Deep sea alkaline hydrothermal vents have been theorized to be a place where life could have originated. The elevated temperature, alkaline pH, and unique vent action concentrate minerals and create local energetic gradients ...
In the deep sea, far away from the light of the sun, organisms use chemical energy to fix carbon. At hydrothermal vents—where hot, mineral-rich water gushes out of towering chimneys called black smokers—vibrant ecosystems ...
Ecology
Nov 19, 2019
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25
It is completely dark, just above freezing cold and the pressure is crushing: this is the deep-sea floor. Food is very scarce in this huge region, yet a great diversity of animals have adapted to exploit and recycle resources ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 9, 2019
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27
New research from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) published Aug. 19, 2019, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science provides evidence of the formation and abundance of abiotic methane—methane formed ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 20, 2019
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Hydrothermal vents host rare species at incredibly high density comparable to tropical rainforests or coral reefs. Forty years ago, the first descriptions of the ecosystems around these deep underwater heat funnels changed ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 23, 2019
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7
Something peculiar is happening in the azure waters off the rocky cliffs of Ischia, Italy. There, streams of gas-filled volcanic bubbles rising up to the surface are radically changing life around them by making seawater ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 11, 2018
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223
We have only known about the existence of the unusual yeti crabs (Kiwaidae)—a family of crab-like animals whose hairy claws and bodies are reminiscent of the abominable snowman—since 2005, but already their future survival ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 22, 2018
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95
Some deep-sea skates—cartilaginous fish related to rays and sharks—use volcanic heat emitted at hydrothermal vents to incubate their eggs, according to a new study in the journal Scientific Reports. Because deep-sea skates ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 12, 2018
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194
Scientists have made a crucial new discovery into how a group of ancient microbes that can survive in some of the world's harshest environments, propel themselves forward.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 24, 2017
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503
It's like the Superman of viruses, astonishingly tough and able to survive in an environment that would dissolve flesh and bone. And now scientists have unlocked the secrets of its indestructibility, potentially allowing ...
Materials Science
Jul 19, 2017
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