Some excerpts from teacher fellow blogs, to give you an idea of what it's like to do research in the field.

Marine Mammals of Monterey:

"Now for a summary of today's activities... we went out on the boats again. I was in the boat Nereis. We travelled up the shore going north all the way around the tip of Monterey Bay and into Santa Cruz harbor. Our goal was to survey the marine mammals in general, and specifically make photo identifications of the coastal bottlenose dolphins.

"We caught sight of a couple of dolphins on the way north along with otters and sea lions. Finding no dolphins in the harbor we turned and headed across the bay towards south Monterey. We lucked out as we crossed the Monterey canyon, which you may recall provides a lot of nutrients through upwelling. We caught sight of two pairs of humpback whales, a harbor porpoise and a bunch of jelly fish.

"Once we approached the shore we headed north and ran into a large group of bottlenose dolphins feeding and travelling. There were moms and calves. We stayed around watching them and trying for photo id's. The dolphins are identified by their dorsal fin, whereas the humpbacks are identified by their flukes (tails)."

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Mexican Mangroves and Wildlife:

"Today was a pretty great day - we went snokeling, trying to inventory fish found along the rocky reef at a nearby beach. The morning started off with a lecture to help us understand the reef and the coral and fish that inhabit it. There were so many fish to try to learn! Luckily, we were able to bring laminated cards with the names and pictures of the most common fish into the water with us.

"The way that we were counting the fish was to set up transects along the reef. We had a yellow line that we put down along the bottom of the reef (about 15 feet from the surface) and then two people swam along either side of this line, counting the fish that they could see. We did this twice in the same spot. It was hard (and I actually didn't do the counting) because you had to remember not just how many fish you saw, but what types of fish they were."

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Climate Change at the Arctic's Edge (February team):

"The cold in the field challenges you very quickly. One of my jobs on my Team in the field, is to be the recorder, i.e. complete the data sheets. I wear two layers on my hands. A glove liner, and a very heavy mitten. I have to remove the mitten to get a grip on the pencil. Then I discovered that this sequence then happens very fast. 1)You notice that fingers are starting to feel cold, 2) you realize that your fingers ARE very cold, 3) you can hardly bend your fingers to hold the pencil any more.

"Solution, get the mitten back on quick! I usually then put my hand in my jacket pocket and moved them back and forth. The returned to normal quickly as well (just in time for the next reading). Your clothing is your survival gear.

"We are not the only things impacted by the extreme cold. Most of the instruments are made of some type of metal and the cold does strange things to them as well. For example, parts get lose, others bind, and some of the scales used, need to be checked and adjusted for "zero" throughout the session. Each day, every team checks all of the equipment before and after each site visit. Dr. Kershaw had to design and build many of the tools used for sampling and measurements in the field."

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Kenya's Forest Monkeys:

"Up again at 6 to find a rain swept landscape - I had slept through the downpour. Filled up on museli and bread and finally coffee as there was no power and a long line of researchers needing their caffeine for the kick start to the day. The water eventually boiled.

"We started off to find one of the females we had learnt to identify yesterday as soon as we arrived. 1st Ziko - who rested, fed, jumped about and did general monkey things until the last 12 minutes of the hour when she zoomed off and left us hanging. So onto Nora - she led us back towards the fence surrounding Gede Ruins and then she was over the fence and into the bush leaving David, myself and Crista hovering at the fence edge greeting all the ladies, men and kids on their way to church or the gardens.

"Then we had Angle to follow - she has a bend in her tail hence her name- but she let us follow easily for the whole 60 minutes. Just before lunch we did half an hour on Messy - the lady boss who did lots of aggressive moves on the other females and juveniles. "

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Final post from a Lakes of the Rift Valley volunteer:

"It's the last night here in Kenya. Time has a whole different feel to it here. I can't help but feel that this was a perfect amount of time to spend in this beautiful country. These past 16 days have felt so long and yet I can't believe that it is all over. I have worked with amazing people - the group that I have been with have come from varied places and backgrounds. We have gelled so well as a group that everyone here has commented on it.

"We have been summarizing our activities tonight and listing all of the accomplishments that we have achieved here. I am so proud to have been part of this. I can only hope that things continue here and we human beings succeed in conserving this amazing environment while respecting the needs of these incredible people. It is such a delicate balance that we have not been good at in the past.

"Today we visited a flower farm. These farms are notorious as environmental destroyers, but they have also raised the living standard, brought jobs and provided for the schools and communities. The scientists here are trying to work with the flower farms to help fix the real environmental problems while honoring the role they play in the communities.

"My experience here has opened my eyes to what a force people can be when they reach out to the people that live here and get their hands dirty to save the natural systems. I feel inspired by them and hope to make such a difference with your help."