Deep ocean mysteries and wonders - David Gallo
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0:15 - 0:17You know, I had a real rough time
in school with ADD, -
0:17 - 0:19and I have a PhD.
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0:19 - 0:21I earned a PhD, but ...
tough to pay attention -- -
0:21 - 0:25biology, geology, physics,
chemistry -- really tough for me. -
0:25 - 0:27Only one thing grabbed my attention,
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0:27 - 0:30and it's that planet called Earth.
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0:30 - 0:33But in this picture here,
you'll see that Earth is mostly water. -
0:33 - 0:34That's the Pacific.
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0:34 - 0:37Seventy percent of Earth
is covered with water. -
0:37 - 0:39You can say, "Hey,
I know Earth. I live here." -
0:39 - 0:40You don't know Earth.
-
0:40 - 0:43You don't know this planet,
because most of it's covered with that -- -
0:43 - 0:45average depth, two miles.
-
0:45 - 0:46And when you go outside
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0:46 - 0:49and look up at the Empire State
Building, Chrysler Building, -
0:49 - 0:52the average depth of the ocean
is 15 of those on top of one another. -
0:52 - 0:55We've explored about five percent
of what's in that water. -
0:55 - 0:59"Explored," meaning, for the first time,
go peek and see what's there. -
0:59 - 1:02So what I want to do today
is show you some things -
1:02 - 1:04about this planet, about the oceans.
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1:04 - 1:07I want to take you from shallow water
down to the deep water, -
1:07 - 1:09and hopefully, like me,
you'll see some things -
1:09 - 1:12that get you hooked
on exploring planet Earth. -
1:12 - 1:15You know things like corals;
you've seen plenty of corals, -
1:15 - 1:18those of you who've been
to the beach, snorkeling, -
1:18 - 1:20know corals are an amazing place
to go -- full of life, -
1:20 - 1:23some big animals, small animals,
some nice, some dangerous, -
1:23 - 1:25sharks, whales, all that stuff.
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1:25 - 1:27They need to be protected from humanity.
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1:27 - 1:29They're great places.
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1:29 - 1:32But what you probably don't know
is in the very deep part of the ocean, -
1:32 - 1:34we have volcanic eruptions.
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1:34 - 1:36Most volcanoes on Earth
are at the bottom of the sea -- -
1:36 - 1:38more than 80 percent.
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1:38 - 1:39And we actually have fire,
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1:39 - 1:42fire deep inside the ocean,
going on right now. -
1:42 - 1:45All over the world -- in the Pacific,
the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean. -
1:45 - 1:48In this place, the ocean floor,
the rocks actually turn to liquid. -
1:48 - 1:50So you actually have waves
on the ocean floor. -
1:50 - 1:53You'd say nothing could live there,
but when we look in detail, -
1:53 - 1:57even there, in the deepest,
darkest places on Earth, we find life, -
1:57 - 1:59which tells us that life
really wants to happen. -
1:59 - 2:01So, pretty amazing stuff.
-
2:01 - 2:03Every time we go to the bottom of the sea,
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2:03 - 2:05we explore with our submarines,
with our robots, -
2:05 - 2:07we see something
that's usually surprising, -
2:07 - 2:10sometimes it's startling
and sometimes revolutionary. -
2:10 - 2:12You see that puddle
of water sitting there. -
2:12 - 2:15And all around the water
there's a little cliff, -
2:15 - 2:16there's a little white sandy beach.
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2:16 - 2:19We'll get closer, you'll see
the beach a little bit better, -
2:19 - 2:21some of the waves
in that water, down there. -
2:21 - 2:23The thing that's special about this water
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2:23 - 2:26is that it's at the bottom
of the Gulf of Mexico. -
2:26 - 2:27So you're sitting inside a submarine,
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2:27 - 2:32looking out the window
at a little pond of water beneath the sea. -
2:32 - 2:35We see ponds, we see
lakes, we see rivers -- -
2:35 - 2:38in fact, right here is a river
at the bottom of the ocean -
2:38 - 2:40going from the lower
left to the upper right. -
2:40 - 2:42Water is actually flowing through there.
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2:42 - 2:43This totally blew our minds.
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2:43 - 2:45How can you have this at the bottom?
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2:45 - 2:47You're in the ocean looking at more water.
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2:47 - 2:50And there's animals
that only live in that water. -
2:51 - 2:52So, the bottom of the ocean --
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2:52 - 2:55I love this map, because it shows
in the middle of the ocean, -
2:55 - 2:56there's a mountain range.
