As part of an NSF-funded collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and science centers across the country to increase awareness of polar research and Earth's polar regions, join Donna Blackman, chair of the National Science Foundation's Ridge 2000 program, for an exciting excursion to the world's mid-ocean ridge volcanic system. Learn how these oceanic spreading centers shape our planet and support an amazing abundance of life in an otherwise inhospitable environment. (#13038)