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Arctic Ocean Survey May Reveal Lost World

core plexus writes " A new survey of the depths of the ice-capped Arctic Ocean as reported at Reuters, BBC, and others, could reveal a lost world of living fossils and exotic new species from jellyfish to giant squid, scientists said on Thursday. They speculated that Arctic waters might hide creatures known only from fossils, such as trilobites that flourished 300 million years ago. The international scheme will include probing a 12,470-foot abyss off Canada described by project leaders as the "world's oldest sea water -- a vast, still pool unstirred for millennia, walled by steep ridges and lidded with ice." Bring on the "Jurassic Park" references."

4 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. The horrors of the deep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They expect only jellyfish and squids?! Have we learned nothing? What if we awaken some age-old form of life that has been lying dormant in the Earth's seabeds for thousands of years, just waiting fot the perfect opportunity to leap out and assimilate us all?

    Well... dunno about you, but I, for one, pre-emptively welcome our new dark-and-gooey overlords!

  2. Re:ah the ocean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Accordingly we've explored far less of it than space.

    I think there is a lot more space than there is ocean. we've explored nearly 0% of space, significantly lower than the percentage of ocean explored.

  3. Re:ah the ocean by ptomblin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Futurama quote:

    "We're taking over 150 atmospheres of pressure!"

    "How many atmospheres can this ship take?"

    "Well, it's a spaceship, so I'd say anywhere between 0 and 1."

    --
    The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
  4. Re:ah the ocean by Darby · · Score: 5, Funny

    as an ocean engineer I feel compelled to point out that exploring the depths of the ocean is an assload harder than exploring space.

    Yeah, but do you run into problems converting between imperial assloads and metric assloads?