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2:56 - 3:00It's the greatest mountain range
on Earth, called the mid-ocean ridge -- -
3:00 - 3:0350,000 miles long,
and we've hardly had a peek at it. -
3:03 - 3:04Hardly had a peek at it.
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3:04 - 3:07We find valleys,
many thousands of valleys, -
3:07 - 3:10larger, wider, deeper
than the Grand Canyon. -
3:10 - 3:13We find, as I said, underwater
lakes, rivers, waterfalls. -
3:13 - 3:15The largest waterfall on the planet
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3:15 - 3:17is actually under the ocean,
up near Iceland. -
3:18 - 3:21All that stuff is in that five percent
that we've explored. -
3:21 - 3:24So the deal about the ocean
is that to explore it, -
3:24 - 3:26you've got to have technology.
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3:26 - 3:28Not only technology,
but it's not just Dave Gallo -
3:28 - 3:30or one person exploring,
it's a team of people. -
3:30 - 3:33You've got to have the talent, the team.
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3:33 - 3:34You've got to have the technology.
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3:34 - 3:37In this case, it's our ship, Atlantis,
and the submarine, Alvin. -
3:37 - 3:40Inside that submarine --
this is an Alvin launch -- -
3:40 - 3:41there's three people.
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3:41 - 3:43They're being wheeled out onto deck.
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3:43 - 3:44There's 47 other people,
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3:44 - 3:48the teamwork on that ship,
making sure that these people are okay. -
3:48 - 3:51Everybody in that submarine
is thinking one thing right now: -
3:51 - 3:54Should I have gone
to the bathroom one more time? -
3:54 - 3:55Because you're in there for 10 hours --
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3:55 - 3:5710 hours in that little sphere.
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3:57 - 4:00Three of you together
and nobody is going to be around you. -
4:00 - 4:03You go into the water
and once you hit the water, it's amazing. -
4:03 - 4:06There's a lovely color blue
that penetrates right inside you. -
4:06 - 4:08You don't hear the surface ship anymore,
-
4:08 - 4:10you hear that pinging of a sonar.
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4:10 - 4:12If you've got an iPhone
you've got sonar on there -- -
4:12 - 4:16it's that same pinging that goes
down to the bottom and comes back up. -
4:16 - 4:19Divers check out the sub to make
sure the outside is okay, -
4:19 - 4:20and then they say "Go,"
-
4:20 - 4:23and down you go to the bottom
of the ocean and it's an amazing trip. -
4:23 - 4:26So for two and a half hours,
you sink down to the bottom. -
4:27 - 4:29And two hours of it
is totally pitch black. -
4:29 - 4:31We thought that nothing
could live inside that world -
4:31 - 4:33at the bottom of the ocean.
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4:33 - 4:35And when we look,
we find some amazing things. -
4:35 - 4:38All the way down --
we call it the mid-water -- -
4:38 - 4:40from the top of the ocean
down to the bottom, we find life. -
4:40 - 4:42Whenever we stop and look, we find life.
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4:42 - 4:44I'm going to show you some jellies.
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4:44 - 4:47They're absolutely some
of the coolest creatures on Earth. -
4:47 - 4:49Look at that thing,
just flailing his arms around. -
4:49 - 4:51That's like a little lobster.
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4:51 - 4:54That one is like all these animals
with their mouths hooked together, -
4:54 - 4:55the colonial animals.
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4:55 - 4:58Some animals are tiny,
some can be longer than this stage. -
4:58 - 4:59Just amazing animals.
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4:59 - 5:01And you can't collect them with a net --
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5:01 - 5:04we have to go with our cameras
and take a look at them. -
5:04 - 5:06So every time we go, new species of life.
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5:06 - 5:08The ocean is full of life.
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5:09 - 5:10And yet the deepest part of the ocean --
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5:11 - 5:13when we go to that mountain range,
we find hot springs. -
5:13 - 5:16Now we were sure --
because this is poisonous water, -
5:16 - 5:18because it's so deep
it would crush the Titanic -
5:18 - 5:20the same way you crush
an empty cup in your hand -- -
5:20 - 5:23we were sure there would be
no life there at all. -
5:23 - 5:26Instead, we find more life
and diversity and density -
5:26 - 5:27than in the tropical rainforest.
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5:27 - 5:31So, in one instance, in one peek
out the window of the sub, -
5:31 - 5:32we discover something
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5:32 - 5:35that revolutionizes the way
we think about life on Earth; -
5:35 - 5:37and that is, you don't always
have to have sunlight -
5:37 - 5:38to get life going.
