i7 5fi by gregorcoush

JANUARY 2020

muse ÂŽ

40 Deep Chambers Cave divers are discovering the ancient past. by Steve Murray

FEATURES

The Krakenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s True Form

Scavenging for Knowledge

Artists at Sea

TurtleCam Videos reveal the secret life of sea turtles by Susan Hunnicutt

Searching for a mythical monster

Deep-sea research

Illuminating ocean mysteries

by Kathryn Hulick

by Chloe Nunn

by Catherine Brown

EPARTMENTS DEPARTMENTS 2

Parallel U: Bombplastic Muse News by Elizabeth Preston

Science@Work: Stefan Sievert by Rachel Kehoe

Timeline: Fathoming the Ocean

ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Carl Bereiter ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO John A. Brinkman

Your Tech by Kathryn Hulick

NATIONAL CREATIVITY NETWORK Dennis W. Cheek

Last Slice

COOPERATIVE CHILDREN’S BOOK CENTER, A LIBRARY OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON K. T. Horning

by Nancy Kangas

FREUDENTHAL INSTITUTE Jan de Lange

YOUR TURN 3 26

FERMILAB Leon Lederman UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Sheilagh C. Ogilvie

Muse Mail

WILLIAMS COLLEGE Jay M. Pasachoff

Hands-on: If You Were a Deep-Sea Dweller

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Paul Sereno

by Carrie Tillotson

MUSE magazine (ISSN 1090-0381) is published 9 times a year, monthly except for combined May/June, July/August, and November/December issues, by Cricket Media, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601. Additional Editorial Office located at 7926 Jones Branch Dr, Ste 870 McLean, VA 22102. Periodicals postage paid at McLean, VA, and at additional mailing offices. One-year subscription (9 issues) $33.95. Canadian and other foreign subscribers must add $15.00 per year and prepay in U.S. dollars. GST Registration Number 128950334. For address changes, back issues, subscriptions, customer service, or to renew, please visit shop. cricketmedia.com, email cricketmedia@cdsfulfillment.com, write to MUSE at Cricket Media, PO Box 6395, Harlan, IA 51593, or call 1-800-821-0115. Postmaster: Please send address changes to MUSE, Cricket Media, PO Box 6395, Harlan, IA 51593.

Q&A by Lizzie Wade

Do the Math: Can You Stand the Pressure?

Editorial ofﬁce, 70 E. Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601. January 2020, Volume 24, Number 01, © 2019, Cricket Media, Inc. All rights reserved, including right of reproduction in whole or in part, in any form. For information regarding our privacy policy and compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, please visit our website at cricketmedia.com or write to us at CMG COPPA, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601.

by Nick D’Alto

James M. “Sentry” O’Connor Johanna “Audacia” Arnone Kathryn “Hercules” Hulick Tracy “Callista” Vonder Brink Emily “McBoatface” Cambias Nicole “Nautilus” Welch Morgan “Alvin” Atkins Caanan “Falkor” Grall David “Challenger” Stockdale

BOARD OF ADVISORS

by Peg Lopata

Volume 24, Issue 01 DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ASSISTANT EDITOR ART DIRECTOR DESIGNER CARTOONIST RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

by Caanan Grall

JANUARY 2020

Contest: Undersea 3D

AARTI OKONKWO

C CHILDHOOD FRIEND O H HEIGHT 5'5" A AGE 13 BORN San Francisco B INTERESTS Art and design, engineering, nano constructs, e documentaries d ONCE SAID “Yeah, I kind O o of knew I was onto a major h historical discovery . . .”

Photo credits: C - Jordi Chias/NaturePL/Science Source; 3 (LT) Lubo Ivanko/Shutterstock.com, (BC) Emily Li/Shutterstock.com; 4 (RC) Jesus Cervantes/Shutterstock.com; 5 (RT) HeinzTeh/ Shutterstock.com; 6 (CC) Annette Shaff/Shutterstock.com; 7 (RB) Zhongda Zhang/Current Biology, (RB-2) Lida Xing; 8 (TC) David A Keegan, (LB) NASA/JPL, (RB) lineartestpilot/Shutterstock. com; 9 (TC) NUM LPPHOTO/Shutterstock.com, (TC-2) Damsea/Shutterstock.com; 12 (RT) Triton, 13 (LT) ERIKO SUGITA/REUTERS/Newscom; 17 (LT) Photo courtesy Stefan Sievert/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; 14, 15 (TC), (RB), 16 (LT), 17 (RT) Dr. Stefan Sievert; 15 (CC), 16 (RC), 17 (LB) MicroOne/Shutterstock.com; 18 (bkg) Evikka/Shutterstock.com, (CC) Rakshenko Ekaterina/Shutterstock.com; 19 (RT) National Oceanography Centre, UK., (LB) University of Southampton; 20 (TC) NOAA, (CC) KARL GAFF/Science Source, (RB) Flas100/Shutterstock.com; 20 (RB-2) Morphart Creation/Shutterstock.com; 21 (LT), (RT) National Oceanography Centre, UK; 22 (bkg) Bur_malin/Shutterstock.com, (TC) robuart/Shutterstock.com, (RB) PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo, (LC) magnola/Shutterstock.com; 27 (RC) De Agostini Picture Library, (LB) JUNIORS BILDARCHIV, (LC) History and Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo, (LT) Artmedia / Alamy Stock Photo; 28 (TC) Rebecca Rutstein, (border) Yauheniya Stryzhak/Shutterstock.com; 29 (RT), (RC), (BC) Karen Romano Young; 30 (LT), (RT), (RC) Adam Swanson; 31 (TC), (LC), (RC), (LB) Elizabeth Taber; 32 (LT), (CC), (BC) Michelle Schwengala-Regala; 33 (TC) Maryna Terletska/Shutterstock. com; 34-35 imageBROKER/SeaTops/Newscom; 36 (LT), 37 (LT) Cape Eleuthera Institute, 36 (LC), 37 (LC) Nathan J. Robinson; 40-41, 41 (RB), 42 (LT), 42-43, 43 (RB), 44 (LT), (LC), (RB), 45 (LT), (RT), (RC), (LB) courtesy of the Hoyo Negro Project; 47 (LT), (RT) VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SPL; BC - anmo/ Shutterstock.com.

Printed in the United States of America. 1st printing Quad Sussex, Wisconsin December 2019 From time to time, MUSE mails to its subscribers advertisements for other Cricket Media products or makes its subscriber list available to other reputable companies for their offering of products and services. If you prefer not to receive such mail, write to us at MUSE, PO Box 6395, Harlan, IA 51593-1895.

PARALLEL U

CAANAN GRALL

Not So Boring

Muse Mail

I am the Duchess of Sassytown (aka Dutch), and I want to declare that Muse is really cool. It’s so cool that I am writing this letter. My family usually gets boring magazines, but Muse is just about a trillion times better than those. I was also wondering if you could do an article about music and/or art. A cooking one would be sick as well. Food science is the best. I’m not going to threaten you to put this in an article, cause I’m not a crazy person. I’m a dragon person. And that’s a different kind of crazy . . . (O rocks! No offense though, sorry!) —THE DUCHESS OF SASSYTOWN / age 11 / New Hampshire

Gabbing about Goats

LETTER of the MONTH

I LOVE goats. They are my very favorite animal, as I have six goats at the moment, along with four cows, one donkey, three dogs, four cats, and 14 chickens. I’m REALLY wanting peacocks. Anyways I’ve mentioned that I have goats and we make soap out of their milk and then I saw the homemade soap recipe in the September 2018 issue and tried it, and it’s AWESOME! I was also wondering if you could do an article on goats? I know A LOT about them, but I think that if you did an article on them, then other people could see that goats truly are the greatest of all time!! People think goats are not smart and that they are smelly, but it’s not true. Goats are extremely smart; some scientists think just as or more intelligent than a dog, and I believe it! Also, if goats are kept right, they don’t stink very much! —GABRIELLE

Food! Science! Two of my favorites in one! I wonder if I can convince Ms. Acorn to let me back into the kitchens after the Jam Incident . . . —O

_________________

Is the Truth Out There?

I am a researcher of the Ancient Astronaut Theory, which is a funny, fake way of saying that I watch ancient alien shows with my dad. I read every magazine and I realize that in all the time that I’ve gotten them you’ve never talked about “ancient aliens.” Crop circle and Area 51 theories are my favorite topics. You should publish this, otherwise I will have you abducted! Thank you. Ms. Acorn, you are the best. . . . I wish you were my teacher. I love the rest of you too. —AUDREY / age 12 / the Unknown

Ah, goats. Smart, stubborn, sometimes a little smelly . . . reminds me of someone I know.

Greetings Audrey. Even though “ancient aliens” are made up, they make for some fun stories! Although . . . if I went to an alien planet, maybe I’d want to write my name in a field somewhere too.

—AARTI

Hey! —O

—MS. ACORN art by Lisa Fields

Muse Mail

be a veterinarian on the planet Earth. I HATE horror movies, and I don’t understand why people like them; I’ve been to Earth countless times (I am writing this in one of my trips to Earth); I have a dog; and my fave is Cate. Since it is improper for me to write a threat, which is happening a lot, I will write a positive note. If this letter gets published, I will send 59 packages of the planet’s best technology, (planet hx’s tech is 4,000 times better than Earth’s) to make your magazines better! Also, I will send cute hamsters (aka fuzzy little potatoes) to cuddle up with forever!

art by Matthew Billington

Fair and Balanced

Greetings from Michigan! My name is Kara. I have been reading/addicted to Muse since the November/December 2017 issue. Now to the point of this letter. In the May/June 2018 issue, Your Tech was asking the question, do bionic limbs give athletes an unfair advantage? It also asked if athletes with blade legs should compete with non-disabled athletes. First of all, it’s not a disability. Second of all, of course! I have a friend who has a blade leg, and it in no way makes her superhuman. I’m also asking if you will publish an article on prosthetics, and how they are made/work. —KARA G. / age 12 / Michigan

P. S. If this gets put in the FMP, I will send all the dragons of Pyrrhia to attack HQ! _________________

Written with Squid Ink

My name is X-2 Xyxa. No, I’m not an alien! Why do you land-creatures always assume that?! I’m a mermaid. I mean, I always thought that was so obvious. I suppose you are wondering how I read Muse,

seeing as I live underwater. Well, I simply put my address as “anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean.” No, the mailman doesn’t think that’s weird! You humans. Sigh . . .

