First results from James Cameron's dive.

[Human No More]

James Cameron Spills the Details From His Deep Dive - Slashdot

“What was very exciting about the Serena Deep dive was we could see outcrops and bizarre microbial mats covering the rocks,” says Kevin Hand, an astrobiologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The researchers suspect that the outcrops contain rocks from the mantle that are being altered by a process called serpentinization, in which sea water reacts with minerals and releases hydrogen and methane. Those could provide the energy to feed the microbial communities seen at the site, says Hand.

The findings have implications for the origins of life on Earth and other planets, he says. Researchers have speculated that the process of serpentinization in the early oceans could have supplied the energy and raw materials critical for a primordial metabolism, which could eventually have given rise to the first cells. “Serpentenization is seen to be a possible culprit in that step between geochemisty and biochemistry,” says Hand.

[Raiden]

Huh, that's actually fairly significant.

Makes me wish that there was some kind of global "science tax" that everybody with a job (that earned above a certain amount per period) had to pay; it would be a small amount of money from each person in the world added to a fund that allocated money to groups of people undertaking research, kind of like a super grant fund.

[Niri Te]

That would not fly with the public in this Country, when you have so many out of work, and may College graduates working at a WalMart for minimum wage. THEN they look at the T.V. and printed news, and see the coverage of a very wealthy person, that the only thing that they know about, is that his movies make BILLIONS, and he has the money to have his OWN. Deep Diver custom designed and built for him. They know NOTHING of the money that he spends on environmental causes, all they understand is that someone wants to float a tax to "help people like that biuld their toys", while the WalMart worker has to. Choose between food on the table, or car insurance. People with THAT perspuective of "life" are dead set against ANY NEW TAXES, and for a large those that spawned, and helped perpetuate the "Occupy movements" around the Country.

[iron_jones]

Originally Posted by MGCJerry

grammer and speeling tax?

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by MGCJerry

The HELL with that. I'm getting taxed enough so the current idiots can pay for their pet projects anyway, I don't want more of my money taken to fund yet another project. Of course it depends on that "certain amount" but regardless I'm absolutely against a science tax... What's next a history tax? math tax? grammer and speeling tax?

Just eliminate the various exemptions there are for certain large entities (particularly one based off Italy) making billions per year, and the US alone will gain ~$70bn/year. Enough to not only get decent science funding, but fix environmental problems with the rest.

[Moco Loco]

There wouldn't even need to be a science tax, just a nicer budget

[redpaintednavi]

An article in National Geographic about Camerons journey:


James Cameron Completes Record-Breaking Mariana Trench Dive