The Life (and Death) of Exploration | Hazel Barton | TEDxUniversityofAkron

Exploration and the desire to explore has been one of the defining characteristics of our species, the results of which have changed the nature of the world around us. In our modern world exploration needs increasing justification, while technology is changing the demographics of those who explore. What is to be gained or lost through exploration, and what will the next generation of explorers look like?

Dr. Hazel A. Barton is a Professor of Biology and Geosciences at the University of Akron and an avid cave explorer, having explored caves on five continents. She is a past director of the National Speleological Society and an award winning cave cartographer. Her research has been featured in numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Outside, Popular Mechanics and Wired, as well as the IMAX movie Journey into Amazing Caves. Dr. Barton is currently a Fellow of the National Speleological Society, a Kavli Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, and the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

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Proud to know ya! :)
I first started caving in the early 90's when I was 30. I can remember the overwhelming exhilaration of exploring places unknown
and the sense of "What more could I have discovered of the world - had I not been born so late, historically?"
Quite a few of those who were caving with me in the UT Grotto are still around, but unfortunately - many have expired.
-Wavy Caver

[AndrewLewisHowe]

Great job, Hazel! Keep on fighting the good fight and being a role model, sister. And kudos to you and the rest of the scientific community for all the hard work with WNS. HUGS!

[Birdman]

Well said! I am truly alive underwater, on a mountain, at the bottom of a pit, on a dirt bike in the desert, in a wilderness area backpacking or on a pier fishing. When I pick up my phone as a proxy to exploring, I am just dead.

[caverjohnw]

It is interesting to see Hazel doing demography in addition to microbiology. I documented the average age increase among cavers 25 years. This phenomenon of increased caver age is more pronounced now than in the 1980’s.

[nbrfans]

Excellent talk, just put down the phone and