—THE DUCHESS / age 11

_________________

—X-2 XYXA / age 11 / the Atlantic

P.S. X-2 Xyxa is obviously pronounced “Ella,” which is totally not my real name. P.P.S. O, you are crazy! Which is why I like you. _________________

Vet from Beyond the Stars

Hello from the planet of hx! (Pronounced “hawks.”) You see, I am the archduchess of this planet (yes, planets can have an archduchess). The queen wanted me to tell you that our fellow subjects enjoy your magazines very much! I don’t know if I’m allowed to add my own thoughts, but I am, so please don’t tell her. I have been interested in veterinary medicine, and I mean, A LOT! So, I’ve been wondering, if you can perhaps maybe publish an issue about the topic? Some fun facts about me, the archduchess of the planet hx: I am a Hufflepuff, and I want to

Critter Collector

I have been sent only three issues of Muse, and I already love it! I have 39, yes, 39 stuffed teddy bears! Plus my dog, who is basically a bear cub because she’s so fluffy. I think you should write an article about cell structures because I think it’s really interesting. I learned a little about it last year in science, but it was so complicated I forgot. I want to remember it this time, so if you write an article, I will be very happy. If you throw this in the FMP, I will send all 39 bears and my dog after you and you will regret it. But if you publish this, it will me really really excited and I will bounce around until my legs hurt. —LILLY / age 12/ Massachusetts

Peachy Keen

I am PeachCat the cat warrior! This is my first time writing to you. My favorite character is O. I played with the HPBs, and they thought I was one of them. Hey, O, did you know that eating too many beets makes your insides pinks? This is PeachCat over and out! —PEACHCAT / Pennsylvania

Ummm, thanks PeachCat. I gave O the message and then immediately regretted it when I saw just how many beets he piled onto his lunch plate. —CATE

Lots o’ Lego Love

Greetings from Lego King Adam! First, I want to say that I LOVE LEGOS! So send me some (don’t tell my mom— she’ll just send them back). By the way, what is the FMP anyway? I have robotic Legos. My favorite music is the Beach Boys. Do I have anything else to say? Oh yes, I do! Can you please create an issue about Legos? Please? —ADAM K. / Virginia

P.S. If you throw this into the FMP, I will send my army of MINDSTORMS—trust me, I will!!—to not just destroy your headquarters but you too!!

_________________

Dangerous Bounty

If You Can’t Get Fresh, Store-bought Is Fine

I am an alien bounty hunter from the Planet Er’Kit. Am I a friend or foe? Well, if this ends up in the fan mail pit (FMP), I will be your most powerful enemy! If not, I will be your ally. Maybe. To make sure you stay on my good side, follow my instructions: Put O and Whatsi in the magazine more. Publish this letter. Follow those instructions and I will be your friend and your fan. Don’t? My molecule disruptor will disintegrate Muse HQ. What is with all the HPBs? I could crush them all if I wanted to! I will, too, if I see 10 more show up. I love reading your magazines!

Congratulations, Muse HQ! You have received the Fan Letter Starter Kit! This contains everything you need to create your own fan letter like others have been sending you. Inside, you’ll find:

—JASON M. / New Hampshire

Thanks for purchasing the Starter Kit! If you have questions, my number is useless. The only way to contact me is by filling a human skull with sea urchins from the Mariana Trench and shaking it vigorously into the night. I will hear you eventually.

What’s up, potential ally. I’m a fan of alien bounty hunters and not at all a fan of people who crush innocent bystanders. Just FYI. —WHATSI

1 pouch of greeting (Hello, my name is _____ and I love Muse so much!) 16 gallons of personal info, often fabricated (I am a _____ and I live in ____. I am ____ years old, etc.) A box of recently read mags (I just re-read Issue _______ [date]) 3 pinches of requests for articles (I’d LOVE it if you could do a magazine on ______) A peck of hobbies and interests (I’d love to be a ____ and I’m passionate about ____) 1 plea for mercy (Please do not put this in the fan mail pit, aka the FMP, or I’ll ______) *Note, the plea for mercy can end in one of two ways: an empty threat (I’ll send an army of _____ after you! Mwahahaha!) or an anti-empty threat (Sadly, I do not have ______, but I’ll just be very sad).

—HELENA “CALIMOUSIE” L. / age 12

Something to say? Send letters to Muse Mail, 70 E. Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601, or email them to muse@cricketmedia.com.

Muse News PSYCHOLOGY

Are You Stressing Out Your Dog?

hen humans feel anxious, they may make their pets more stressed too. Researchers saw this when they studied 58 pairs of dogs and female owners in Sweden. At two times during the year, the researchers analyzed pieces of dog fur and human hair from their subjects. They looked for cortisol, a hormone that goes up when we’re stressed.

When people had more cortisol, their dogs had more cortisol too. Questionnaires showed that dogs’ cortisol wasn’t linked to the dogs’ personalities. But it was linked to the personalities of their owners. The scientists think that when humans are stressed, it rubs off on their canine pets. Dogs catch our bad feelings like a cold. It makes sense, because dogs live closely with us and are experts at reading our body language. (Think about how your pup looks for the tiniest clues that you’re about to take her for a walk.) To help your dog chill out, may we suggest a nice belly rub?

One of these stories is FALSE. Can you spot which one? The answer is on page 46.

This is an illustration, not a photo. Honestly.

TECH DESK

Where No Drone Has Gone Before NASA IS PLANNING A MISSION that will be the first of its kind. Engineers will send a drone to Titan, a moon of Saturn. Scientists think Titan is similar to Earth in its early days. At about -290º Fahrenheit (-179º C), though, it’s much colder. The drone, called Dragonfly, will zip around Titan for more than two and a half years. It wiill land in many different environments to gather data. Researchers hope that data will teach them more about how life may have arisen on Earth, billions of years ago. Don’t hold your breath, though. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch in 2026. That means it won’t reach Titan until 2034.

PALEONTOLOGY

My, What a Big Toe You Have ›› FOR THE FIRST TIME, scientists have discovered an ancient bird species trapped in amber. Amber is an orange-colored stone made of fossilized tree goo. It’s better known for holding prehistoric bugs. But in a chunk of amber about 100 million years old from Myanmar, researchers found a bird foot. And the bird it belonged to must have been pretty weird. The foot has four toes, like most of today’s birds. But the third toe is much longer than all the others. Researchers don’t know of any other bird—ancient or modern—that has feet quite like this. They think the big-toed bird is a new species. They named it Elektorornis chenguangi. The bird likely lived in trees, where it might have used its super-long toe to dig bugs out of branches.

Muse News

Nora Keegan’s published research showed that hand dryers are often dangerously loud. Her school has now installed quieter dryers! ACOUSTICS

Better Than a Baking-Soda Volcano FOR ONE CANADIAN KID, the end of the science fair didn’t mean the end of her research. She turned her project on loud hand dryers into a published scientific paper. Nora Keegan’s research started as her fifth-grade science fair project. She wondered whether hand dryers in public restrooms could hurt kids’ hearing. Children

have more sensitive ears than adults, and their heads are closer to the dryers. Nora and her parents started visiting public restrooms in places like restaurants, libraries, and schools and measuring sound levels from dryers. For the science fair in sixth grade, Nora continued her research. She visited a total of 44 dryers and tested how loud they

were at different heights, with or without hands below them. Many of the dryers were dangerously loud, she found. In seventh grade, Nora wrote up a scientific paper describing her study. A Canadian journal published the paper last summer. That’ll be hard to top in next year’s science fair.

UP IN SPACE

Mars Burps IN JUNE 2019, the Mars rover called Curiosity sniffed out the largest amount of methane gas it’s ever found on the planet. Days later, the gas was gone. The source of the red planet’s giant burp is still a mystery. The methane might have a geological source—or it might have come from Martian microbes.

SEA SALAD

Sea Cucumbers Have a New Cousin AS SOON AS SCIENTISTS SPOTTED THIS BIZARRE CREATURE, they knew what they had to name it. The sighting came from a robotic submarine that was exploring the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Through the vehicle’s camera, a tube-shaped animal appeared. It was crawling on the sea floor. It looked sort of like a sea cucumber, with a long, squishy body. But instead of being cucumber-shaped, the animal was

That’s the news! Go to page 46 to see if you spotted the false story story.

tapered. One end was wide, and the other end formed a narrow point. And the critter’s skin was bright orange. The researchers called it a sea carrot. Because this is the first time anyone has glimpsed a sea carrot, scientists still have many questions about the new species. What does it eat? Where does it live? Because the animal scooted in both directions, it’s not even clear which end is its head.

The

Krakenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; s True Form HOW D OES THE SE ARCH FOR A MY THICAL SE A MONSTER END? by Kathryn Hulick

Centuries ago, stories chronicled beasts that could swallow ships.

illustrations by Gordy Wright

he submersible dives down, deeper and deeper. The color of the surrounding water fades from blue green to rich blue and finally to gray-black. Suddenly, out of the blackness, a jellyfish covered with dancing lights appears.

