2:59 p.m., Dec. 3, 2008----What may the world's largest neutrino telescope, aptly named “IceCube,” be able to tell us about the universe when it's completed?

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Find out during “Above the Poles,” a live event broadcast over the Web from Antarctica on Thursday, Dec. 4, starting at 2 p.m. on the East Coast. It will involve an international team of researchers working at South Pole Station, including Thomas Gaisser, the Martin A. Pomerantz Chaired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware.

Gaisser will talk briefly about the IceCube telescope's surface array of detectors named “IceTop,” which is being developed by his team from the University of Delaware's Bartol Research Institute.

A veteran of many expeditions to the South Pole, Gaisser and his fellow presenters will be available to answer questions by phone from classrooms and the public during the hour-long event.

Joining the event requires a computer with Internet, speakers, and a microphone (optional); or a telephone. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions of the experts via voice or text chat.

To participate, register online at the web site.

The event marks the latest International Polar Day of the world's International Polar Year (IPY), a major research effort focusing on the polar regions.

An estimated 50,000 participants from more 60 countries are involved in research as diverse as anthropology and astronomy, health and history, and genomics and glaciology. This fourth IPY was launched in March 2007 and will continue through early 2009.