The Earth's Oceans Just Got Much Deeper

Cleo Abram, Huge If True, Oct. 2, 2023; Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Ocean Is Deeper Than You Think. We Need Better Maps

(Cleo Abram) Why deep-sea maps are BAD (and how to fix that)... Our maps of the ocean are surprisingly bad! Google Maps makes it look like we know a lot, but we know less about the ocean floor than we do the surface of Mars.

And that’s a big problem, because we are using the ocean all the time: We’re laying internet cables across it, we fight wars in it, we search it during a crisis -- like the imploded OceanGate Titan submersible or the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370...

[Or that time US forces sabotaged the NordStream Oil Pipeline and tried to blame it on the Russians, creating one of the very worst environmental disasters in the ocean, not to mention a shortage of heating oil for Europe and skyrocketing prices and a war of revenge on the Russians].

After all, 71% of the surface of the Earth is water. Yet, we have a surprisingly limited view of what’s below the water. But that’s also understandable. Because cartographically speaking, water sucks. For Mars or Earth’s surface, we can take pictures. But light doesn’t penetrate to the ocean floor, so we need other ways to see it. The good news is we’re developing that tech right now, and an international group called Seabed 2030 is working to piece together a better map.

There is a terrifying, incredible, alien world on our own planet, and we’re FINALLY using technology to see it more clearly. In this episode of Huge If True, I dive deep -- with help from my friend and fellow video journalist @johnnyharris -- to show how we’re mapping the ocean, the surprising things we’ve discovered in the depths, and why this new technology could be huge if true.

Chapters

• 00:00 How bad are our ocean maps?
• 01:40 How deep is the ocean?
• 03:05 What is the deepest part of the ocean?
• 04:04 The craziest method to map the ocean
• 06:20 How does sonar work?
• 07:31 What did the first ocean maps look like?
• 09:30 How do we map the ocean now?
• 10:30 What is Seabed 2030?
• 11:40 How do we use underwater robots?
• 12:27 Concerns with mapping the deep ocean
• 13:11 Why deep ocean mapping is huge if true

Find Cleo Abram on TikTok for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram, on Instagram for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram, on Twitter for thoughts, threads, and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

BIO: Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, she explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, she was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching: To see recent seafloor visualizations (NOAA): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/ocean-... - To learn more about the high-stakes race to map the Earth's oceans: The Deepest Map, by Laura Trethewey https://www.harpercollins.com/product... - To see how amazing our Mars maps are (Murray Lab): https://murray-lab.caltech.edu/CTX/V0... - Livestream of ocean research (my favorite): / @evnautilus - Deep Ocean: 10 Hours of Relaxing Oceanscapes, BBC Earth: • Deep Ocean: 10 Hours of Relaxing Ocea... - The Ocean is Way Deeper Than You Think, RealLifeLore: • The Ocean is Way Deeper Than You Think - What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Place on Earth? The Deep Sea, Kurzgesagt: • What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Pl... - The Unspeakable Horrors of the Deep Sea, Casual Geographic: • The Unspeakable Horrors of the Deep S... - Why no aquarium has a great white shark, Vox: • Why no aquarium has a great white shark - This Incredible Animation Shows How Deep The Ocean Really Is, Insider: • This Incredible Animation Shows How D... - How Much of the Seafloor Is Left to Explore? NOAA: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/world-... - How Deep is the Ocean? NOAA: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/o... - About Seabed 2030: https://seabed2030.org/our-mission/ Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/ Gear I use: Camera: Sony A7SIII Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM and 35mm prime Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX Music: Musicbed Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub... — Welcome to the joke down low: Why did the fish blush? Because it saw the ocean’s bottom. Use the word “blush” in a comment so I know you’re a real one :)

Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code CLEO for an extra 3 months free at https://surfshark.deals/CLEO Subscribe to support optimistic tech content on Huge If True: / cleoabram Check out @johnnyharris for independent journalism that will help you better understand the world: / johnnyharris 

10 "Immortal" Organisms (video)

EpicAdamWildlife.com (Twitter, FB); Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Epic Wildlife) From bacterial colonies that are 4,000,000 years old to a jellyfish that can never die [unless it gets killed], here are TEN IMMORTALS! A kind of bacteria thought to be aged about 4 million years old was found in a cave in New Mexico, USA.