It’s a lovely sight. But the people inside the bright yellow Triton submersible are not looking for small creatures, no matter how flashy. They have come to the Ogasawara islands of Japan on this summer day in 2012 to search for a massive beast. Its eyes are each the same size as a human head. It grabs prey using eight long arms and two even longer feeding tentacles. With these tentacles stretched out, it can reach the height of a four-story building. On each of its arms and tentacles, hundreds of suction cups with sharp, serrated edges cut into whatever it grabs. It devours each meal with a sharp beak and toothed tongue. Inside its body, three hearts beat, pushing blue blood through the creature’s veins. And its skin changes color, shimmering through hues of metallic silver and bronze. Should any other creature try to attack it, the beast sprays out a cloud of jetblack ink. This cloaks its escape. On this dive, the group fails to find what they’re looking for. But they will keep trying. What is this monster they seek? Could it possibly be real?

Mythical Monsters Sea monsters have swum through myth and folklore as far back as the thirteenth century, when The Saga of Arrow-Odd, an Icelandic romance, mentioned a beast called Hafgufa that swallowed men and ships. In 1555, Olaus Magnus, an archbishop in Sweden, described and illustrated several sea monsters, writing that one of these beasts could drown many great ships. In 1755, bishop Erik Pontoppidan described the kraken, a beast so large it resembles a string of small islands. He wrote it was “round, flat, and full of arms, or branches.” When a kraken rises to the surface, he writes, smart fishermen “take to their oars and get away as fast as they can.”

Scientists used a yellow Triton submersible to seek the giant squid.

In 1874, the London Times published an account of a huge, squid-like beast attacking a ship called the Pearl in the Indian Ocean. According to this story, a passing vessel rescued the captain, James Floyd, and several crew members. Floyd reported that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Monstrous arms like trees seized the vessel and she keeled over; in another second the monster was aboard . . .â&#x20AC;? Next, the crew apparently fought the beast with axes, but in the end, it pulled the ship under water.

The Real Kraken Sailors and fishermen are famous for telling tales. Many stories of the kraken veer far from reality. For example, the existence of the Pearl and its captain has never been verified. Nickell discovered that the London Times reprinted the story of a kraken attack on a ship from a British paper in India. Most likely, the story is fiction, inspired by author Jules Verne. His hugely popular science-fiction book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, published five years before the London Times story, described

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“We’ve done it,” exclaimed marine biologist Tsunemi Kubodera on a 2012 dive.

“I was now the possessor of one of the rarest curiosities in the whole animal kingdom—the veritable tentacle of the hitherto mythical devilfish, about whose existence naturalists have been disputing for centuries.” an almost identical battle in which a ship’s crew wielded axes against a huge, many-armed creature. However, it’s also true that dead bodies of large, many-armed sea creatures with toothy suction cups and giant eyes have been washing up on beaches for hundreds of years. The earliest known record comes from Iceland in 1639. The description of the creature states that it had seven tails densely covered with a type of button. These were likely tentacles with suction cups. In 1673, another one washed ashore in Ireland. Carl Linnaeus, the scientist who founded the modern method of classifying animals, described the kraken as a cephalopod mollusk in 1735. And in 1853, after the body of a huge, dead squid washed up on a beach in Denmark, naturalist Japetus Steenstrup recovered the beak and used it to give the species a new name, Architeuthis monachus, the giant squid.

A few years later, fishermen in Newfoundland managed to recover a tentacle and gave it to naturalist Reverand Moses Harvey. In an 1899 article, he wrote, “I was now the possessor of one of the rarest curiosities in the whole animal kingdom—the veritable tentacle of the hitherto mythical devilfish, about whose existence naturalists have been disputing for centuries.” Clearly, the kraken was not as huge or bloodthirsty as the legends made it out to be. But it was real. It was the giant squid. Still, the creature remained shrouded in mystery. As of 2012, no one had ever seen one alive in its natural habitat. That was about to change.

An Alien Encounter The Triton descends once more. This time, marine biologist Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo is on board. Dim red lights peer into the

surrounding water. Most deep ocean animals can’t see the deepest shades of red. But they can see the bait, a 3-foot- (1-m-) long squid tied to a string that trails from the sub. It sports a flashing light lure. Two hours pass. Then, out of the blackness, something appears. It reaches for the bait with long, suction-cupped arms. “It’s a giant squid! We’ve done it!” An excited Kubodera says in Japanese. He takes a chance and turns on the sub’s bright white lights, but the creature does not swim away. It feeds for 23 minutes as Kubodera and his colleagues watch, in awe. They are the first humans to come eye to eye with a giant squid in the deep sea. When it finally leaves, Kubodera leans back, staring upwards. All he can say is, “Oh!” There’s no doubt about it. The giant squid is a real sea monster. And even more amazing, unknown creatures likely remain hidden in Earth’s oceans. We have better maps of the surface of Mars and Venus than of the ocean floor. What could be down there? No one knows. Edith Widder, a marine biologist who took part in the expedition that filmed the giant squid, says that she welcomes any opportunity to explore the world’s lakes and oceans. Exploring “opens up possibilities of seeing things we couldn’t have imagined are there.” Every day, scientists explore the world, seeking the answers to unsolved mysteries. It took centuries of scientific research and experimentation to finally reveal the giant squid hiding behind the mystery of the kraken. What other mysteries remain to be discovered and solved? The only way to find out is to get out there and look. STRANGE BUT TRUE Copyright © 2019 by Kathryn Hulick and Gordy Wright. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, Beverly, MA

Science@Work

by Rachel Kehoe

STEFAN SIEVERT MICROBIOLOGIST Stefan Sievert has a PhD in microbial ecology and works at the world-renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. He studies microbes in one of nature’s most challenging environments: hydrothermal vents. For Sievert, what makes these tiny life forms fascinating is what they do to live and grow. Unlike surface organisms that depend on energy from the sun, microbes have evolved to survive using chemosynthesis—a process where they use fluid from cracks in the sea floor as fuel. Sievert’s research investigates the growth of these microscopic organisms and how their appetite for chemical-filled fluid helps feed the surrounding ecosystem.

The robotic arm of the research sub Alvin holds an Isobaric Gas-Tight sampler. Somewhat like a straw, it can suck in microbefilled vent fluid from below the seafloor.

WHAT HOOKED YOUR INTEREST IN MICROBIOLOGY? I was fascinated by how individual microbes are so small and yet have such a significant impact on the planet. Despite their size, combined they form the largest biomass [or one habitat’s amount of living matter] in the ocean. I wanted to know how microbes create energy and how they function as the engine of life in the deep sea. ________________

microbial adaptations at vents could help us understand stomach illnesses. Working out how microbes behave under different conditions may help us better understand the impacts of climate change. ________________

WHERE DID YOUR MOST RECENT EXPEDITION TAKE YOU? I lead a team of researchers to visit Crab Spa, a well-known hydrothermal vent located 600 miles [480 km] off the coast of Manzanillo, Mexico. This ecosystem is home to crabs, giant clams, and red-headed tubeworms up to 5 feet [1.5 m] long. Inside Alvin, a threeperson research submarine, the pilot manipulates the robotic arms to collect fluid samples of microbes living below the seafloor.

COULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RESEARCH AT THE WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION? We collect and study samples of microbes to understand how they have adapted to extreme conditions, what chemicals they consume, and how fast they grow. Exploring how deep-sea microbes function can help us understand their impact on humans and the planet. For example, investigating

Science@Work

Exploring how deepsea microbes function can help us understand their impact on humans and the planet.â&#x20AC;?

WHAT TOOLS HELP YOU COLLECT SAMPLES? Taking samples can be challenging work. Some microbes live at the surface of deep-sea vents, but many others live below the sea floor where it is difficult to reach. To solve this problem, scientists use an Isobaric Gas-Tight sampler that sucks in microbe-filled vent fluid like using a straw. These samplers are made of titanium and maintain the same high pressure of the deep sea as they travel back to the surface to be studied. Our newest device, called the Vent-SID (Submersible Incubation Device), allows us to collect fluids and measure the activities of the microbes directly at the ocean floor. Being able to study samples as close as possible to the natural conditions will help us to refine our estimates. ________________

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST EXCITING DISCOVERY? I was surprised to learn that the microbes sampled from Crab Spa doubled their population in just a few hours! This research confirms that the microbial communities at hydrothermal vents are one of the oceanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most productive ecosystems. We estimate that they can produce 4,000 tons of carbon each day. The biomass created by these microbes is crucial in supporting life higher up the food chain. ________________

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE? The pressure in the deep ocean is immense. At Crab Spa, which is 1.5 miles [2.4 km] below sea level, the pressure is 3,600 pounds [1,600 kg] per square inch, enough to crush a Styrofoam cup into a tiny thimble. These conditions represent a challenge for engineers because they cause technology, like the Vent-SID, to malfunction. This is frustrating, but part of working in the deep sea.

Got the sample!

Yes! Now our seafloor aquarium will be complete.

CHEMOSYNTHESIS: FUELING LIFE IN THE DARK ››

Scientists pose with the new Vent-SID (Submersible Incubation Device), which measures microbial activity at the ocean ﬂoor.

