TED: Life In The Deep Oceans- Answers
  1. What does David think about the Titanic? It's not the most exciting story from the sea.
  2. How deep are the oceans, on average? 2 miles (= 3.2km)
  3. The oceans have most of what things? Most of the Earth's animals, earthquakes and volcanoes.
  4. What's the name of the submarine they use? Alvin.
  5. Marcell Proust said, "The true voyage of discovery is not so much in seeking new landscapes as in having new eyes."
  6. What kind of animal is one of his favourites? What is special about it? How long does it get? A jelly(fish). It's one of the longest creatures in the ocean, up to 150 feet (=50m).
  7. What is most of the biomass of the oceans made of? Jellyfish and animals like them.
  8. What 3 things do the jellyfish use their bioluminescence for? Attracting mates, attracting prey, communication.
  9. How long can some of these little understood animals become? 140 to 160 feet long (about 50 metres).
  10. What strange thing do the "octopods" do to their submarine? They'll put their eyes up to the window and look inside.
  11. What is the importance of these video images to scientists? They can see the animals in the environment they live in, instead of caught in a net.
  12. What places does the Mid-Ocean Ridge pass through? "… the Caribbean, Central America, and end up against the Pacific."
  13. What separate ways do the researchers normally see the underwater world? In separate ways, as sound, video, photos or chemical sensors, but not as a combined picture.
  14. What temperature can you get at a hydrothermal vent? How far underwater are they? 600-700 degrees Fahrenheit (320-370 degrees Celsius).
  15. Hydrothermal vents are caused when water gets into cracks in the seafloor and comes into contact with magma that heats it up.
  16. What is the white material seen on the hydrothermal vent chimney? It's a type of bacteria that can live at 180 degrees Celsius.
  17. With no sunlight, all the energy to support life at these depths comes from inside the Earth.
  18. What does a tube worm normally do when it's touched by a crab? It retracts.
  19. What extreme temperatures do the worms shown like to live in? Their foot is at 200C, their head is at 3C.
  20. How many new species were counted on a recent dive? 198.
  21. Why is the camera technology so important for this science? The animals can disintegrate if brought to the surface.
  22. What is the white mark on the back of shrimp for? It's an eye that can detect heat.
  23. What does David say to indicate how poisonous the vent emissions are? "This stuff is toxic as hell, by the way, you could never get a permit to dump this in the ocean."
  24. What important event in the history of life do some scientists say happened at these vents? Life evolved here.
  25. What comparison does he make between the vents and the rainforests? They have a higher biodiversity.
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