WEBVTT 00:00:00.975 --> 00:00:04.011 The Kraken, a beast so terrifying 00:00:04.011 --> 00:00:07.108 it was said to devour men and ships and whales, 00:00:07.108 --> 00:00:11.035 and so enormous it could be mistaken for an island. 00:00:11.035 --> 00:00:13.291 In assessing the merits of such tales, 00:00:13.291 --> 00:00:16.176 it's probably wise to keep in mind that old sailor's saw 00:00:16.176 --> 00:00:19.799 that the only difference between a fairytale and a sea story 00:00:19.799 --> 00:00:22.436 is a fairytale begins, "Once upon a time," 00:00:22.436 --> 00:00:27.669 and a sea story begins, "This ain't no shit." (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:27.669 --> 00:00:29.447 Every fish that gets away 00:00:29.447 --> 00:00:31.595 grows with every telling of the tale. 00:00:31.595 --> 00:00:34.082 Nevertheless, there are giants in the ocean, 00:00:34.082 --> 00:00:36.111 and we now have video proof, 00:00:36.111 --> 00:00:40.733 as those of you that saw the Discovery Channel documentary are no doubt aware. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:40.733 --> 00:00:43.370 I was one of the three scientists on this expedition 00:00:43.370 --> 00:00:45.566 that took place last summer off Japan. 00:00:45.566 --> 00:00:48.062 I'm the short one. 00:00:48.062 --> 00:00:52.120 The other two are Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera and Dr. Steve O'Shea. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:52.120 --> 00:00:55.650 I owe my participation in this now-historic event 00:00:55.650 --> 00:00:57.456 to TED. 00:00:57.456 --> 00:01:00.531 In 2010, there was a TED event called Mission Blue 00:01:00.531 --> 00:01:03.265 held aboard the Lindblad Explorer in the Galapagos 00:01:03.265 --> 00:01:07.107 as part of the fulfillment of Sylvia Earle's TED wish. 00:01:07.107 --> 00:01:09.896 I spoke about a new way of exploring the ocean, 00:01:09.896 --> 00:01:14.673 one that focuses on attracting animals instead of scaring them away. 00:01:14.673 --> 00:01:16.969 Mike deGruy was also invited, 00:01:16.969 --> 00:01:20.524 and he spoke with great passion about his love of the ocean, 00:01:20.524 --> 00:01:22.937 and he also talked to me about applying my approach 00:01:22.937 --> 00:01:25.593 to something he's been involved with for a very long time, 00:01:25.593 --> 00:01:29.027 which is the hunt for the giant squid. 00:01:29.027 --> 00:01:32.907 It was Mike that got me invited to the squid summit, 00:01:32.907 --> 00:01:37.032 a gathering of squid experts at the Discovery Channel 00:01:37.032 --> 00:01:41.821 that summer during Shark Week. (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:41.821 --> 00:01:44.237 I gave a talk on unobtrusive viewing 00:01:44.237 --> 00:01:46.780 and optical luring of deep sea squid 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:48.557 in which I emphasized the importance 00:01:48.557 --> 00:01:53.807 of using quiet, unobtrusive platforms for exploration. 00:01:53.807 --> 00:01:56.532 This came out of hundreds of dives I have made, 00:01:56.532 --> 00:01:58.858 farting around in the dark 00:01:58.858 --> 00:02:01.636 using these platforms, 00:02:01.636 --> 00:02:05.219 and my impression that I saw more animals 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:07.100 working from the submersible 00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:10.020 than I did with either of the remote-operated vehicles. 00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:13.390 But that could just be because the submersible has a wider field of view. 00:02:13.390 --> 00:02:15.079 But I also felt like I saw more animals 00:02:15.079 --> 00:02:16.930 working with the Tiburon than the Ventana, 00:02:16.930 --> 00:02:19.115 two vehicles with the same field of view 00:02:19.115 --> 00:02:21.153 but different propulsion systems. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:21.153 --> 00:02:25.184 So my suspicion was that it might have something to do with the amount of noise they make. 00:02:25.184 --> 00:02:27.440 So I set up a hydrophone on the bottom of the ocean, 00:02:27.440 --> 00:02:30.600 and I had each of these fly by at the same speed and distance 00:02:30.600 --> 00:02:33.032 and recorded the sound they made. 00:02:33.032 --> 00:02:34.669 The Johnson Sea-Link -- (whirring noise) -- 00:02:34.669 --> 00:02:37.264 which you can probably just barely hear here, 00:02:37.264 --> 00:02:40.864 uses electric thrusters -- very, very quiet. 