* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

    Wait Until Dark’ Brings Chilling Thrills to the Spotlight This Spooky Season

    Bluesman James Montgomery Will Perform In Falmouth – CapeNews.net

    Blues Legend James Montgomery Ready to Ignite the Stage in Falmouth

    Mexican singer Pedro Fernández to make Ave Fénix tour stop in Stockton. Tickets, schedule – Yahoo

    Mexican Singer Pedro Fernández Brings the Ave Fénix Tour to Stockton – Don’t Miss It!

    Flutter Entertainment’s SWOT Analysis: Uncovering the Growth Potential Amid Challenges

    Dylan Efron Shares Sweet ‘DWTS’ Rehearsal Photos Featuring His Little Sister Olivia – yahoo.com

    Dylan Efron’s Heartwarming ‘DWTS’ Rehearsal Moments with Little Sister Olivia

    Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘The Godfather,’ Dies at 79 – Yahoo

    Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘The Godfather,’ Dies at 79 – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Day 5 of Gains Streak for Solidion Technology Stock with 475% Return (vs. -20% YTD) [10/14/2025] – Trefis

    Solidion Technology Stock Rockets for 5th Consecutive Day, Soaring an Astonishing 475% Year-to-Date

    Tracking DNA and RNA Together To Unlock Disease Insights – Technology Networks

    Unlocking Disease Insights by Tracking DNA and RNA Together

    The future of battery technology – Engineer Live

    Revolutionizing Energy: Exploring the Future of Battery Technology

    How Can Boosting Your Travel Experience with Less Technology Lead to a More Relaxing Vacation? All You Need to Know About This Latest Trend – Travel And Tour World

    How Can Boosting Your Travel Experience with Less Technology Lead to a More Relaxing Vacation? All You Need to Know About This Latest Trend – Travel And Tour World

    Davenport CornCon Cybersecurity Conference helps students explore technology, AI use – KWQC

    Davenport CornCon Cybersecurity Conference Ignites Student Passion for Technology and AI Innovations

    Inside Europe’s military technology resurgence – NBC News

    Europe’s Bold Comeback: Unveiling the Rise of Cutting-Edge Military Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

    Wait Until Dark’ Brings Chilling Thrills to the Spotlight This Spooky Season

    Bluesman James Montgomery Will Perform In Falmouth – CapeNews.net

    Blues Legend James Montgomery Ready to Ignite the Stage in Falmouth

    Mexican singer Pedro Fernández to make Ave Fénix tour stop in Stockton. Tickets, schedule – Yahoo

    Mexican Singer Pedro Fernández Brings the Ave Fénix Tour to Stockton – Don’t Miss It!

    Flutter Entertainment’s SWOT Analysis: Uncovering the Growth Potential Amid Challenges

    Dylan Efron Shares Sweet ‘DWTS’ Rehearsal Photos Featuring His Little Sister Olivia – yahoo.com

    Dylan Efron’s Heartwarming ‘DWTS’ Rehearsal Moments with Little Sister Olivia

    Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘The Godfather,’ Dies at 79 – Yahoo

    Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘The Godfather,’ Dies at 79 – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Day 5 of Gains Streak for Solidion Technology Stock with 475% Return (vs. -20% YTD) [10/14/2025] – Trefis

    Solidion Technology Stock Rockets for 5th Consecutive Day, Soaring an Astonishing 475% Year-to-Date

    Tracking DNA and RNA Together To Unlock Disease Insights – Technology Networks

    Unlocking Disease Insights by Tracking DNA and RNA Together

    The future of battery technology – Engineer Live

    Revolutionizing Energy: Exploring the Future of Battery Technology

    How Can Boosting Your Travel Experience with Less Technology Lead to a More Relaxing Vacation? All You Need to Know About This Latest Trend – Travel And Tour World

    How Can Boosting Your Travel Experience with Less Technology Lead to a More Relaxing Vacation? All You Need to Know About This Latest Trend – Travel And Tour World

    Davenport CornCon Cybersecurity Conference helps students explore technology, AI use – KWQC

