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Charles Lee
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What is the relationship, or perhaps, how far distant is the relationship between nanoarchaea and the "primordial soup" we believe was present at the beginnnings of the universe? Are we able to 'connect the dots' between the two, or not? Student
Name: Jamie
State: NM Country: USA
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The nanoarchaea is as far from the "primordial soup" as a Boeing 747 is from a screw. The primordial soup (which appeared around 4 billion years ago on earth, hence a lot younger than the universe) is basically a mix of organic compounds, which provided the ground material from which life started; but the primordial soup itself is not alive. Although the nanoarchaea is considered as a relatively simple life form, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is more primitive. In fact, we have some evidence that suggest the nanoarchaea had an archaea ancestor, and that somewhere along evolution it lost some of its genetic information and started living inside other bacteria. We're yet to find the links between modern organisms and the primordial soup, but they most likely exist in fossil form and thus are difficult to find. |
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My name is Antonio, and I’m a student at Bayside High. My oceanography class is participating in Extreme 2004. I’ve been inspired to do something in my lifetime. My brother inspired me to run track and play football. Other people have inspired a lot of people. My question to you is who inspired you to do the kind of work you do? I hope you have a safe return trip home. Student
Name: Antonio
State: VA Country: USA
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It would be dishonest to say that I was "inspired" by anyone to do the work I do now. I certainly made a conscious choice to join this project, and I'm very glad I did. But I didn't wake up one morning and decide that I want to be a biochemist. Choosing a career is definitely more complicated than picking up a sport, and it often involves unexpected events and luck. On the other hand, if you're referring to biology, or even science in general, then there are some people and books I can assign credit to. My parents, who have always encouraged creative thinking, are definitely to be mentioned, and the abundance of books they made available to me played an important role in inspiring my interest in science. Many of my teachers get credit for motivating me to find answers outside of classrooms and textbooks. One book that attracted me to biology was "the Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkings. It is, in fact, a rather controversial book, and many people disagree with parts of it (I certainly did). But in the process of trying to understand it, I had to learn a lot of related information, all of which opened the door to biology for me. |
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What would happen if you took an octopus or a pompei worm out of it's habitat and brought it to shore? Would it burst from the climate and gravitational pull or would it shrivel up from not being around the heat of hydrothermal vents?
(Same question for tubeworms) Student
Name: Whitley
State: LA Country: USA
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We pull out organisms from the vents and bring them to surface on almost every dive. At the depth we're working, change in pressure is less a problem than change in temperature for the animals we sample. For example, the crabs and mussels we bring up can be kept alive for extended periods in pressure and temperature-controlled chamber. The pompeii worms, on the other hand, usually don't survive the ride from the bottom to the surface. We think the hour-long exposure to cold sea water might be the main reason why so few of them survive, but there's no solid scientific evidence to support that. What I can tell you is that they certainly don't explode from the change in pressure. |
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Does the terrain of the ocean floor vary a lot since you are at such a deep depth? Student
Name: Heather
State: LA Country: USA
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Compared to shallow water, the ocean floor at the East Pacific Rise is certainly a more variable terrain. Apart from the lack of wave erosion, volcanic activities change our sampling sites almost constantly. Many of the vents and the surrounding areas we visited this year changed significantly from just last year! In fact, because the lava flow cools down almost immediately, we can see some really fascinating volcanic structures we normally wouldn't see on land. |
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What type of training do the scientists receive to be able to go to sea? Student
Name: Adrienne
State: WV Country: USA
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We had a fire drill when we first came onboard the Atlantis. We were taught what to do in case of an emergency and tried on the immersion suits, which help us stay warm and afloat in case we need to jump into the sea. For the submersible, the Alvin pilots gave us sessions explaining how the sub works, and what to do in case of an incident. Since the condition inside the Alvin cabin is very close to our normal living condition, we didn't do any physical capability tests like astronauts have to go through. |
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In what ways does Alvin make collecting samples for your expieriments easy and/or difficult? Thanks! Student
Name: Jessie
State: CT Country: USA
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Without Alvin, it would be impossible for us to collect samples at this depth, so I guess that makes the sample collections relatively easy for us. On the other hand, using the manipulators isn't quite the same as using our arms and hands, and we often crush our samples accidentally. |
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Have you ever been on another dive trip?
