In an increasingly louder world of “alternative facts”, we also hope to be a credible platform for serious research as well as field reports from the regions.

It is our own enthusiasm and curiosity that keeps us searching for and finding new topics. We actively grow and engage our listening community and we always enjoy keeping a dialog with our audience. We constantly work on expanding the list of issues that we tackle and we’re building a community around the podcast. The more we can facilitate not just discussion among ourselves but interaction among the community itself, the better.

If you enjoy video’s more than the usual audio podcast, you can find Curiously Polar also in a video version with visuals supporting the narrative on our Youtube channel.