    Davenport CornCon Cybersecurity Conference Ignites Student Passion for Technology and AI Innovations

    Inside Europe’s military technology resurgence – NBC News

    Europe’s Bold Comeback: Unveiling the Rise of Cutting-Edge Military Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Technology

“It’s Like You’re a Space Explorer Encountering Aliens”

January 27, 2024
in Technology
“It’s Like You’re a Space Explorer Encountering Aliens”
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The gossamer worm is a tiny feathery creature that lives 4,000 feet below the surface of the sea, in the blackest depths of the deep ocean. Recently, scientists found evidence that to locate its prey— larval fish and transparent arrow worms—the creature uses a pair of antenna-like tentacles to probe the water for whiffs of ammonia and sugars. The finding hints at how a creature that spends its entire life in a dark, seemingly featureless environment might find enough food to survive.

An estimated one-third to two-thirds of species in the ocean remain unknown to science. Many of them are delicate gelatinous creatures like the gossamer worm, which are challenging to collect and do not preserve well. Until recently, even to sample a bit of genetic material from such creatures, scientists had to bring them to the surface, a process that can alter gene expression—never mind physical features—due to dramatic changes in temperature and pressure the creatures experience on the way up.

But now, a new method of analysis is allowing scientists to do this work deep beneath the surface of the sea. Described in a recent paper published in Science Advances, the method features a pair of 3-D imaging systems as well as an origami-inspired collecting device with built-in tissue sampling and preservation. The researchers say that together, these technologies will enhance our understanding of how marine creatures look and behave in their natural environment. They could also accelerate the pace of new species discovery and description in the ocean.

In Body ImageTWILIGHT ZONE: Gossamer worms, which swim in the deepest part of the ocean, the mesopelagic, never touch the seafloor. They may be as tiny as a centimeter or two but can grow up to a foot. These cousins of the earthworm sometimes spew rare yellow bioluminescent mucus, possibly to deter predators. Image by uwe kils / Wikimedia Commons.

The Science Advances paper tells the story of a five-year research odyssey centered on two cruises. The first cruise took place in October 2019 off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, and focused on working out the technical kinks. The second cruise, in August 2021, off the coast of San Diego, entailed seven different dives with a submersible during which scientists interacted with more than five dozen life forms, including the gossamer worm, amphipods, relatives of jellyfish, comb jellies, echinoderms, single-celled protozoans with mineral skeletons called radiolarians, tunicates, mollusks, and sponges.

“It felt like you were a space explorer in the future encountering some alien species, and just like a sci-fi novel every tool you ever could imagine was available to you,” says Brennan Phillips, an oceanographic engineer at the University of Rhode Island and one of the leaders of the study.

When an interesting looking animal came into view, the researchers would first use a laser scanning system called DeepPIV to create an intricate three-dimensional image, akin to a CT scan, of the creature and to measure the currents of water it created as it moved. Then they would train the red glow of a lightfield camera called EyeRIS—which contains an array of microlenses similar to those found in an insect’s compound eye—on their specimen. The system can take precise measurements of an animal’s body in three dimensions in a matter of seconds.

A LIGHT TOUCH: The DeepPIV laser scanning a deep-sea creature called the physonect siphonophore at a depth of 1193 meters off the coast of San Diego.

Finally, they would enclose the creature in a kind of underwater fishbowl called the RAD-2. The 12-sided shape is made of stainless steel, anodized aluminum, and a durable kind of plastic, and it folds up into a beach ball-sized chamber so that an animal is simultaneously contained and yet swimming freely in an environment nearly identical to its natural home.

The RAD-2 contains a device that collects and pulverizes tissue samples from the organisms and sucks these samples through a hole where the samples are hit with preservative and deposited on one of 14 filters for later analysis. The investigation of the gossamer worm’s sensory tentacles was possible because the worm is so small that, by chance, it happened to get sucked through the hole intact.

