2023 felt like a year where I was just treading water. I barreled through it so fast that I barely registered everything that we accomplishes (and just how much is left to finish). This was a kludge year for me, with lots of small projects instead of one, big, overarching project. Onwards! Deep-sea Mining remains … Read More “Conservation, Technology, and the Future of the Seafloor: My 2023 science year in review.” »
Since the first Challenger Expedition, deep-sea explorers have recovered shark teeth from the bottom of the ocean. Sharks shed their teeth almost as much as Twitter sheds users after changing its name to the symbol synonymous with closing your browser. Shark teeth crop up in deepwater trawls, geologic samples, and even embedded in the core … Read More “Finding Megalodon at the bottom of the sea” »
The following is the transcript of a talk I gave at DC Nerd Nite on September 16, 2023. Enjoy! I need to begin with a disclaimer: It is impossible to talk about Project Azorian and the Glomar Explorer without sounding like you’ve gone deep into Dale Gribble territory. Azorian has everything a conspiracy theorist could … Read More “The Glomar Explorer: what we can confirm and deny about “vast government conspiracies” from Project Azorian. “ »
OpenCTD and Oceanography for Everyone Ten years ago, Kersey, Russell, and I set of on a quixotic quest to make the tools of ocean science more accessible to more knowledge seekers at a price the reflects the reality of research budgets. The OpenCTD, a low-cost, open-source, oceanographic instrument was born. Since that first ambitious announcement, … Read More “The research rundown: an abbreviated list of my current ocean science, policy, education, and conservation technology efforts.” »
Hi, it’s me, Andrew. And right now I’m crowdfunding an effort to develop an environmental baseline for microplastics in the deep sea using a historic sample archive. You can read more about it here: We need to know more about microplastics in the deep sea. What is Experiment? Experiment is a crowdfunding platform that connects … Read More “Five Experiment ocean campaigns that need your support.” »
Biden unveils an Ocean Climate Action Plan President Biden unveiled the nation’s first climate action plan specifically targeting ocean health. The Ocean Climate Action Plan advance several key climate initiatives, including providing 40% of federal investment benefits relating to climate change to disadvantaged communities; producing 30 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind by 2030; conserving … Read More “A wild week for the future of the ocean” »
This piece originally appeared in the farewell issue of the Deep-sea Mining Observer. Four years ago, I took over the Deep-sea Mining Observer from my predecessor, Arlo Hemphill. Conceived by the Pew Charitable Trust in 2016, The DSM Observer was created to be an online trade journal for the emerging industry as the International Seabed … Read More “It’s science fiction, until it isn’t.” »
This article originally appeared in the February 2021 issue of the Deep-sea Mining Observer. It is reprinted here with permission. For the latest news and analysis about the development of the deep-sea mining industry, subscribe to DSM Observer here: http://dsmobserver.com/subscribe/ Even with the intense research focus of the last twenty years, the deep sea is still almost … Read More “The most massive ‘massive sardine’ discovered in the deep waters of Japan” »
This article originally appeared in the October/November 2020 issue of the Deep-sea Mining Observer. It is reprinted here with permission. For the latest news and analysis about the development of the deep-sea mining industry, subscribe to DSM Observer here: http://dsmobserver.com/subscribe/ For the last decade, next-generation batteries have been the motivating force for the deep-sea mining industry. The … Read More “Beyond Batteries: exploring the demand for scandium and tellurium from the deep ocean” »
This article originally appeared in the October/November 2020 issue of the Deep-sea Mining Observer. It is reprinted here with permission. For the latest news and analysis about the development of the deep-sea mining industry, subscribe to DSM Observer here: http://dsmobserver.com/subscribe/ Since the signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the creation of … Read More “The United States moves towards exploration and exploitation of critical mineral resources in the deep ocean.” »