TEDTalk Tuesday: Our Oceans

[Occulus]

This week's TEDTALKTUESDAY takes us to the depths of our oceans and asks the question: "Why don't we know more about them?" Pointing out that a single year of NASA's budget would fund NOAA for a thousand years, today's speaker demonstrates why we should raise funding for exploration of the ocean floor, shows us new discoveries found there, and describes an efficient, live, hands-on approach to presenting the science being done to the next generation.

Enjoy!

ROBERTBALLARD

Talk Title: Exploring the Ocean's Hidden Worlds (Video runtime: 18:19)

This talk is also available for free download in high-resolution format here.



Robert Ballard

Wiki Bio

About this talk

Ocean explorer Robert Ballard takes us on a mindbending trip to hidden worlds underwater, where he and other researchers are finding unexpected life, resources, even new mountains. He makes a case for serious exploration and mapping. Google Ocean, anyone?

[The Traveler]

1. At the rate we are transforming

the oceans from a vast well of life into our global cesspool, it doesn't matter. Won't be long before all you'll find in the oceans is sewage. :(

[Occulus]

2. There's a huge area of floating trash somewhere on the surface of the Pacific Ocean

Who knows what's in the food supply at this point, human and otherwise. Vast areas of coral reefs are turning white and dying. Red tides, comprised of deadly algae, are blooming regularly all over the place, killing off marine life. Huge dead zones on the ocean floor are being found in several areas which were formerly populated by many different forms of ocean life.

Who knows how many species have already been lost. :( Maybe efforts like the one in the talk will convince the coming generations that these are, in fact, important and really do have an impact on the lives of us humans.

[The Traveler]

3. I hope yer right

We are dependent upon aquatic ecosystems in ways we haven't even imagined yet ...

I am a little discouraged by how little response your thread has attracted.