Featuring C-DEBI researchers Laura Zinke, Jan Amend, Julie Huber, Doug LaRowe and Steve D’Hondt.

Bundled in layers of blankets for warmth, Laura Zinke settled in for a two-hour ride to the bottom of the ocean. The temperature dipped significantly once she and her colleagues passed the depth still touched by sunlight, and it would continue to drop as an engineer maneuvered the Alvin submersible research vessel deeper and deeper toward the seafloor. Through a small porthole, Zinke saw fluorescent creatures flit by.