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World's Deepest Living Fish Filmed for the First Time Are Gross
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 8:00 AM on October 8, 2008
This is a group of snailfish--the deepest living fish in existence--filmed alive for the first time in history in the name science and nausea. They live at depths of 4.6 miles (7,500 meters) or more, so scientists had to develop new camera technology capable of supporting a pressure of 8,000 tonnes per square metre--"the equivalent to that of 1600 elephants standing on the roof of a Mini car"--for a period of days.
This is a group of snailfish--the deepest living fish in existence--filmed alive for the first time in history in the name science and nausea. They live at depths of 4.6 miles (7,500 meters) or more, so scientists had to develop new camera technology capable of supporting a pressure of 8,000 tonnes per square metre--"the equivalent to that of 1600 elephants standing on the roof of a Mini car"--for a period of days.
Research into invisibility cloaks, which work by bending light around 2D objects, could end up protecting offshore rigs and vulnerable coastlines from water. Scientists at the Fresnel Institute in Marseille, France said that established cloaking principles can be applied to ocean waves, and built a 10cm model to show how carefully placed concentric pillars make objects in the centre "invisible" to the sea.
The oceans already absorb megatons of atmospheric carbon, but scientists say that there's a way to boost this so that CO2 levels could drop to pre-industrial age levels. The answer sounds like a cocktail recipe: add lime. Limed seawater has boosted alkalinity, which lets it absorb more CO2 and stops it from releasing it back so readily. The idea's been around for a while, but the new proposition is that lime production should occur in areas rich in energy resources and limestone, but where commercial power generation is overly expensive. One suggested location is Nullarbor Plain in Australia which has limestone and abundant sunlight for solar power. Sounds like a whacky but not-infeasible scheme, though I suspect there're quite a few "polluting the oceans" concerns to get around before it could be tried out. [
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One day in the near future, when humanity has killed off all the fish in the sea, we'll be able to replace every single on of them using the research of University of Washington UW assistant professor Kristi Morgansen. That's because Morgansen, with her 10,000-gallon UW test tank, has almost perfected an autonomous robofish, which needs only other robofish and a basic set of commands to operate wirelessly underwater. They'll be Cylons of the Sea. Like tuna, with nukes.
The Nereus is a kite-powered watercraft which looks like the product of an orgy between a hammerhead, a manta ray, a Japanese bike and a Storm Trooper. Inspired by kite-surfing, the designers of this water pod racer say that it will "achieve relatively high speeds on and under water." We don't know how high speed diving can be possible with the sea dragging you, but we know how you make it work.
A group of super-rich Silicon Valley nerds are sick of the man keeping them down. That's why they're planning to create their own sea-based country made up of floating structures that will be similar to oil rigs, but with houses and offices rather than, you know, oil rig stuff on board. And this isn't some conceptual plan; they're looking to have their first prototype in the San Francisco Bay within two years.