Another concern is the threat of human activities, like deep-sea mining. This activity has the potential to disturb and even destroy entire vent ecosystems, including microbial communities. Once mined, the chance to learn about that particular vent site would be lost. ________________

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A MICROBIOLOGIST? I enjoy being able to follow my curiosity and to tackle unsolved scientific questions. That’s really fun! The opportunity to collaborate with experts from other fields is also fascinating. I meet and collaborate with biologists, geochemists, and oceanographers from all over the world. Working as a team allows us to improve our understanding of how microbes function. ________________

DO MYSTERIES REMAIN? The deep-sea still holds many secrets. Scientists have explored less than 20 percent of the deep sea. We don’t know how many microbes metabolize chemicals from the sea floor or why some microbes become more dominant under different conditions. We also need to discover and explore the microbe composition at other hydrothermal vents and compare their levels of productivity. There is plenty to discover and no shortage of work for the next generation of ocean explorers. Rachel Kehoe is a science writer and diver. If she ever gets to visit the ocean ﬂoor, she would like to bring along a Styrofoam cup to shrink in the deep-sea pressure (then bring it back to the surface to be recycled)!

In 1977, near the Galapagos Islands, scientists were shocked to discover large concentrations of life surrounding hydrothermal vents. Enormous clams, giant tube worms, and hairy crabs huddled near volcanic cracks that spewed boiling water from the sea ﬂoor. These animal communities weren’t believed to be possible in the deep ocean. At the time, scientists thought all life depended on energy from the sun, either through photosynthesis or by eating organisms produced by photosynthesis. How could this oasis of life exist in total darkness? The answer was chemosynthesis. In the absence of sunlight, microbes have evolved to use energy from the chemicals in vent water. First, they consume the methane or hydrogen sulﬁde that bubbles up from hydrothermal vents. Inside the microbe, these chemicals are oxidized, and oxygen and carbon dioxide are mixed in. With this process, the microbe can make sugar for fuel and expel the excess as sulfur and water. Free-living microbes are either eaten by vent organisms or they form what are called symbiotic relationships. For example, microbes work together with tubeworms, and the two species depend on each other for survival. The tubeworm provides chemicals and protection for the microbes that live in their tissue. In return, the tubeworm receives food from the sugar the microbes produce. Many different species live at hydrothermal vents, and they all depend on chemosynthetic microbes to survive.

Scavenging for

Knowledge A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF DEEP-SEA RESEARCH

by Chloe Nunn

carefully lifted the small glass vial from the box and gently pulled its cap off. Careful not to spill the ethanol on my clothes, I slowly poured a little onto the microscope tray. Then I used tweezers to lift out the preserved specimen. It was a deep-sea amphipod about the same size as a grain of rice. I typed the information into my spreadsheet as I went . . . date: February 20, 2017 . . . specimen number 417. Peering down the microscope, I carefully measured and dissected the specimen. These tiny amphipods live in the deepest parts of Earth’s blue oceans. Humans have explored space and looked back at our blue planet. More than two thirds of it is covered in water. But how and why do we dive down deep to study the depths? Over the years, technology available to marine scientists has improved immensely. As a young oceanographer, I am lucky enough to be able to use satellite data to measure t hings like primary production—the use of carbon dioxide and nutrients by tiny phytoplankton. However, a lot of what we can see and measure from space is limited to looking at the surface of the oceans. We can gauge the depth of the ocean from space, but what’s contained within is largely a mystery.

Out to Sea Even up close and personal, from the deck of a research vessel, we require tools to help us understand what’s happening below the surface. Five years ago, I stepped onto Research Vessel Callista for the first time as a bright-eyed marine science student. We used one of the most basic methods for sampling the seafloor: we lowered a large Scientists release an amphipod trap. Then they wait.

one pulled a trigger, and it clamped shut. A few tes later we hauled it back up to the boat, and quantities of mud and water spilled out across deck. We trawled through the limpets, crabs, squirts, and occasional sea stars, learning ut the local biology. As my interests developed, anted to learn about deeper, darker realms. ith that came new methodologies. It can take a few hours for a remote-controlled hicle or submersible to reach the abyssal plain. t an average of 2.48 miles (4 km) deep, the byssal plain is the standard seafloor for most f the ocean. Scientists like to make the most of a trip down to the seafloor. That’s true whether ta ssel Callis e V h c r a e Res

Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Discoverer captures high-definition video in the deep ocean. It can also take biological and geological samples.

they are down there themselves Canyons are more likely to occur or operating the vehicle from the where a river meets the ocean. ship. Most of the deep-sea vehicles Great volumes of water sweeping have high-tech arms, which can down from big rivers, such as be equipped with a range of tools the Congo in Africa, don’t mix and attachments. These allow with surrounding ocean water researchers to collect specimens immediately. The currents they Tiny amphipods or deposit traps and cameras. By create can dislodge sediment on are a keystone leaving a trap on the seafloor, marine the seafloor as it slopes down to species. scientists can return later and hopefully the abyssal plain, causing underwater find a far larger collection of specimens landslides. New canyons help these than if they’d personally waited for hours, or even processes continue, funneling sediment deeper days! My amphipod specimens were collected by this and deeper. Mixed in with the sediment are nutrients that method—from the depths of a canyon. are vital for supporting life in the depths. Due to the higher Canyons and trenches occur in a number of places concentration of nutrients and the currents in canyons, throughout our oceans. The most famous is probably they support more kinds of life than the open space of the the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It stretches abyssal plain. down almost 7 miles (11 km) ; that’s deeper than Everest is tall! Trenches typically appear in places where tectonic plates are shifting towards one another.

I FOUND A NEW SPECIES! NOW WHAT?

When studying newly discovered species, it’s important to describe them scientifically so future researchers can identify them easily. How? It starts with genetic testing and physical dissection. The species also requires an official description, a very accurate drawing, a technical description, and notes on key elements of its lifecycle and lifestyle. This info is usually published in a taxonomic key, along with other descriptions for similar and related species.

➜ ial description: Notes for offic g organs n » 10 light-sensi ot » 1 muscular fo n » no exoskeleto es sticking off of body ag ing » many append lers near digestive tract open e » water filled fe » 2 feet long

Using a microscope, scientists sort samples of deep-ocean amphipods.

Tiny Crustaceans Amphipods are tiny crustaceans similar to shrimp. They often live in these canyons and scavenge for nutrientrich particles. Amphipods are a food source for larger organisms, fueling the food chain and ultimately the species that humans catch and eat. There are thousands upon thousands of amphipod species all over the world in fresh and salty water, from the surface to the deep sea. We can think of amphipods as a keystone species—one that helps indicate how healthy an ecosystem is—because they are so common across the oceans. This was a factor in my decision to study them. Well, that and the fact that it’s cool to learn about a species so very different to ourselves. In deep ocean science, we are constantly learning new things and discovering new species. This makes studying amphipods a challenge in itself, because first you have to work out if the specimen you’ve collected is a new organism or not. Scientists start by baiting traps with tasty fish, setting them on the ocean floor, and leaving them for a period of time . When these traps are collected, they count the organisms that have accumulated and separate them by species. Then they ship off the most interesting ones to labs around the world, including mine!

Highlights and Lowlights

Chloe Nunn is a 2018 National Geographic Explorer and budding oceanographer. She loves the deep-sea’s mysteries and hopes to travel there one day.

To me one of the most interesting aspects of my study was the fact that I didn’t directly observe how my amphipod species lives its life. Instead, I compared what I knew about it to studies of similar species. This allowed me to make assumptions about its lifestyle. Amphipods have excellent “smell” detecting abilities because large food falls are few and far between, even when funneled by canyons. For some female amphipods, finding these food falls is especially important because they must gorge themselves before reproducing. The eggs they produce and carry obscure their stomachs, preventing them from feeding. So they can only breed once in their lifetime. I discovered that my sample of amphipods was mostly female adults that had not quite reproduced.

By the end of my studies, I was keenly aware of the difficulties in studying deep-sea organisms. The challenges are not just limited to accessing their habitats. It’s also tough to locate the organisms themselves. Finding amphipods in the deep, open ocean is like finding needles in a haystack. Scientists sometimes use trawls to scoop up whatever is in the sea around them, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll get what they are looking for. The presence of our equipment also has an impact on which species we collect. The traps are designed to copy a food fall, as if the carcass of a fish has made its way from the surface to the deep. However, in some amphipod species, males may not congregate at large food falls, opting for smaller morsels to eat. Autonomous underwater vehicles (UAVs), such as the UK’s Boaty McBoatface autosub, may one day let us gather biological data in hard-to-access areas. Later I presented my research at a big sustainability symposium. Naturally, I completely forgot to use the notes I’d carefully written. But after the nerves wore off, I could only feel excited that so many people were actually interested in what I’d spent the last year doing! The meeting gave me the opportunity to hear more about human activities that affect amphipods. Offshore oil exploration is one example. The process of looking for oil in the seafloor can be disruptive. It may reduce the availability of food for deep-sea organisms. Because of the critical role amphipods play in the ecosystem, problems in their food supply can be very bad indeed. Habitats further from human activities aren’t guaranteed to be safe either. Scientists found plastic particles in the stomach of an amphipod at the bottom of the Mariana Trench! As populations of keystone species decrease, the food sources for larger organisms, like the fish we want to eat, start disappearing too. Amphipods and humans seem to be worlds apart. And yet harm to rarely seen organisms in the deepest darkest depths of the ocean could end up hurting us in the not-too-distant future.

TIMELINE

Fathoming the Ocean A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANS EXPLORING THE DEPTHS by Peg Lopata

Cornelius Drebbel, Dutch engineer and inventor, builds the first submarine.

1521

1620

1690

Ferdinand Magellan attempts to measure the depth of the Pacific Ocean. He uses a 2,400-foot (about 730-m) weighted line but does not touch bottom. This method to reach the bottom of the sea uses what is called a sounding line.