• 

  Does Buddhism believe in "immortality"?

  Does Buddhism believe in "immortality"? Yes, in a sense. It is, however, not the sense we assume in the West. A synonym for nirvana is the "deathless" (Sanskrit amrita, Pali amata, Greek ambrosia). Logically "living forever" and "not dying" should be the same thing, but we assure readers that the two words are not exact synonyms. But if logic or linguistics says there's no difference, how are these two not the same thing? [The answer is technical and could bore some, so if anyone wants to think nirvana is immortal, think it's immortal. It certainly does not pass away. But why it does not pass away is the tricky issue at the heart of the matter. Why does it not pass away? It does not pass away because it does not depend on anything the way everything else does. ...]

Siberian Bacteria
There is a story out of Russia that involves another bacteria that is about 3.5 million years old. And a Russian scientist is injecting himself with it. Could it provide the key to immortality? The scientist, Dr. Anatoli Brouchkov, claims he’s grown stronger and hasn’t been ill in the two years since taking the injections. The bacteria was found embedded in Siberian permafrost in 2009, where it remained alive for millions of years. Scientists tested the bacteria on mice, which exhibited increased fertility. The bacteria was also shown to heal plants. Because it has activated the immune response in test subjects, experts think the bacteria can lead to discovering an elixir of life [kumbha mela ambrosia, amrita, soma] for immortality. While Dr. Brouchkov says he’s experiencing increased health benefits after using himself as a guinea pig, he also admits he has no clue just what the bacteria might be doing to him.

Lies about dinosaurs we still believe (T-Rex bird) 

 

Minced Flatworms

Flatworms, which live in lakes and ponds, could help solve the riddle of immortality. British researchers think the creatures could essentially live forever due to their ability to repeatedly regenerate. In an experiment at Nottingham University, experts took one original worm then cut it into pieces then observed as each section regenerated into an entirely new creature. Over a 4-year period, a colony of some 20,000 flatworms was created from the original specimen, and their organs and bodies don't appear to age. Whether the worm is split vertically or horizontally, it will still regenerate into two separate, living worms. Researchers concluded that unless a single, undivided worm contracts an illness or infection, it could conceivably live forever!
 

Glass Sea Sponges

These animals might not look so durable. And a lot of people don’t think they look like animals. But their appearance aside, glass sea sponges are estimated to have a lifespan that could approach 15,000 years! That number is based on a study that estimated the age of one specimen at 23,000 years old. Glass sea sponges are often found in the Antarctic at depths up to 3,000 feet. Their name is a reference to their internal, rigid skeletons made of silica. Experts think they evolved into their current form over 700 million years ago and could represent the world’s oldest living animals.

Chinese Mushroom

The original Easter "eggs" we hunt in lawns

Did you know there’s a mushroom found in China that is said to provide huge health benefits? Maybe that’s not surprising, considering it’s a huge fungus! At its widest point, the Lingzhi mushroom measures about 3 feet wide and weighs over 16 pounds! A store owner in Southwest China displayed the immense mushroom at his shop. It has a red, kidney shaped cap and no gills on the underside. The spores are released through fine pores instead. It’s gained a reputation as the "immortality mushroom" and has been used in traditional Chinese medicines for over 2,000 years. It’s said to contain around 1,000 compounds that are beneficial to health, such as polysaccharides, known to enhance the activity of white blood cells. That’s one of the key ingredients of the Lingzhi said to lower blood pressure, stop the growth and spread of cancer cells, and even slow down the aging process! But the magic of the Immortality Mushroom does come with a price tag. A basic bag of Lingzhi mushroom powder runs about $30 US dollars. The entire fungus will set you back around $900.

