Influential excrement: How life in Antarctica thrives on penguin poop

Braving bitter temperatures, the researchers waded through fields of animal waste -- not to mention hordes of clamoring elephant seals and gentoo, chinstrap, and Adelie penguins -- to examine the surrounding soils and plants. [AFP]

For more than half a century, biologists studying Antarctica focused their research on understanding how organisms cope with the continent's severe drought and the coldest conditions on the planet.

One thing they didn't really factor in, however, was the role played by the nitrogen-rich droppings from colonies of cute penguins and seals -- until now.