English scientist Edmond Halley builds the first diving bell, a chamber to transport divers into deep water with a continuous air supply. Dimitri Rebikoff, underwater surveyor and oceanographer, creates the first fully developed remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Poodle. ROVs are attached to a surface vehicle. They are unoccupied, highly maneuverable underwater robots operated by someone at the water surface. They typically have cameras, thrusters, and lights. Some have mechanical arms to lift, move, or grab objects.

1957

1953

Sputnik 1, the world’s first satellite, launches from the Soviet Union. This begins the use of space-based technologies for science research, including ocean floor exploration. Jean de Wouters, a Belgian engineer, designs the first successful underwater 35-mm commercial camera.

Jacques Cousteau’s team builds the first research submarine, the “Diving Saucer.”

1959

A bathyscaphe carrying Don Walsh, an American oceanographer, and Jacques Picard, a Swiss oceanographer, explores the section within the Mariana Trench called the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.

960

* THE FIRST, DEEPEST DIVE

It was 60 years ago this month that the first humans reached the deepest part of the deepest ocean on Earth. US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard boarded the Trieste on the morning of January 23, 1960 and descended about 7 miles (11 km) down into the Mariana Trench to test the limits of their submersible. The Trieste was a bathyscaphe, a huge gasoline-filled tank with a tiny sphere suspended underneath for the crew. Because gasoline is lighter than water, the explorers could control their descent by releasing it gradually to the ocean. Along the way, Walsh and Piccard heard a loud “crack” as water pressure built up around them but decided to continue when everything else seemed normal. They reached the bottom after about five hours . . . and saw swimming sea creatures, something scientists didn’t expect in such a cold, dark place. After 20 minutes, they started back up. Today, Walsh lives in Oregon and has seen many technological advances since his famous dive. “Unmanned vehicles will do most of the future work,” he says, “but there will always be a place for [humans] in deep ocean exploration.” He adds, “I was glad to be there at the beginning a half century ago.”

—Steve Murray

Lewis Nixon, American naval architect, invents the first sonar-like listening device to detect icebergs. With sonar onboard, a ship can send sound waves toward the ocean floor. When the sound waves hit the bottom, they bounce back to the surface. Sonar receivers use the returned signals to determine the depths of the seafloor.

1872–1876

1906

Scientists aboard the British expedition ship HMS Challenger determine ocean depths by means of wire-line soundings and discover a mountain chain of about 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in the Atlantic Ocean. The Challenger expedition collects data from the sea surface down to the seafloor using new methods and technologies, such as deep-sea winches and specialized ropes for lowering equipment. Scientists develop many new tools for ocean exploration, including deep-ocean camera systems, sidescan sonar instruments, and early technology for guiding underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

1943

1939–1945

Jacques Cousteau, French Navy diver and undersea explorer, and Emile Gagnan, French engineer, invent the “Aqua-Lung,” a breathing device for divers.

The first operational multibeam sounding system is installed on an American navy ship. It makes soundings to the left, right and vertically beneath a ship in a fan wave which makes it possible to create a relatively accurate map of a section of the sea floor.

1963

1930 A bathysphere takes explorer and inventor William Beebe to about 3,000 feet (915 m) below the surface of the ocean.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s human-occupied vehicle (HOV), Alvin, makes its first dives.

Satellite radar altimetry debuts. It measures the time a radar pulse takes to travel from the satellite antenna to the surface and back to the satellite receiver. Satellite altimeters collect data from the surface of the sea down to the sea floor.

1964

1969 23

TIMELINE

Skylab, first satellite to carry an altimeter—a device that measures altitude—launches. This aids the development of the first maps of the seafloor.

1970

1978

ANGUS, a deep-towed camera sled, takes thousands of high-resolution photographs of the seafloor during a single day.

Sentry, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), launches on its first scientific mission. It can explore the ocean down to 3.7 miles (6,000 m) deep.

2009

2008

Nereus, an unmanned remotely operated craft, ventures into the Challenger Deep. The Nereus is a hybrid of an autonomous drone and a remote controlled ROV. Eye in the Sea, a camera invented by Edie Widder, is installed on the Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS) on the ocean floor to make video observations of deep-sea animals. Filmmaker James Cameron reaches the seabed in the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep in the Deepsea Challenger.

2012

The Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) Limiting Factor submarine completes four dives to the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. DSV Limiting Factor submarine finds a spot deeper in the Mariana Trench than ever found before.

2019 24

Jason, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system designed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, gives scientists access to the seafloor without leaving the deck of a ship.

1985 Argo, an unmanned deep-towed undersea video camera sled developed through Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s Deep Submergence Laboratory, finds the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The towed sled, capable of operating depths at of 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), brings 98 percent of the ocean floor within reach.

2005

1988

Worldwide mapping of the seafloor from space significantly enhances accuracy over earlier images of the ocean basin. The Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), a free-swimming robot, a new kind of deepsubmergence vehicle, launches. Unconnected to a surface ship and not occupied by people, ABE can survey wide swaths of undersea territory on dives that last up to a day.

1995

Autonomous underwater robots that can “think” on their own explore places we can’t get to. These robots may not require continuous contact with engineers so they can explore more remote recesses of the seafloor.

Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) makes data from the seas and seafloor accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week to anyone with an internet connection.

2013

2016

A benthic lander, or untethered free vehicle, named Audacia deploys on the Atacamex Expedition, allowing Chilean researchers to make the first observations and gather samples from the world’s longest trench, the Atacama Trench.

2018

Seabed 2030 launches with the goal to map the entire floor of the Earth’s oceans by 2030.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute deploys benthic event detectors, or BEDs, in the upper part of Monterey Canyon. A BED is a “smart boulder”—a motion-sensing instrument that can be placed on the canyon floor.

2017 25

Hands-On

Carrie Tillotson

IF YOU WERE A DEEP-SEA DWELLER MATCH ANIMALS WITH THEIR ADAPTATIONS! WHAT IF ONE DAY YOU WOKE UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA? You’d face some serious survival challenges. Challenges like navigating pitch-black waters, hunting for scarce food, enduring extreme cold, and withstanding crushing pressure. What adaptations might you need to survive? Try on the adaptations below to see what life might be like as a deep-sea dweller. Then match each adaptation with a real deep-sea animal. Many creatures use these features to survive and thrive in the deep. (Answers are on page 46.)

IF YOU WERE A DEEP-SEA DWELLER, YOU MIGHT . . .

1 2 3 4 5 26

. . . be bioluminescent: If you were bioluminescent, you could escape deep-sea predators with your alarm system. When a predator approaches, you could put on a ﬂashy show. Your display would distract and scare off bigger animals—or attract the attention of something that’s more interested in eating your enemy than you. That predator would never bother you again!

. . . be giant: If you were a deep-sea giant, you might grow i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y slowly. The extreme cold of the deep would slow your body’s processes. Slow growth to adulthood would mean you’d live longer. And you’d grow bigger and bigger. Even bigger than all your friends and relatives!

. . . be invisible: If your body had reddish coloring, you could disappear into the depths. At the sea’s surface, you would appear red. Your skin would reﬂect red light from the sun. But red light does not penetrate the deep sea. At these depths, no red light would be available for your skin to reﬂect. You could swim about, blending in with the blackness around you.

. . . be collapsible: If you had collapsible lungs, you could dive deep without worrying about pressure changes. At the ocean’s surface, the weight of the air pushes on you with the pressure of one atmosphere. But 3,280 feet (1,000 m) down, the pressure is equal to about 100 atmospheres. Imagine 100 elephants stacked and standing on top of you. That pressure is a problem for animals with bodies containing pockets of air. It can cause organs like lungs to rupture. But if you had collapsible lungs, you could dive deep, no problem!

. . . be a scavenger: If you were a deep-sea scavenger, your meals might be few and far between. You would have to make the most of what little food drifts your way. But sometimes feasts as large as a dead whale would fall to the seaﬂoor. To ﬁll your appetite, you may need new eating habits, like feasting on the remains of enormous mammals!

VAMPIRE SQUID

A vampire squid is not a true squid. Nor is it an octopus. This squid-relative’s reddish-brown color keeps it concealed from predators as it swims through the inky black waters of the deep.

ATOLLA JELLY

An Atolla jelly has a unique defense mechanism— a built-in alarm system. When a predator attacks, the jellyfish flashes a brilliant display of pulsing lights. The lights attract the attention of larger nearby predators. These larger predators then ambush the earlier attacker, and the jellyfish makes a hasty getaway.

CUVIER’S BEAKED WHALE

Zombie worms don’t eat brains. They eat bones. Larvae drift through the ocean until they ﬁnd whale carcasses. Then they burrow their roots into the bones. But zombie worms have no mouths or stomachs. Instead, an acid they produce dissolves fat and oils inside the bone. Bacteria in the worms’ roots digest the fat and oils. Scientists aren’t sure how the worms get nutrients from the bacteria. But one thing’s certain: this is one strange food fad!

GIANT ISOPOD

You may have seen the giant isopod’s well-known land relatives in your backyard—pill bugs. Pill bugs are only about as long as your ﬁngernail. But a giant isopod can grow as long as your forearm.

What one word would you use to describe yourself, Cate?

Adaptable!

Carrie Tillotson is not a deep-sea dweller, but she is a writer and certiﬁed scuba diver. She once saw an eagle ray and puffer ﬁsh while diving and would love to one day travel in a submersible.

The Cuvier’s beaked whale has earned a top honor among all ocean dwellers: deepest diver. It has been recorded diving to nearly 3,000 meters deep. How does it do it? Scientists think Cuvier’s beaked whales have a collapsible rib cage. When they dive deep, the ribs collapse, ﬂattening the lungs, and expelling nearly all the air.

ZOMBIE WORMS

by Catherine b C h i Brown B

Shimmer by Rebecca Rutstein is almost as tall as a seven-story building.