Mediteranean Jellyfish
This small species of jellyfish lives in the Mediterranean Sea and the waters of Japan. It can apparently live there forever! Turritopsis dohrnii is a creature around 4.5 millimeters wide, smaller than the nail on a pinky finger. You can see what the creature looks like in these photos taken by Takashi Murai and Yiming Chen. Notice the long, thin strand-like tentacles extending from underneath the creature. Those tentacles will retract and the jellyfish will shrink as it reverts to its juvenile polyp state. You can also see that while the shape of the creature’s bells are similar, their coloration ranges from gold to crimson to electric blue. Adult forms of this species can hit a type of reset button, allowing them to essentially start their life cycle all over again. The process is called transdifferentiation and would seem to ensure that this animal can never die unless they’re killed by a predator or stricken with disease. Otherwise they are, in effect, immortal.

288,000 Jelly Beans, 1 video (Kina Grannis)

(Kina Grannis) Posted Nov. 2, 2011 -- "In Your Arms" took 22 months, 1357 hours, 30 people, 2 ladders, 1 still camera, and 288 thousand jelly beans! It already has well over 2 million hits. Kina is on tour and in Europe in 2012 and on Facebook all the time.She has a new album called Stairwells. "In Your Arms" was written by Kina Grannis, directed by Greg Jardin, produced by Daphne Raves, with concept art by Lauren Gregg, wardrobe by Gillian Zwick, sound design by Suzanne Goldish, using the production company: @radical.media. See the Secret Crazy Project celebration.

The awesome Jelly Bean Animation Team was: Kristina Carucci, Lauren Cunningham, MacKenna Dixon, Marcus Demmon, Kevin Harman, Alexandra Judelsohn, Jay Kim, Pearl Lung, Ptolemy Slocum, Erin Thiele, and Clarisse Wiedem with additional animators: Monica Ahanonu, Matt Beans, Sarah Burt, David Chang, Jane Cohen, John D'Arco, Hope Marquardt, Erin McLaughlin, Krisztianna Ortiz, Kyle Padilla, Allen Marshall Palmer, Natalie Pasallar, JJ Rubin, Cherie Saulter, Susan Wiedem, John Sheptock, Janine Sides, Hethur Suval, Chelsea Stark, and Sarah Tejeda.

Special thanks to Jelly Belly [a gross, allergenic, sweet tasting mix of chemical flavors, colors, sugar, bleached flour, and corn syrup that it better regarded as a pretty "art supply" than any kind of "food"]. Kina Grannis on Myspace or kinagrannis.com

Animal Realm: Immortal Species Found!

An animal that can live forever
One species of jellyfish has no lifespan limits because it can manipulate its cells. Unique biological process - Transdifferentiation - Extinct frog rediscovered

COMMENTARY
Wisdom Quarterly
Jellyfish, which are an invertebrate species, are the most plentiful Earthlings on the planet today. That means that if aliens visitors were to conduct an objective survey, pound for pound, they would have to conclude that this was a jellyfish world. Now scientists have determined that not only are they the most plentiful creatures on Earth, one species of jellyfish has found a way to live indefinitely. It may be "immortal," but it certainly does not live forever: Seas dry up, the planet goes through tremendous upheavals, with the entire world-system passing through phases of apocalyptic dissolution, chaos, and evolution.

Few people appreciate that there are repeatedly (cyclically) times when the average human lifespan increases to tens of thousands of years. Lifespans are not uniform over time in any realm; higher (deva) worlds may always have greater longevity, but it's relative. So to think that we are at much of an advantage because "we are living longer" now than a few years ago is ironic to the point of being absurd.

Nevertheless, the rebirth process ensures that, conventionally-speaking, we already live indefinitely. Meanwhile, the doctrine of impersonality (anatta) of phenomena ensures that, ultimately-speaking, we do not persist for two consecutive moments. The mark of phenomenal objects is that they are radically impermanent, impersonal, and unsatisfactory. But don't tell the jellyfish as they frolic in the sea never being eaten, suffering from global warming, or being dismayed by the environmental degradation that comes from floating next to pools of plastic trash.

New clouds or HAARP/Chemtrails?

A new type of cloud?
A woman's photograph starts a push for a new type of cloud category. "Violent-looking, turbulent"

• Strange lightning looks like jellyfish
• Possible cause: HAARP or Chemtrails?

HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program). Supposed weather modification, communication disruption, and mind control weapon system. It is part of the extended Star Wars Defense Initiative (SDI) of the US military. HAARP has the ability to modify the Earth's electromagnetic field.