What do we NOT know? It turns out that we know very little for sure.

With all the bragging about the advancement of science, we would expect to know / find out answers to everything.  But that goal has been illusive at best.  We can neither cure Common Cold, nor Cancer, for example.

In the Antarctic, the research has been only recent, and not anywhere sufficient, but here are some head scratchers I found:

• Why do birds (Albatrosses and Petrels) fly around the ship?  Albatrosses, for example, land only to mate and raise their young.  The rest of the time they are in flight.  They even sleep while flying.  Why do they need to venture into Drake Passage - one of the roughest seas because of 40 knot winds swirling anytime - in the first place?  And then follow our ship in and around or behind for long periods of time.  They didn't seem to be looking for food either.
• Antarctic Convergence - this continuous circle around Antarctica keeps everything to its South as a self contained ecosystem.  Although the zone is mobile and changes with seasons, it rarely strays more than half a degree of latitude.  Within that, each large sea such as Ross Sea, Weddell Sea maintain its own currents moving in the opposite direction.  Why?  And if it is self contained, should any external changes (e.g. ozone hole or climate change) affect it? 
• Warming of the Antarctic Peninsula - Recent news about Larsen C shelf disintegrating because of higher temperatures certainly raises the question.  But this rise is limited to a very small area around the Peninsula.  The primary mass of Antarctica has not experience a rise in temperature.  Also, whatever glacial runoff results in loss of ice is more than made up for by the sea ice which doubles the size of Antarctica each winter.  Discovery of volcanoes under Antarctica also raises questions about the source of heat.
• Measuring Antarctica temperatures - Antarctic peninsula is about 800 miles long (same as California coastline north-south) and has 10 reasesch stations - all along the coast - where temperature measurement are taken and averaged.  Not terribly precise IMHO.  When we visited, only one of them reported a 5 degrees increase (and got all the publicity). Others were unchanged.  Fake news?
• Broken Ice Shelf doesn't mean all that ice is melting - The theory has been that glaciers slide off in to the ocean, break apart and float away to warmer waters further north and melt entirely.  However, one large iceberg in Ross Sea has been hanging around for 15 years and is not going anywhere.
• Lone Macaroni Penguin (Kevin) in the midst of Chinstraps - In response to changing environment or increase in population, animals have to explore new areas to lay eggs or build colonies.  To accomplish that, scouts are sent out to find suitable such locations.  The lone Macaroni Penguin named Kevin was thought to be one such scout.  He has however been visiting Half Moon Island for 8 years, has not tried to build a colony, brought other penguins with him, nor has he tried to mate with other (Chinstrap) penguins.  Go figure!
• Why do seals nap on ice sheets after feeding - How can that be comfortable to anyone?
• Demographics - who visits Antarctica? - Annually, 30,000 explorers visit Antarctica.  At the peak of Summer, there are about 35 ships in the area at one time - though not in any one location.  During our visit, there were only 15.  I didn't notice ANY other ship around, although someone else had spotted one leaving just as we were approaching a landing spot.
  - Of the 72 people on board Ocean Nova, most were from the US/Canada, a third from China/ Hong Kong/ Taiwan none of whom knew each other beforehand. 
  - To my surprise, nearly half of all passengers were young - as in 30 and under - some obviously "funded" by their parents.  The youngest one was 19 (Freshman in college) from Taiwan, who happened to be sitting next to me on the flight to Ushuaia, and heard her story.
  - There were 4-5 teachers (as well as some others) who had taken an extended time off and were traveling through South America for months before joining this expedition. 
  - Most were single (or traveling alone), with only 4-5 couples (including one that got married on Antarctica) and 4-5 mother/daughter or father/son traveling together.