Artists at Sea

ILLUMINATING THE MYSTERIES OF OCEAN SCIENCE

t the Georgia Museum of Art, visitors can experience being submerged in the deep sea. The large installation there by artist and ocean explorer Rebecca Rutstein has steel hexagonal shapes inspired by hydrocarbon structures found in the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. Rutstein explored the basin with marine scientist Samantha Joye. LED lights change as visitors move through the space. These changing, shimmering lights represent the siphonophore, a bioluminescent organism that separates when disturbed, creating flashes of light that can be seen when entering the water column during the more than 7,000-foot (2,200-m) descent into the deep sea. Very few people will experience this type of bioluminescence in real life, and that’s exactly why Rutstein created the installation. “I’m trying to share places and processes hidden from view to connect people with the

beauty [and] complexity of the deep ocean,” she says.

Exploring New Frontiers

For centuries, artists have accompanied explorers to depict new discoveries. When the famed Captain Cook traveled to the Pacific Ocean in the late 1700s, for instance, he brought along several artists. Some sacrificed their lives in their quest to visually represent a world few from home would ever see. As scientists explore a new frontier today—the deep ocean—many are bringing artists working in a variety of media to visually interpret and share their findings. Rutstein is one of many artists to explore the ocean with scientists. In addition to working with Joye, she has explored the deep sea with the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Science Communication Fellow program aboard the Exploration Vehicle (E/V) Nautilus in a mapping expedition from the Galapagos Islands to California. She also participated with the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s

Artist-at-Sea program. There she joined scientists on the Research Vessel (R/V) Falkor’s sonar mapping expedition from southern Vietnam to the island of Guam and on an expedition on the R/V Atlantis off the coast of Costa Rica.

Artists Who Love Science

Both Artist-at-Sea programs have provided opportunities for many artists to accompany scientists and crew along deep-sea expeditions. The Schmidt Ocean Institute alone has had 32 participants since 2016, fostering cooperation between artists and scientists. “The artists participate like the science party, conducting science and collaborating with them,” says Carlie Wiener of Schmidt Ocean Institute. “It’s inspiring for the artists, and it inspires the scientists to be more creative.” The Institute doesn’t require artists to have extensive background in the sciences but rather a passion for learning. “We look for artists who

are interested in communicating about oceans and want to learn about scientific processes and data,” says Wiener. That describes Rutstein, who took classes in geology in college and considers herself an enthusiast rather than a scientist.

Artists Depicting Scientists

Karen Romano Young, a children’s book author and illustrator, has traveled with the E/V Nautilus as well as on expeditions to Antarctica. At times she considered becoming a scientist, but she knew she would miss writing and art too much. Instead, she uses words and pictures to teach kids about ocean science. “Of the 28 people on a ship, only eight to ten are scientists or graduate students studying science,” Young says. “If you’re passionate about ocean science, you can find your own way in.” While participating in research cruises, Young draws the vessel and its equipment to try to understand how it all works. “I could draw and start to learn about it and then sit down with the engineer and ask him what everything is,” she says. She spent much of her time creating detailed drawings of the vessel, equipment—including Hercules, the remotely operated vehicle aboard the Nautilus—scientists, and crew on a long piece of paper taped down on

On a research cruise, Karen Romano Young drew the vessel and its equipment.

Adam Swanson painted activities aboard the R/V Falkor.

the counter. Those illustrations were used as outreach to educate the general public on the expeditions and for conferences about deep-sea science. In 2021, they will appear in Young’s nonfiction graphic novel Deep Sea Dragons. Painter Adam Swanson accompanied the R/V Falkor for several weeks as a Schmidt Artistat-Sea participant in 2018, when a robot cruised the ocean floor looking for methane plumes. Swanson set up a small studio space in the wet lab, where, as he says, “researchers were consistently swirling around.” Swanson created eight paintings of the activity happening on board

the vessel and even took part in helping collect and record data. “In some cases, I mixed sea mud into my very paint to create the lively texture and color of the ocean floor,” says Swanson.

Artists Teaching About Science

When Lizzy Taber completed her voyage aboard the R/V Falkor, she couldn’t stop thinking about how scientists have mapped less than 10 percent of the ocean floor. The oceans cover 71 percent of the planet, so that means much of the planet has yet to be mapped. When Taber returned to her studio, she created an installation with

100 paintings. Twenty-nine were white, which represented dry land. Seventyone were blue to represent the ocean, and only a few incorporated maps. “I wanted a simple way to visualize that single fact.” Art can represent data in both simple and complex ways. When scientific illustrator and fiber artist Michelle Schwengel-Regala traveled from Honolulu to Tahiti on board R/V Falkor, the scientists were collecting water samples from oxygen-deficient zones to better understand biogeochemical processes there. After seeing the data on graphs on computer screens in the ship’s Control Room, SchwengelRegala decided to visualize it using knitting and embroidery techniques. For her “data textile” series, Schwengel-Regala knit flat squares and embroidered graphs representing water temperatures, oxygen levels, and light levels at various depths to compare the

Lizzie Taber’s installation of 100 paintings shows how much of the ocean has yet to be mapped.

differences between water columns at each location. Because the researchers frequently talked about “wire time”—the sessions when the ship would stop at a location and send water-sampling equipment into the water using a long wire— Schwengel-Regala created a series of 3D sculptures using aluminum wire as the yarn. “This large-scale wire knitting was a novel technique I developed only because of the Artist-at-Sea experience,” explains

Schwengel-Regala. “These sculptures help us visualize the amount of each ‘invisible’ thing being measured, all from a seemingly clear sample of water.” Schwengel-Regala’s works were displayed at the 2017 Honolulu Biennial. When two scientists from her voyage saw her first sculpture, they immediately identified the exact location from which the researchers on the Falkor collected samples based on her knitted data.

Michelle Schwengel-Regala visualized water sample data using knitting and embroidery.

Why Do Scientists Need Artists?

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With videography and photography so accessible, why do scientists need artists on board an exploratory or research vessel? Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t they just take photos? Yes, but, as Young explains, artists can do what photographs canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t: reveal all the details and find the story. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always see into the shadows when taking photographs for later work,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With drawing, I can illuminate the shadows, pull something out and make it clear, highlight relationships, and take things out that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter.â&#x20AC;? Because artists can find the story, they can help communicate scientific knowledge in remarkable ways. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Artists have an amazing role

as communicators that scientists canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily fill,â&#x20AC;? Rutstein explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The deep sea is obscure and magical. I hope to transport the viewer through visual and immersive experiences.â&#x20AC;? Artists can help reveal these hidden worlds, as Rutstein did in Shimmer, or present data in compelling ways, as SchwengelRegala did in her knitted works. They can help audiences learn and care about what they are unable to see in real life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since humans are visually oriented creatures, seeing science-themed art can be a bridge to spark interest in the natural world,â&#x20AC;? says Schwengel-Regala. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just about artists communicating scientistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoughts and research, though. The collaboration can work both ways. Samantha Joye, the marine scientist who collaborated with Rutstein, talked about the benefits she gets from working with Rutstein in an article published by the University of Georgia: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I knew she would â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;seeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; things I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t because she has a different frame of reference. Experiencing the deep sea with her made me shift my reference point; it opened my eyes and generated a different experience.â&#x20AC;? Both artists and scientists have unique perspectives on the world that can inform one another. Both constantly ask questions while innovating and creating. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although the end products created by artists and scientists can be very different, both seek to understand the world around them. Art and science is the most magical connection there is,â&#x20AC;? says Taber.

Q&A

BY LIZZIE WADE

Q: Why do we get a second set of teeth but not a second set of bones or hair?

During childhood, it can feel like : everything is growing. Your bones are getting longer, your body is getting taller, and even your feet are getting bigger so quickly that you need a new pair of shoes every few months. That’s why you never need replacements for most of your parts: they grow to fit you. And even after you stop changing size, your bones are still able to repair themselves in case you break them. (Hair never stops growing, which is why you need to trim it once in a while.) But there’s one part of your body that doesn’t join in this extended growth spurt: your teeth. They stay the same size while the rest of you grows around them. That’s because your teeth are covered in a

—Mila N., age 11 I was wondering what my baby teeth looked like and asked my mom if she’d saved any of them. Her answer? “EWWWW.” So should I not ask about locks of baby hair?

hard substance called enamel, explains Mark Springer, a biologist at the University of California, Riverside. Enamel is what makes teeth strong enough to chew tough stuff without breaking. But unlike bones and hair, enamel doesn’t grow or change. And while your baby teeth might be the right size for the head of, well, a baby, they aren’t big enough to fill up an adult mouth. The only solution is to replace them with a whole new set of teeth—one fit for a grown-up. —Lizzie

Have any questions?

Send them to Muse Q&A, 70 E. Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601, or email them to muse@cricketmedia.com.

Underwater video reveals secret life of sea turtles by Susan Hunnicutt

he video showed sea turtles chasing and biting. They were nudging and nuzzling each other too. No one was more surprised WKDQ WKH VFLHQWLVWV ZKR Ä&#x;OPHG WKHP :K\" Because sea turtles have always been thought to be loners. Turns out, these ocean reptiles may not be total party animals, but they do like to check each other out sometimes.

GO> See for Yourself Search “Seeing Through the Eyes of a Sea Turtle!” on YouTube to watch footage from the back of a sea turtle.