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5:39 - 5:42There's big animals down there too,
some that look familiar. -
5:42 - 5:44That guy's called Dumbo.
I love him. Dumbo's great. -
5:44 - 5:47This guy -- oh man,
I wish I had more footage of this. -
5:47 - 5:50We're trying to get an expedition
together to go look at this -
5:50 - 5:52and maybe in a year we'll have that.
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5:52 - 5:53Go online and look.
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5:53 - 5:56Vampyroteuthis infernalis.
The vampire squid. -
5:56 - 5:58Incredibly cool.
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5:58 - 6:01In the darkness of the deep sea,
he's got glowing tentacles, -
6:01 - 6:04so if I'm coming at you like him,
I put my arms out in the darkness -
6:04 - 6:06so all you see are little
glowing things over here. -
6:06 - 6:08Meanwhile, I'm coming at you.
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6:08 - 6:09When he wants to escape,
-
6:09 - 6:12he's got these glowing pods
on his butt that look like eyes. -
6:12 - 6:14Glowing eyes on his butt.
How cool is that? -
6:14 - 6:15Just an amazing animal.
-
6:15 - 6:16(Laughter)
-
6:16 - 6:19"Vampire" squid,
because when it gets protective, -
6:19 - 6:21it pulls this black cape
over its whole body, -
6:21 - 6:22and curls up into a ball.
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6:22 - 6:24Outrageous animal.
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6:24 - 6:27This ship, "The Ship of Dreams" --
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6:27 - 6:29a hundred years ago this coming April,
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6:29 - 6:31this ship was supposed
to show up in New York. -
6:31 - 6:32It's the Titanic.
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6:32 - 6:34I co-led an expedition
out there last year. -
6:34 - 6:37We are learning so much about that ship.
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6:37 - 6:39The Titanic is an interesting
place for biology, -
6:39 - 6:42because animals are moving
in to live on the Titanic. -
6:42 - 6:45Microbes are actually
eating the hull of the Titanic. -
6:45 - 6:48That's where Jack was king of the world
there on the bow of the Titanic. -
6:48 - 6:49So we're doing real good.
-
6:49 - 6:52And what's exciting to me
is that we're making a virtual Titanic, -
6:52 - 6:57so you can sit there at home
with your joystick and your headset on, -
6:57 - 6:59and you can actually explore
the Titanic for yourself. -
6:59 - 7:02That's what we want to do,
make these virtual worlds, -
7:02 - 7:05so it's not Dave Gallo or someone else
exploring the world; it's you. -
7:05 - 7:07You explore it for yourself.
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7:07 - 7:08So here's the bottom line:
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7:08 - 7:11The oceans are unexplored
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7:11 - 7:14and I can't begin to tell
you how important that is, -
7:14 - 7:16because they're important to us.
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7:16 - 7:18Seven billion people live on this planet
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7:18 - 7:20and all of us are impacted by the sea,
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7:20 - 7:25because the oceans control the air
you breathe, the water you drink, -
7:25 - 7:26the food you eat.
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7:26 - 7:28All those are controlled
in some way by the ocean, -
7:28 - 7:31and this is a thing
that we haven't even explored -- -
7:31 - 7:32five percent.
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7:32 - 7:34The thing I want to leave you with is,
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7:34 - 7:36in that five percent,
I showed you some cool stuff. -
7:36 - 7:38There's a lot more cool stuff --
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7:38 - 7:42every dive we go on in the ocean,
we find something new about the sea. -
7:42 - 7:44So what's in that other 95 percent?
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7:44 - 7:46Did we get the exciting stuff
or is there more out there? -
7:46 - 7:50And I'm here to tell you
that the ocean is full of surprises. -
7:50 - 7:52There's a quote I love by Marcel Proust:
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7:52 - 7:55"The true voyage of exploration
is not so much in seeking new landscapes," -
7:55 - 7:56which we do,
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7:57 - 7:58"but in having new eyes."
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7:58 - 8:00And so I hope today,
by showing you some of this, -
8:00 - 8:02it's given you some new eyes
about this planet, -
8:02 - 8:05and for the first time,
I want you to think about it differently. -
8:05 - 8:07Thank you very much. Thank you.
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8:07 - 8:10(Applause)
- Title:
- Deep ocean mysteries and wonders - David Gallo
- Speaker:
- David Gallo
- Description:
-
In the deepest, darkest parts of the oceans are ecosystems with more diversity than a tropical rainforest. Taking us on a voyage into the ocean -- from the deepest trenches to the remains of the Titanic -- marine biologist David Gallo explores the wonder and beauty of marine life.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 08:28
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Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 4/28/2016.