Haveyou ever been dumped after coming out of the sub?,When? Student
Name: Ellen
State: WA Country: USA
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This was my first dive in a submersible. I was welcomed with a bucket of icy water and my shoes frozen after I came out of the sub on the first dive of this cruise. |
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Did you decorate a cup to go down in alvin? If you did how did it turn out? Student
Name: Bria
State: WA Country: USA
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I most certainly did. How the cups shrink depends on their types. Generally speaking, the cheapest, blandest kind shrinks the best. All the drawings on the cup get squeezed together and usually look better than it did full-size. |
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Do you really enjoy your job? I know that I would definetly because you can see all these things that have never been seen before. Can you see much when your in the Alvin? Student
Name: Andrew
State: LA Country: USA
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I really do like what I do. Apart from the occasional exotic experience like going down in the Alvin, I get to learn about new things every day and solve different kinds of problems. If someone thinks science is boring, then he or she is not doing it right. Each observer has one side window, which allows a very clear view of what's outside. However, as it is very dark down there, when the side lights are off we turn our attention to the various cameras. At any rate, we can see something interesting almost the entire time we are down there. |
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Why are hydrothermal vents important to this earth? Student
Name: Kazia
State: CA Country: USA
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To Earth itself, hydrothermal vents are probably not very significant. The energy released through the vents is diminutive (very small) compared to energy released in an earthquake; and the chemicals hydrothermal vents emit get diluted in the ocean so quickly that they are hardly detectable several hundred meters away from the vents. However, since we know so little about the deep sea, it is entirely possible that the hydrothermal vents play some very important role that we don't yet know. On the other hand, hydrothermal vents are very important to our understanding of the beginning of life, as they provide an environment relatively similar to the early eras of earth. The organisms thriving near the vents have metabolisms very different from ours, and by studying them we open a door to understanding how life started on this earth, and what life might be like on other planets, if there is any. |
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How do you prepare for the Extreme 2004 mission? Student
Name: Justyna
State: WA Country: USA
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Preparation for the cruise started almost immediately after our last cruise (Extreme 2003). First of all, we need to plan what we need to collect from the vents and what we're going to do with stuff we collect. We had a few meetings and telephone conferences to work things out. Around two months before the cruise, all participants started preparing for their own work on the ship. Since the Atlantis was designed as a general purpose research vessel, we had to bring in almost everything from centrifuges to gloves. We also need a lot of different chemicals, which all need permits to be brought onboard. In all, it does take a substantial amount of effort to make Extreme 2004 happen. |
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I understand that you are studying the Pompeii Worm to learn the relationship between bacteria and the worm. But will this knowledge have any practical use to scientists around the world? Student
Name: Paul
State: NJ Country: USA
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Symbiosis is one of the least elucidated phenomena in biology, and scientists around the world are trying lots of different methods to understand it. We're using a novel approach to study the symbiotic relationship between Alvinella and the bacteria that live on its back, and hopefully we would learn something to contribute to the scientific society. Apart from that, the vent environment is unique in that there's a lot of organic and metal compounds. In other words, the vent environment is highly toxic to us and most other animals. By understanding how Alvinella and bacteria on its back detoxify the surrounding environment, we could find ways to remediate highly polluted environments using biological agents. One thing you definitely need to know, however, is that all "practical uses" are based on lots of "impractical knowledge" discovered by previous scientific researches. This fact is sometimes hard to see and understand, but without all the crazy scientists doing work that seems obscure, technology will soon run out of fuel for its advancement. |
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Hi Charles! As the Administrative Assistant in the Biological Sciences office at the University of Waikato I am well used to our scientists and students going out in the field to work. For the first time we are able to check in every day and see what you have been up to which is just so exciting. It's an opportunity we don't usually get. Say hi to Craig, Ian & Tom for me. How do you think this experience in Alvin will change your future life and work?
P.S. Hi from Lisa too. Student
Name: Vicki
State: ** Country: NZ
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Hi Vicki, It is great to hear from someone back home. Mike, the education coordinator here, told us about your question yesterday, and we were all very excited about it. Craig said he thinks it's very nice of you to follow our activities and would like to know if there are many people back in Waikato interested in Extreme 2004. To answer you question, going down in Alvin and actually seeing what I work on in its natural habitat is certainly very exciting and gives me a lot of motivation for my work. At the same time, working with scientists who are just as or even more passionate about this project is also very stimulating. However, the most inspiring experience I had on this cruise is answering those questions from students at participating schools. It really reminded me why I wanted to do science in the first place and our duty as scientists to bring knowledge to people. |
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I have been tracking this year's Mission to the Abyss very closely. I was reading one of Michael League's daily journal entries and it sparked a question in my mind. On December 6 he writes about the egg that was cooked on the hydrothermal vent. I found this very interesting. My question is, what happened to the egg? When it was on the vent, was it cooked a certain way or just left there? After the Alvin came back on the Atlantis what happened to the egg? Did someone eat it? Student
Name: Stephen
State: NJ Country: USA
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The egg experiment was indeed very interesting. We didn't have a clue what would happen to it, either. We sent two eggs down with Alvin: one in a titanium cage and to be cooked on the vent for a minute or so, the other in the same place as the colored cups. What we found was that pressure didn't seem to affect the eggs much as the egg we placed among the cups (therefore not cooked) stayed intact, and its contents remained raw and potentially edible. Meanwhile, the egg that was cooked smelt absolutely foul, and we had difficulties finding a volunteer to eat it (the fact that it's most likely poisonous didn't help). The egg shell stayed largely intact except for a small crack, which is most likely caused by the rapid heating (2ºC to over 300ºC!). The content of the egg consolidated into an egg-shaped black mess, and it smelt very much like rotten fish. The cause for the albumen turning black is the high iron concentration in vent water, while sulfide is responsible for the smell. |
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