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Alaskan Blob Is an Algae Bloom
Bryan Gividen writes "Time.com is running a story on the previously unidentified blob floating off of the coast of Alaska. The article states that the blob is an algae bloom — far less sinister (or exciting) than any The Thing or The Blob comparison that was jokingly made. From the article: '"It's sort of like a swimming pool that hasn't been cleaned in a while." The blob, Konar said, is a microalgae made up of 'billions and billions of individuals.'"
... how we can turn this thing into something useful. Gasoline, maybe?
Am I the only one who could not help but hear that quote in Carl Sagan's voice?
To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
So, it is alive!
This guy's the limit!
to produce methane and ..........
KKKKAAAABBBBBOOOOOMMMMM.
Yours In Science,
Kilgore Trout
Whose turn was it to chlorine the ocean?
Alaskan Bob. Then I thought to myself, "hey, isn't that the guy who eats raw fish and is cool?"
For some reason I initially read the headline as "Alaksan Bob", and assumed it was going to be about Sarah Palin's replacement.
Mind you, she probably can see this blob from her house...
how does that huge thing stick together?
weinersmith
I, for one, welcome our new photosynthetic overlords.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
i thought it was a shoggoth.
It missed Jupiter after all. :-)
If that's microalgae, I'd hate to see macroalgae.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Because when these die most will fall to the bottom of the deep ocean and get buried taking their carbon with them. Perhaps millions of years from now this bloom WILL be back as oil! :)
I first thought it was a ton of barber hair dumped in the ocean that had become a bacterial colony. That's what it looked like. But I can see it being algae now.
They're using their grammar skills there.
... just add Tofu.
It would have been way funnier if it turned out to be whale semen.
How do we know? Maybe The Blob was just a really angry algae bloom? Those Deadliest Catch guys better not piss this one off!
just when i thought my monday couldn't get any more boring :(
You almost got it right. Here's the real story.
Alaskan Blob to replace Sarah Palin.
News at eleven. </satire>
I say things which affects my Karma negatively. (and I don't care) For instance; All religion is false.
algal blooms. One of the prime symptoms of anthropogenic warming is disproportionate warming at night and at the North and South Poles. We're a smart bunch here at Slashdot, right? (Right?) We can figure out what that means.
Like a previous commenter said, yes, when they die they'll take some of their incorporated carbon down to the sea floor. Along the way, microbes are going to be decomposing it. They use oxygen to do that. If there's enough algae (and this sounds like there is) what that means is that all the fish and everything else that needs oxygen dies in that whole zone. It's like the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is major Not Good.
Read 'Stark'
Anyone else think of the novel Timescape by Gregory Benford? I hope someone is working on inventing a tachyon beam that can contact the past...
You left out lolcats...
These do not happen at the poles. It normally requires warmer water. So, what is feeding this in such cold water?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
That'd be good, I thought that was a good show. Will it be on the USA channel again?
Glad to see a smarter politician in charge for once :)
But... the future refused to change.
'billions and billions of individuals.'
But does he pronounce it as "billyuns and billyuns"?
It isn't exciting ??
We kept hearing a few years ago that this was exactly the kind of activity that
was responsible for much of the breathable air on our planet, plus food the the fishies...
And this isn't something to be marveled at ??? Cripes...
End of Line.
News: Previously unidentified life-form identified.
First response: How can we turn this thing into something useful, like gasoline?
Moderation: +5 Interesting.
Slashdot: News for greedheads, stuff you can sell.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Till it dies off .. then we might get another dead zone.
When algal blooms die off, oxygen is used to decompose the algae which creates hypoxic conditions.
Not going to happen in the cold waters off the coast of Alaska. Think about it a little bit. Oxygen solubility is at near maximum in these waters, while decomposition rate decreases with lower temperatures.
they said it was a vegetarian, well heres their chance to prove it.
...it was about time for messages from the future to arrive.
For more factual information about algal blooms, the Geological Survey has produced: http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:PYtvMJ0lJ3QJ:pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3147/pdf/FS2006_3147.pdf+usgs+algal+bloom&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Floating in the black seas of infinity without a paddle.
..they said birds were getting stuck in it, and all that was coming out the other side was feathers and bones - is this typical of algae to consume small mammals?
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Actually she's planning on flying overhead in a chopper and shooting it.
Oh my God! They killed Alaskan Bob! You Bastards!
My other car is a 1984 Nark Avenger.
My question which every person has been avoiding: Is this algal bloom caused by the "oil eating bacteria" that has been employed in recent years for oil spill clean up?
From what little I have read, there have been many comments on its oil like properties after coming in contact with a solid substance (boats, ice...).
Bioremediation (Wikipedida::Oil Spill Cleanup) is the use of micro-organisms among other things to "neutralize" the oil.
My question is this. Given the tenaciousness of life, if you release micro-organisms into a relatively massive fuel supply could a very few of those mutate into something else?
I'm not a scientist or even an amateur in this field, but I do know that shaking water can stir stuff up from the bottom.
though looking at wikipedia.. this has happened before, at least near this area. Down near the bottom there's a picture of a bloom from 1998 in the Bering Sea (the rich sea area I was talkin about) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom
This might really be more a case of people unfamiliar with a phenomenon blowing it way out of proportion because they don't know that it's happened before.
El nino condition has been occurring more frequently. 1997-1998, 2002-2003, 2004-2005 and 2006-2007
It has produced a larger brood ;)
There has to be a way to link this to Sarah. I am counting on the smart slashdot users to post the elegant response and make my day :-)