Antonio Alcamí shuddered when he saw that a new plague — which had already caused the death of hundreds of millions of birds around the world — was leaping to the Americas and sweeping relentlessly from north to south, on its way to Antarctica, killing tens of thousands of marine mammals in its path.

Few people were as uniquely prepared as he was — a virologist specializing in lethal viruses, already hardened by the treacherous polar terrain — so he proposed setting up a laboratory at the Spanish Army’s Gabriel de Castilla Antarctic Base.

On February 24, 2024, Alcamí and his colleague Ángela Vázquez confirmed for the first time the presence of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in Antarctica. He immediately had a bold idea: he would set up a floating laboratory aboard a sailboat, allowing him to navigate through penguin colonies and find out what was happening. Two journalists from EL PAÍS joined him for a day, documenting his odyssey as he followed the trail of the plague.