Deep thinker
The deep sea is less well known than the surface of the moon, about as hard to get to, and as dangerous once you’re there. It holds the world’s longest mountain range — the mid-ocean ridge — carries in its waters enough gold to give every human on the planet nine pounds and, below 1,000 meters, is still vast enough to constitute 80 percent of Earth’s biosphere. It’s also the site of one of the last century’s most startling scientific discoveries: whole communities of animals fueled not by photosynthesis and sunlight, but by chemical energy drawn from enormous smoking vents fired by the Earth’s volcanism. It is also a place that scientists such as Harvard’s Peter Girguis want to get to know better, with new networks of sensors and a refit of the venerable Alvin submersible under way. Girguis, the Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences, presented a history of undersea...