TurtleCam Technology TurtleCam is a dive camera. It is waterproof to 820 feet (250 m), which is in the diving range of a green sea turtle. (Picture the length of two football fields tipped sideways underwater.) The camera is not heavy enough to interfere with the turtle’s ability to swim. It weighs a little less than a full can of soda. It is very rugged and can withstand a lot of bumps and scrapes. A fast-drying epoxy, a type of glue, holds the camera in place. The camera is fastened to the shell using metal links that react with sea water and corrode within a few hours. Once the metal link has corroded completely, it breaks off and the camera floats to the surface. When the camera is on, it not only takes video, but also records depth and temperature. Scientists can tell how turtles behave in different environmental conditions with this data.

Marine biologists search for green sea turtles in shallow coastal waters.

Marine biologist Nathan Robinson studies juvenile green sea turtles in the Bahamas. He designed and built a camera that fits on a sea turtle’s shell. He calls it TurtleCam and uses it to record the animals’ underwater activity. At first, he wanted to use the footage to find out what they were eating. Robinson wondered if there

was enough food for all the turtles that lived around the island. But he learned far more than that.

Cool Discovery Yes, the turtles were foraging for food. But each video also shows them interacting. Sometimes they rub up against one another in a friendly way

as if they’re giving a hug. Sometimes the turtles are kind of pushy, nipping or bumping into one another. Robinson says he’ll need to collect a lot more data to explain exactly what this turtle behavior means. But he and other scientists who look at the video footage think one of the reasons might be that the turtles are protecting their territory. Animals are known to be protective of their favorite spots to eat or rest. They can be forceful in how they react. One turtle might be chomping on a patch of tasty sea grass when another comes along and pushes it away. The other turtle doesn’t always fight back. TurtleCam has also shown turtles taking naps. Sometimes they squeeze themselves under rocks or ledges to just hang out or rest. Another turtle might see the spot and come over and knock the first one out of the ledge and then rest in the spot. Robinson has also experimented with sending out cameras on two turtles at the same time. Each of these videos has shown one turtle looking at the other. Sometimes they just stare at on one another, then swim away. When

Release and Recover

Nathan Robinson and his team attach a TurtleCam. It will record from the wild sea turtle’s shell for several hours.

you watch this footage, you get the feeling you’re riding on the back of their shell.

Sea turtles are strong, fast swimmers. They bob and weave, zig and zag, dash and dart. The fastest way for a diver to keep up is to use the crawl stroke. When the swimmer has their body above the turtle, they wait for it to come up for air, then reach out and grab hold at the base of the front flippers. They hold on tight, until they can hand the turtle to a teammate in the boat. Before attaching TurtleCam, the team cleans and dries the shell with a towel. Robinson fastens the camera to the turtle’s shell. The rest of the team measures the animal, records its weight, and checks the flippers for identification tags.

Rodeo Round-up The first step to using TurtleCam is to find and catch a turtle. The turtle is often hand-captured using a method the crew calls a “rodeo.” They take a boat to the shallow coastal waters where green sea turtles look for seagrass. Then they keep their eyes peeled until a turtle swims by. Green turtles can hold their breath underwater for hours at a time, so it can take a long time to spot one. When they see a turtle, they follow it across the water. Chasing the turtles by boat tires them out, making them easier to catch. Robinson or one of his team members gear up for a turtle rodeo with their masks, snorkels, and fins. Then they jump in the water.

Fast Facts A turtle’s shell is called a carapace and its underside is the plastron. There are seven species of sea turtles. Green sea turtles can be found worldwide, in tropical and subtropical waters. Green sea turtles aren’t green. They get their name from the green fat in their bodies. Very few sea turtles live to adulthood. Some say only one in 1,000 survives, some say one in 10,000! A sea turtle can live as long as a human. Marine biologists can also track sea turtle migration patterns using satellites. A satellite transmitter is attached to the turtle’s shell. Orbiting satellites follow them as they swim through the water.

When they release the turtle, the scientists turn on a radio transmitter built onto the camera. It stays on the whole time the camera is active. A radio receiver on the boat picks up a small signal from the TurtleCam every time the turtle is at the surface. The camera pops off after three or four hours. Robinson puts on a set of headphones connected to the radio receiver. He waits until he hears a beeping signal from TurtleCam’s transmitter as it bobs around. The radio receiver helps them to find the camera’s exact location. When they spot the camera, they drive right over to it, reach over the side of the boat and grab TurtleCam as it floats on the surface of the water. Once they’ve picked up the camera, they go back home and watch sea turtle reality TV. They can see exactly what the turtle’s been up to.

Try, Try Again Robinson experimented with TurtleCam many times before he tried it out on a turtle. He used an old pool noodle to make the floatation for the first camera. “With lots of brainstorming and trial and error, we kept improving our design until we were happy with it and were ready to use it on turtles.” The current TurtleCam floats are old foam-buoys that have been found washed up on the beach. “What better way to clean local beaches than to pick up waste and use it in research projects that help protect endangered animals,” says Robinson. Learning about the secret underwater life of sea turtles will help scientists understand ways to help these ocean animals live longer and keep their habitats healthy. Now, grab a bowl of popcorn, and take a turn watching turtle TV! Susan Hunnicutt is an eco-volunteer who has been on several sea turtle research expeditions. She’s caught eight turtles rodeo-style and thinks wrangling reptiles in the name of science is pretty cool.

NIC McDOUGAL

Do the Math

BY NICK D’ALTO

CAN YOU STAND THE PRESSURE? Math at the ocean ﬂoor

Using the amazing technology of scuba, a highly trained diver descends into the ocean deep. At a depth of 33 feet (10 m), the “squeezing” force on our elite diver’s body is already double what it was at the surface. This compressing force keeps increasing. At 985 feet (300 m), the hull of a Navy submarine must be constructed from solid steel plate, a couple inches thick, to stand the strain. Yet there are creatures of the sea that can descend much farther than this with ease. Down to the deepest abyss.

The Mysterious Force What is this force that threatens humans but doesn’t seem to bother deep-sea creatures? It’s pressure. It’s the force of ocean water, which bears down the deeper you go. But you already know about this. Because you also live in a kind of “ocean,” too—an ocean of air. Think about it. Like water, the air around you presses against everything it touches. And like water, air has weight. A column of air, 1 inch (2.5 cm) square and rising up to the top of the atmosphere, weighs around 15 pounds (7 kg). Scientists call this “one atmosphere” of pressure. It

presses against everything— including you. You normally don’t notice this pressure because your body simply pushes back. But barometers notice it. These instruments predict the weather by “weighing” the air. Like the sea creatures that live on the ocean floor, you live at the bottom of your ocean of air—at maximum pressure. But climb up a mountain, or fly in a jet, and there’s less air above you. So there’s less pressure. Careful, your ears might pop. The ocean of water works the same way. Except water is nearly

a thousand times heavier than air. So compared to air pressures, ocean pressures are much higher. Just 30 feet (about 10 m) of water exerts the same pressure (or “weighs as much”) as the entire atmosphere. Then the next 30 feet weighs one atmosphere more.

Here is the formula: Ocean pressure in atmospheres = Depth in meters/10 That’s important math. It describes how the deep ocean feels, compared to the world we know. And it explains a lot. Why do creatures of the deep look so strange? And why must we humans use such extraordinary technologies to enter the deep ourselves? It’s all about the pressure. Using This Idea We’ve depicted a depth line from the ocean’s surface down to its floor. As we descend along it, let’s apply our formula to calculate ocean pressures at each point. You can enter your answers on the illustration. (That’s right, you’re going to complete this page!) Your results may surprise you. Answers are on page 46. As a student, author Nick D’Alto actually got to meet Jacques Cousteau and hear him describe his undersea adventures. It was as if this great explorer had seen another world. And in a way, he had.

Depth in meters/10 = Ocean pressure in atmospheres

200 meters Above this depth, most sea life flourishes.

1,000 meters This depth is within what’s called the Bathyal zone. It’s where sunlight can no longer penetrate the water. Below this point, the ocean is dark. Plant growth stops. Bioluminescent species appear. What’s the pressure here? 4,500 meters The Alvin, a famed underwater research submersible, dove this deep. Find the pressure its titanium hull must withstand. Then multiply that by .0075. That’s the force on each square inch of the sub—in tons!

6,000 meters This is the beginning of the deepest zone of the ocean. Squid and starfish live here. What pressure do they feel?

And Even Deeper Don’t forget the trenches in the ocean bottom, including the Mariana at 11,000 meters! Incredibly, life persists here— at what pressure?

ONE MORE CHALLENGE!

Space probes have measured the surface pressure on the planet Venus at a crushing 100 atmospheres. Using our formula, that corresponds to what ocean depth? Mark it on your depth line. See, the deep ocean really is “another world!”

Cave divers are helping us discover the ancient past.

I by Steve Murray

n ancient times, people used u caves as shelters. When they moved, they often left thiings behind. Animals used cavves fo or shelter, too, and left theirr boness inside when they died. Many of these remains were orgganicc, such as wood tools and animal hides, h me and seldom lasted very long afteer tim and weather destroyed or scatteered them. Finding organic artifacts has always been a challenge for archaeologists and paleontologiists. ming About 12,000 years ago, warm he temperatures melted much of th world’s glacier ice. Sea levels rosse ny about 360 feet (110 m), and man caves were flooded. Cold, still water can preserve and protect organiic materials in caves by keeping peeople and animals out. This water ofteen has very little oxygen, so there are feewer

living organisms and chemicals to damage cave contents. Without wind, waves, or strong currents to move things around, underwater caves hold clues to how early humans lived. They’re just waiting for scientists to find them.