One major future goal is to equip their new tool with technology that can swab animals for DNA and take minimally invasive biopsies without sacrificing the creatures. The aim is to “be able to give floating animals in the deep sea something akin to a doctor’s checkup,” says David Gruber, a marine biologist at the City University of New York and a leader of the study. “We’re working further and further to get more and more gentle.” It’s no small matter to get such a subtle instrument to withstand the extreme conditions of the deep sea. But Gruber estimates that, with some more focused tinkering, such an instrument could become a reality within a few years’ time.

On the San Diego cruise, the team mostly interacted with species that are already part of the scientific record. But in the future, they hope to take their research toys to less known parts of the ocean. They say the new approach they have engineered is capable of capturing sufficient information about the appearance, behavior, and genetics of unknown creatures to describe new species without collecting the physical specimens that are at the center of conventional taxonomy.

Somewhere between New Caledonia and Vanuatu swims an unknown deep sea creature, a second or third cousin of the gossamer worm, whose form could soon become fully known to science without it ever leaving its watery home.

Lead image: Dabarti CGI / Shutterstock

Sarah DeWeerdt

Posted on January 25, 2024

Sarah DeWeerdt is a freelance science journalist in Seattle covering biology, medicine, and the environment. Follow her on Twitter.

new_letter

Get the Nautilus newsletter

Cutting-edge science, unraveled by the very brightest living thinkers.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Hacker News – https://nautil.us/its-like-youre-a-space-explorer-encountering-aliens-500550/

Tags: SpacetechnologyYou’re
Previous Post

Show HN: Pong Wars

Next Post

The 100MHz 6502 (2022)

Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

Wait Until Dark’ Brings Chilling Thrills to the Spotlight This Spooky Season

October 15, 2025
Potential crisis looms with loss of environmental health research – Johns Hopkins University

Urgent Warning: Environmental Health Research Faces a Critical Threat

October 15, 2025
Japan’s Tamaki Sees Dramatic Turnaround in Political Fortune – Bloomberg.com

Japan’s Tamaki Sees Dramatic Turnaround in Political Fortune – Bloomberg.com

October 15, 2025
Back to school shopping? – Washington State Department of Ecology (.gov)

Back to school shopping? – Washington State Department of Ecology (.gov)

October 15, 2025
Alltech breaks ground on new crop science facility in Nicholasville – LEX18

Alltech Unveils Cutting-Edge Crop Science Facility in Nicholasville

October 15, 2025
SVC obtains $150,000 National Science Foundation grant – Saint Vincent College

SVC Lands $150,000 Grant to Fuel Innovative Research

October 15, 2025
Zhaobangji Lifestyle Holdings Approves Name Change at EGM – TipRanks

Zhaobangji Lifestyle Holdings Reveals Exciting New Name After EGM Approval

October 15, 2025
Day 5 of Gains Streak for Solidion Technology Stock with 475% Return (vs. -20% YTD) [10/14/2025] – Trefis

Solidion Technology Stock Rockets for 5th Consecutive Day, Soaring an Astonishing 475% Year-to-Date

October 15, 2025
2026 NFL mock draft: Steelers’ strategy post-Aaron Rodgers, Cowboys eye Micah Parsons replacement – CBS Sports

2026 NFL Mock Draft: Steelers’ Bold Moves Following Aaron Rodgers, Cowboys Eye Micah Parsons’ Successor

October 15, 2025
Preview: could Premier League fitness make the difference in recurve men? – World Archery

Could Premier League Fitness Transform the Future of Recurve Archery?

October 15, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (868)
  • Economy (889)
  • Entertainment (21,762)
  • General (17,607)
  • Health (9,932)
  • Lifestyle (902)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (890)
  • Politics (900)
  • Science (16,100)
  • Sports (21,389)
  • Technology (15,869)
  • World (872)

Recent News

Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

Wait Until Dark’ Brings Chilling Thrills to the Spotlight This Spooky Season

October 15, 2025
Potential crisis looms with loss of environmental health research – Johns Hopkins University

Urgent Warning: Environmental Health Research Faces a Critical Threat

October 15, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version