TED- Life In The Deep Oceans

Skills: Listening

Talk/Think

1. Where on Earth do you think you'd find the largest amount of animal life? e.g. The Amazon Rainforest, the African savannah, etc.
2. Have you ever been snorkelling or scuba diving? Where did you go? What was it like? What did you see?
3. Do you eat seafood? How many kinds of seafood can you name? How many types of sea animal have you ever tried?
4. Mt Everest is the world's tallest mountain, but do you know what the deepest place in the world is called?
5. Would you prefer to live on the Moon or under the sea? Why?

Watch/Listen

Go to YouTube and watch this video-
David Gallo's TED talk- The Deep Oceans, a River of Life with Bill Lange.

Vocabulary

biodiversity
bioluminescence
biomass
chimney
emission
hydrothermal
jellyfish
marine biology
oceanography
octo-
ridge
shimmering
tentacles
tides
vent

Watch/Answer

Watch the video again and answer these questions-

1. What does David think about the Titanic?
2. How deep are the oceans, on average?
3. The oceans have most of what things?
4. What's the name of the submarine they use?
5. Marcell Proust said:
   • "The true voyage of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is not so much in seeking new _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ as in having new _ _ _ _ ."
6. What kind of animal is one of his favourites? What is special about it? How long does it get?
7. What is most of the biomass of the oceans made of?
8. What 3 things do the jellyfish use their bioluminescence for?
9. How long can some of these little understood animals become?
10. What strange thing do the "octopods" do to their submarine?
11. What is the importance of these video images to scientists?
12. What places does the Mid-Ocean Ridge pass through?
    • "… the Caribbean, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _, and end up against the _ _ _ _ _ _ _."
13. What separate ways do the researchers normally see the underwater world?
14. What temperature can you get at a hydrothermal vent? How far underwater are they?
15. Hydrothermal vents are caused when _ _ _ _ _ gets into _ _ _ _ _ _ in the seafloor and comes into contact with _ _ _ _ _ that heats it up.
16. What is the white material seen on the hydrothermal vent chimney?
17. With no sunlight, all the energy to support life at these depths comes from _ _ _ _ _ _ the _ _ _ _ _.
18. What does a tube worm normally do when it's touched by a crab?
19. What extreme temperatures do the worms shown like to live in?
20. How many new species were counted on a recent dive?
21. Why is the camera technology so important for this science?
22. What is the white mark on the back of the shrimp for?
23. What does David say to indicate how poisonous the vent emissions are?
    • "This stuff is t _ x _ _ as h _ _ _ , by the way, you _ _ _ _ _ never get a _ _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _ this in the ocean."
24. What important event in the history of life do some scientists say happened at these vents?
25. What comparison does he make between the vents and the rainforests?

Discuss

1. Did you find the talk interesting?
2. What was the most interesting or surprising thing you learnt?
3. Do you think this kind of research is important, or not? What are your reasons?

Check the answers here.