hydrothermal vents
Top 5 Highlights of Deep Sea Exploration in 2017
What have this year’s deep sea exploration expeditions encountered so far? Read more to find out! Megan ChenI graduated with a Masters of Coastal & Marine Management from the University of Akureyri in Iceland, and am currently working at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Ocean Education. I am interested in smart […]
Just breathe…OR NOT: Mercury from hydrothermal vents in bubbles and the air
Mercury is a toxic element that can accumulate in marine organisms, including fish we eat. But how does mercury into marine environments? Here we talk about the findings from Bagnato et al., who found lots of mercury coming from hydrothermal systems, and that it could transfer from the water to the air! Laura ZinkeI am […]
Toxic living: finding the right home for sulfur-oxidizing bacteria
Hydrothermal vents are hot, dark, and toxic environments. But to sulfur oxidizing bacteria, they’re home. Michael GrawI’m a 5th year PhD student at Oregon State University researching the microbial ecology of marine sediments – why do we find microbes where they are in the seafloor, and what are they doing there? I spend my non-science […]
Marine life: Coming to a PharmaSea near you!
The PharmaSea program is looking to expand our library of marine-derived compounds for use in drug discovery. Want to know what marine organisms are already used in medicine, and where this program is looking to find new medicines? Read on to find out! Erin McLeanHi and welcome to oceanbites! I recently finished my master’s degree […]
Stop: Recovery Time!: Using volcanoes to model recovery of deep-sea communities
Deep sea communities are full of weird and wonderful animals that we don’t know much about, and human demand for sulfides may lead to deep sea mining near their habitat. We don’t know how they’ll respond to a disturbance, so these researchers looked at what happens after a natural disturbance: a volcanic eruption. Read on […]
What is the source of organic molecules in Von Damm vent fluids?
The origin of life is with out a doubt a fascinating topic of discussion and debate, intensified by the fact that there is no definitive answer (yet). A group of WHOI scientists present a mechanism and environment where organic compounds can be formed from inorganic ones via abiotic production. The plausibility of their suggestion is […]
Happy Samples
How frustrating it must be to spend a bunch of money to get to the field, only to find out the samples collected were contaminated. This piece reviews the effort of a group of science engineers from China to eliminate sample contamination when collecting hydrothermal vent fluids in shallow waters. Anne M. HartwellHello, welcome to […]
Passing gas makes islanders feel a burn: CO2 degassing, low pH and the similarities between an underwater Greek volcano and two Cameroon lakes
Roughly 360 years ago, on a September afternoon in the Aegean sea, the sky was blotted out as metals tarnished and inhabitants complained of terrible eye pain. By the time the skies cleared on one island, roughly 70 people had died of asphyxiation. Today, the picturesque vacation destination is covered with blue roofed, white stucco […]
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