So, you’ve come along on our expedition, created your own research cruise and now you want to explore how many expeditions Alvin has done and how many times it has dived to the deep sea. This website lists all the Alvin dives. You can search by year, by chief scientist, by location, etc. When you [Read the Rest...]

This week has been all about the awesomeness of deep biosphere microbes! Which Microbe Are You? Here’s an online microbe personality quiz that can be supplemented with a worksheet or research project. Suggestions for projects to do after the students discover their microbe: 1. Make a giant microbe model of your microbe (using the instructions [Read the Rest...]

We’ve been talking a lot about ROVs but what about underwater vehicles that are manned by humans? Recently, James Cameron (the director of movies like Terminator, Titanic and Avatar) took a trip in a manned submersible to the deepest place in the ocean – the Marianas Trench. SubSphere Here’s a video about the sphere that [Read the Rest...]

The biggest discoveries in the deep ocean in the last 50 years have been about life and how many different environments we’re finding it. Here are some videos showing how diverse the deep biosphere can be.   Discovery of hydrothermal vents Here’s a video about how scientists discovered hydrothermal vents. Suggestions for discussion prompts (and [Read the Rest...]

All week, we’ve been exploring pressure at the bottom of the ocean. Now, what would happen to water in space where there is no gravity? Space Balloons Check out this video of water balloons in space: Here are some suggestions for discussion topics (or worksheet questions): 1.  How does popping a water balloon in space [Read the Rest...]