00:02:40.864 --> 00:02:44.219 The Tiburon also uses electric powered thrusters. 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:49.298 It's also pretty quiet, but a bit noisier. (Louder whirring noise) 00:02:49.298 --> 00:02:52.501 But most deep-diving ROVs these days use hydraulics 00:02:52.501 --> 00:02:55.939 and they sound like the Ventana. (Loud beeping noise) 00:02:55.939 --> 00:02:59.365 I think that's got to be scaring a lot of animals away. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:59.365 --> 00:03:01.858 So for the deep sea squid hunt, 00:03:01.858 --> 00:03:04.015 I proposed using an optical lure 00:03:04.015 --> 00:03:06.175 attached to a camera platform 00:03:06.175 --> 00:03:10.943 with no thrusters, no motors, 00:03:10.943 --> 00:03:13.552 just a battery-powered camera, 00:03:13.552 --> 00:03:16.572 and the only illumination coming from red light 00:03:16.572 --> 00:03:19.064 that's invisible to most deep-sea animals 00:03:19.064 --> 00:03:21.756 that are adapted to see primarily blue. 00:03:21.756 --> 00:03:23.018 That's visible to our eye, 00:03:23.018 --> 00:03:26.359 but it's the equivalent of infrared in the deep sea. 00:03:26.359 --> 00:03:29.200 So this camera platform, which we called the Medusa, 00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:31.329 could just be thrown off the back of the ship, 00:03:31.329 --> 00:03:36.915 attached to a float at the surface with over 2,000 feet of line, 00:03:36.915 --> 00:03:40.994 it would just float around passively carried by the currents, 00:03:40.994 --> 00:03:45.391 and the only light visible to the animals in the deep 00:03:45.391 --> 00:03:49.378 would be the blue light of the optical lure, 00:03:49.378 --> 00:03:53.158 which we called the electronic jellyfish, or e-jelly, 00:03:53.158 --> 00:03:56.018 because it was designed to imitate 00:03:56.018 --> 00:03:58.274 the bioluminescent display 00:03:58.274 --> 00:04:01.619 of the common deep sea jellyfish Atolla. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:01.619 --> 00:04:05.180 Now, this pinwheel of light that the Atolla produces 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:08.163 is known as a bioluminescent burglar alarm 00:04:08.163 --> 00:04:10.441 and is a form of defense. 00:04:10.441 --> 00:04:13.622 The reason that the electronic jellyfish worked as a lure 00:04:13.622 --> 00:04:16.525 is not because giant squid eat jellyfish, 00:04:16.525 --> 00:04:20.954 but it's because this jellyfish only resorts to producing this light 00:04:20.954 --> 00:04:23.331 when it's being chewed on by a predator 00:04:23.331 --> 00:04:26.010 and its only hope for escape 00:04:26.010 --> 00:04:28.985 may be to attract the attention of a larger predator 00:04:28.985 --> 00:04:31.047 that will attack its attacker 00:04:31.047 --> 00:04:33.590 and thereby afford it an opportunity for escape. 00:04:33.590 --> 00:04:37.482 It's a scream for help, a last-ditch attempt for escape, 00:04:37.482 --> 00:04:40.890 and a common form of defense in the deep sea. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:40.890 --> 00:04:43.003 The approach worked. 00:04:43.003 --> 00:04:46.514 Whereas all previous expeditions had failed to garner 00:04:46.514 --> 00:04:48.962 a single video glimpse of the giant, 00:04:48.962 --> 00:04:53.627 we managed six, and the first triggered wild excitement. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:53.627 --> 00:05:06.845 Edith Widder (on video): Oh my God. Oh my God! Are you kidding me?Other scientists: Oh ho ho! That's just hanging there. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:06.845 --> 00:05:09.981 EW: It was like it was teasing us, doing a kind of fan dance -- 00:05:09.981 --> 00:05:12.026 now you see me, now you don't -- 00:05:12.026 --> 00:05:15.029 and we had four such teasing appearances, 00:05:15.029 --> 00:05:20.438 and then on the fifth, it came in and totally wowed us. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:20.438 --> 00:05:24.711 (Music) Narrator: (Speaking in Japanese) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:24.711 --> 00:05:34.553 Scientists: Ooh. Bang! Oh my God! Whoa! NOTE Paragraph 00:05:36.999 --> 00:05:39.253 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:39.253 --> 00:05:44.107 EW: The full monty. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:44.107 --> 00:05:45.452 What really wowed me about that 00:05:45.452 --> 00:05:47.626 was the way it came in up over the e-jelly 00:05:47.626 --> 00:05:49.946 and then attacked the enormous thing next to it, 00:05:49.946 --> 00:05:53.252 which I think it mistook for the predator on the e-jelly. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:53.252 --> 00:05:55.671 But even more incredible was the footage shot 00:05:55.671 --> 00:05:58.316 from the Triton submersible. 00:05:58.316 --> 00:06:01.100 What was not mentioned in the Discovery documentary 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:04.546 was that the bait squid that Dr. Kubodera used, 00:06:04.546 --> 00:06:08.148 a one-meter long diamondback squid 00:06:08.148 --> 00:06:10.860 had a light attached to it, a squid jig 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:13.444 of the type that longline fishermen use, 00:06:13.444 --> 00:06:15.482 and I think it was this light 00:06:15.482 --> 00:06:18.031 that brought the giant in. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:18.031 --> 00:06:19.496 Now, what you're seeing 00:06:19.496 --> 00:06:24.594 is the intensified camera's view under red light, 00:06:24.594 --> 00:06:28.716 and that's all Dr. Kubodera could see when the giant comes in here. 00:06:28.716 --> 00:06:31.171 And then he got so excited, 00:06:31.171 --> 00:06:34.666 he turned on his flashlight because he wanted to see better, 00:06:34.666 --> 00:06:36.850 and the giant didn't run away, 00:06:36.850 --> 00:06:40.091 so he risked turning on the white lights on the submersible, 00:06:40.091 --> 00:06:42.627 bringing a creature of legend 00:06:42.627 --> 00:06:47.598 from the misty history into high-resolution video. 00:06:47.598 --> 00:06:50.866 It was absolutely breathtaking, 00:06:50.866 --> 00:06:53.795 and had this animal had its feeding tentacles intact 00:06:53.795 --> 00:06:55.260 and fully extended, 00:06:55.260 --> 00:06:58.512 it would have been as tall as a two-story house. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:58.512 --> 00:07:01.171 How could something that big 00:07:01.171 --> 00:07:05.771 live in our ocean and yet remain unfilmed until now? 00:07:05.771 --> 00:07:09.395 We've only explored about five percent of our ocean. 00:07:09.395 --> 00:07:12.531 There are great discoveries yet to be made down there, 00:07:12.531 --> 00:07:17.153 fantastic creatures representing millions of years of evolution 00:07:17.153 --> 00:07:19.250 and possibly bioactive compounds 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:23.065 that could benefit us in ways that we can't even yet imagine. 00:07:23.065 --> 00:07:26.113 Yet we have spent only a tiny fraction 00:07:26.113 --> 00:07:29.482 of the money on ocean exploration 00:07:29.482 --> 00:07:31.889 that we've spent on space exploration. 00:07:31.889 --> 00:07:35.534 We need a NASA-like organization for ocean exploration, 00:07:35.534 --> 00:07:38.369 because we need to be exploring and protecting 00:07:38.369 --> 00:07:40.961 our life support systems here on Earth. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:40.961 --> 00:07:47.193 We need — thank you. (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:47.193 --> 00:07:50.047 Exploration is the engine that drives innovation. 00:07:50.047 --> 00:07:53.018 Innovation drives economic growth. 00:07:53.018 --> 00:07:54.541 So let's all go exploring, 00:07:54.541 --> 00:07:57.642 but let's do it in a way that doesn't scare the animals away, 00:07:57.642 --> 00:07:59.975 or, as Mike deGruy once said, 00:07:59.975 --> 00:08:01.761 "If you want to get away from it all 00:08:01.761 --> 00:08:03.375 and see something you've never seen, 00:08:03.375 --> 00:08:06.960 or have an excellent chance of seeing something that no one's ever seen, 00:08:06.960 --> 00:08:08.490 get in a sub." 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:10.696 He should have been with us for this adventure. 00:08:10.696 --> 00:08:12.503 We miss him. 00:08:12.503 --> 00:08:17.719 (Applause)