An Ice Age Time Capsule Most of the porous limestone caves beneath Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula are filled with water. Divers have been working for many years to map them. In 2007, three divers—Alberto Nava, Alex Alvarez, and Franco Attolini—entered a huge underwater chamber, now named Hoyo Negro (“Black Hole”), and made a discovery that would change our understanding of ancient peoples in the Americas. “We discovered it somewhat by luck,” says Nava. “We were just exploring a tunnel and all of a sudden we came up into this big pit.” Hoyo Negro was more than 200 feet (62 m) wide and its floor was 150 feet (47 m) below sea level. It had been formed by the collapse of limestone where three underwater tunnels came together. The chamber contained the remains of large, now-extinct animals . . . and a human skull.

Different kinds of animals prefer different climate and vegetation. Some, for example, prefer deep forest, while others prefer marshes or thorny scrub. Studying these animal bones can therefore tell scientists a lot about the Yucatán environment in prehistoric times. Scientists believe the animals walked into the dark tunnel entrances when the land was still dry and fell almost 100 feet (30 m) into the pit. They were either killed by the fall or unable to climb out. The explorers’ first concern was how to protect their discovery. “We didn’t tell anybody about it for the next two years,” says Nava. “We wanted to keep it secret because there was no way to protect these finds.” Eventually, however, they told Dominique Rissolo, an underwater archaeologist with the University of California, San Diego. “I’ve been working on the Yucatán peninsula for over 25 years,” says Rissolo, “and I got to know many people who were exploring submerged caves. They were discovering amazing

things and sharing them with me. As a professional archaeologist, I could help them better understand what they found. “When a group of divers shared photographs of Hoyo Negro with me, I knew immediately that they had discovered something incredibly important.” The group began to document the contents of Hoyo Negro and to collect some of the specimens for study. It was a long, painstaking job.

A Special Way of Exploring Cave diving requires advanced training and a lot of practice. “It’s a dangerous activity, so you’ve got to learn gradually,” says Nava, who instructs scuba divers in these special skills. “Prior to finding Hoyo Negro, I probably had 10 years of cave diving experience.” When divers explore a cave, they often don’t know how far it goes, so they carry extra air tanks and carefully watch their air supply. GPS navigation systems don’t work in caves, so divers

have to rely on measuring lines and compasses to swim through the dark, winding tunnels. Sometimes they also use underwater scooters to travel further in their limited diving time. Back in 2007, the trip to Hoyo Negro was long. “When we originally found the chamber,” says Nava, “it was about 3,000 feet (915 m) away from an entrance. That’s about an hour swim underwater. We came back the next day with scooters, which reduced our swim to about 20 minutes.” The technical skill required for diving like this is why many caves

haven’t yet been explored. Deep dives require slow, controlled ascents back to the surface. The goal of these safe ascents is decompression—a process where divers carefully breathe out nitrogen gas. “Our dives take about four hours” says Nava. “The floor of the pit is about 150 feet (46 m) down, so all our dives require decompression. Most of the time, we work between 90 minutes and 2 hours on the bottom, and then we have two hours to decompress on the way up.” The artifacts that the divers have recovered have shed new light on

an r caves c ing e t a w r e g und scend Explorin difficult than de t secrets be more cean depths. Bu hin o it into the past often lie w that d from our p chambers, an tinas e these de em tempting de . h makes t diver-scientists r o f s tion

The human skull belonged to a girl who died between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago. Scientists named her “Naia.”

life in the ancient Yucatán. The team has found bones from the sabertoothed tiger, a gomphothere (an ancient elephant-like species), and a new species of giant ground sloth. Scientists believe that these animals became extinct about 12,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. The human skull they found belonged to a girl, and divers were later able to find most of her skeleton. Scientists named her “Naia” after the ancient Greek Naiads, or water nymphs. She was 15 or 16 years old and almost 5 feet (148 cm) tall. Scientists calculated that she died between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago, long before the Maya civilization

lived in the region. In fact, her DNA showed that she was Beringian—from people who came across the land bridge between modern-day Russia and Canada in Paleolithic times. This makes Naia one of the oldest human skeletons ever found in the Americas.

Sharing the Knowledge It’s difficult to guard Hoyo Negro, and the site is vulnerable to damage or theft. But Rissolo, Nava, and their team have a high-tech plan for preserving it. “We capture it all in 3D,” says Nava, “so we have

a detailed copy of the site in case anything is disturbed.” The team uses photogrammetry, a tool that blends large numbers of photographs into three-dimensional digital maps. “Most researchers aren’t divers,” says Nava. “With photogrammetry, we can bring the site out to them. Then, they can study it all on a computer, without even getting wet.” Engineers working with the Hoyo Negro team have even created virtual reality models of the cave so that experts can explore it as if they were actually there. “We bring scientists Diver Alberto Nava views a virtual reality model of Hoyo Negro. VR lets archaeologists study this remote, underwater site.

to our campus,” says Rissolo, “and take ‘virtual dives’ in Hoyo Negro all the time. We actually discovered three new animals in the cave just by exploring it this way. Visualization like this is really changing the way that we do science.”

Always More to Find

Steve Murray is a freelance science writer. A former research engineer, he now covers space science, archaeology, and the environment.

And with an estimated 6,000 waterfilled caves throughout the region, there’s more to find. “So far, people have mapped 800 miles (1,290 km) of underwater passages in the Yucatán peninsula,” said Nava, “and the estimate is that there’s at least twice that much remaining to explore.” There’s a whole lifetime of adventures still left on the Yucatán Peninsula, waiting for future diverscientists to explore them.

CONTEST

NEW CONTEST

Undersea 3D When it comes to underwater adventures, do you prefer a humanoccupied vehicle (HOV), like Alvin? Or are you a fan of robots like remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)? Choose your favorite type of underwater vehicle—or invent your own—and create a 3D model using any material. Maybe you’ll use clean recyclables or Lego bricks, modeling clay or papier-mâché—the choice is yours. Send a photo of your stupendous submarine sculpture, along with its name and research mission. We can’t wait to dive into your submissions! CONTEST RULES 1. Your contest entry must be your very own original work. Ideas and words should not be copied. 2. Be sure to include your name, age, and full address on your entry.

—PARKER G. / Idaho — This drone can make you a “T ta aco with anything in it, even ice crream! All you need to do is type n what you want (for example in tyype cheeseburger) and you get it in n taco form.”

ANNOUNCING

CONTEST WINNERS! Unmanned aerial vehicles helped manage wildfires in the July/August 2019 issue. We asked readers to show off their own creative drones. These winners are on the up-and-up! up and up! —CHAYLA P . / age 10 / K ansas “I would use m y drone for uses ﬁnding lost people police I would also in need. do tricks.”

3. Only one entry per person, please. 4. If you want your work returned, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. 5. All entries must be signed by a parent or legal guardian, saying that this is your own work and no help was given and granting permission to publish. For detailed information about our compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, visit the policy page at cricketmedia.com/privacy.

etts assachus M / . S O my —SANDR itch with xe a lot w S o d n e Nit Delu “I share a play Mario Kart 8 rn more a I e , r. brothe n than he does an online e n t w f o o e d r n o .” a m he does, ks on my account n a h t f f u st ea ink he sn pass. I th

6. Your entry must be received by January 31, 2020. We will publish winning entries in the April 2020 issue of Muse. 7. Send entries to Muse Contest, 70 E. Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601 or via email to muse@cricketmedia.com. If entering a digital photo or scan, please send at 300 dpi.

RUNNERS-UP

Honorable Mention Delilah, age 10, Arizona; Jordan, age 9, 9 California; Olivia B., age 11, California; and Tasneem A.K., age 9, Texas.

ANSWERS

PAGES 6–9 MUSE NEWS Muse News False Story “Sea Cucumbers Have a New Cousin” PAGES 26–27 HANDS-ON 1. C; 2. D; 3. A; 4. E; 5. B PAGES 38–39 DO THE MATH 20, 100, 450, 600, 1,100 atmospheres; 1,000 meters

Your Tech

BY KATHRYN HULICK

SHOULD WE MINE THE DEEP SEA?

A ROBOT the size of a large bulldozer creeps along the bottom of the deep sea. It slurps up chunks of metallic rock and soft mud. The stuff travels up a long tube to a ship, where workers and machinery separate out the rock and dump the mud back into the ocean. This is a mining operation. The rock contains a mixture of metals, including ones called rare earth metals. People use these materials to make batteries, magnets, and electronics like computers and phones. Deep sea mining hasn’t happened yet. But it probably will occur within the next decade. No country owns any part of the deep sea. So an organization called the International Seabed Authority (ISA) decides who is allowed to mine there. The ISA has allowed 29 organizations to explore the deep sea and make plans for mining. One company plans to begin mining in the year 2027. Scientists and environmentalists, though, warn that mining could destroy deep-sea ecosystems. In 1989, the ecologist Hjalmar Thiel conducted a test. His team raked the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean, in a spot with lots of the metallic rocks that miners want. They didn’t actually collect any of the rocks. But they disturbed the mud, just as a mining operation would. The plume of mud fell back down over the ocean floor, burying creatures living there. As of 2015, the area they disturbed had not recovered. The signs of raking are still there. Sponges,

Do we dare disturb this universe?

corals, and other animals have not moved back in. That means mining could have harmful, long-lasting consequences for deep ocean life. Scientists want to understand the deep sea better before disturbing it. Leaving the deep sea alone sounds great, but people need those metals. “Mines on land are soon going to run out,” geologist Steven Scott of the University of Toronto told Smithsonian magazine. “Every electronic device in the world has rare earth [metals] in it . . . we need raw resources.” New energy technologies, including solar and wind power and electric cars, rely on these metals as well. We may need to mine them from the sea in order to switch to greener energy sources. What do you think? Is new technology important enough to disturb the deep sea? Or should we leave this mysterious world alone?

Last Slice BY NANCY KANGAS

48 GREG KLETSEL

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