From Antarctica To America, US Turns Out The Lights On Science Research

Two weeks of sliced budgets and suspensions following Congressional gridlock have been a disastrous setback to a variety of American science programs, wasting millions of dollars and months if not years of research.

Researchers who should be preparing for the coming summer season on Antarctica instead spent the week struggling to understand and cope, as the National Science Foundation said it would run of of funding on Monday for the three key bases in Antarctica: McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott South Pole, and Palmer.

The agency is turning back incoming vessels and moving to withdraw hundreds of researchers, sources at the base told FoxNews.com.

“Science is closed for the season. For the year. There will be no science,” lamented one Antarctic blogger who goes by the name Genevieve (strict rules govern what contractors are allowed to say to the press -- speaking up means risking work next year).