"Scientists said the loss hinders their work and diminishes America’s leading presence on the continent. The NSF said it continues to support Antarctic research."

"Alison Murray and her colleagues were all set to dive in Antarctica. They planned to build on their earlier finding that sea squirts — sponge-like invertebrates on the seafloor — host a microbe that produces a molecule that could be used to fight skin cancer.

Then Murray’s team got word that the U.S. government was pulling its only research ship out of Antarctica.

The U.S. Antarctic Program has had at least one dedicated research vessel in the Southern Ocean for almost six decades — mapping currents, tracking melt under ice shelves, studying marine food webs and more."

Kasha Patel reports for the Washington Post December 11, 2025. [2]