Argentines hooked on watching livestream of Mar del Plata Canyon deep sea exploration
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14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Viral livestream of Argentina's deep-sea creatures stirs pride and protest over science cuts
Transparent-faced fish drift through dusky waters. Snow-like flecks of dead plants sift down from the world above. Soft sponges peek through the soot of the seafloor. Only occasional mutters among marine biologists break the thick silence. Somehow, this livestream of sea life in the South Atlantic has Argentines hooked. The researchers behind this remotely operated vehicle filming lifeforms 4,000 metres undersea told The Associated Press on Monday that they never expected their wonky deep-sea expedition to become such a social media sensation. The video feed has attracted more than 1.6 million views a day on YouTube, dominated TV news broadcasts and even sparked a national conversation about the defunding of Argentine science under libertarian President Javier Milei. 'It was a huge surprise for us,' said expedition leader Daniel Lauretta. 'It's something that fills our hearts because we want to spread the word.' Orange starfish and hairy crabs have viewers hooked Outfitted with high-definition cameras and state-of-the-art sensors, the roving robot captures the enigmatic organisms of Mar de Plata's submarine canyon with exceptional clarity and detail for the first time. The region, where the warm current from Brazil meets the cold current coming up from the Falkland Islands, is known for its little-studied biodiversity. Related Amsterdam is installing hundreds of tiny staircases along its canals to keep wildlife safe Greenpeace survey finds 'beautiful' and vulnerable whale species in areas marked for deep sea mining In dives lasting around eight hours a day, the camera encounters an array of surprising creatures lurking in the inky depths off the coast of Buenos Aires: An orange starfish so bright it drew comparisons to Patrick of 'SpongeBob SquarePants' cartoon fame, a sea cucumber viewers nicknamed 'sweet potato', and a deep-sea crab that looked like a hairy spider. 'The colours, the zoom capability – that really amazed me,' Lauretta said. 'I think that feeling reached the public, too.' Often peaking at some 50,000 simultaneous viewers, the livestream from the deep-sea research vessel kicked off last week and runs until 10 August. Argentine researchers and American experts from the nonprofit of former Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt, the Schmidt Ocean Institute Foundation, use the vehicle to map the underwater gorge, collect samples and identify scores of new species at a depth below the reach of sunlight. Here, scientists have only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to understanding marine life. Few viewers have been able to resist the impulse to anthropomorphise the featured life-forms, assigning zodiac stars to invertebrates and sharing social media quizzes along the lines of 'Which deep-sea creature are you based on how you handle stress?' (If you ignore the world, you're a translucent squid; if you explode with anger, you're apparently a pistol shrimp.) 'Argentines are very passionate about everything that happens in Argentina,' said Georgina Valanci, 40, her eyes fixed on floating translucent fish while crocheting on Monday. 'I think it represents a bit of the pride that something like this is being done in our country.' Shining a light on slashed research funding Most Argentine researchers on the expedition come from Conicet, Argentina's leading scientific funding and research body. And the livestream is shining a light on the institute's work at a moment when its funding is under attack. President Milei has taken his bureaucracy-slashing chainsaw to Argentine research projects and grants, curbing science spending as a part of a broader drive to eliminate Argentina's chronic fiscal deficit and bring down inflation. State-backed science organisations have lost 4,000 positions in the last year and a half, a combination of layoffs, frozen contracts and resignations over poor working conditions and low pay. Related Marine heatwaves may have driven the world's oceans to a critical tipping point, scientists warn Sunken warships from WWI and WWII are ticking pollution time bombs at the bottom of our oceans Conicet suffered a 21 per cent budget cut in real terms last year. Salaries for Conicet researchers have lost 35 per cent of their value. Many warn that the measures are setting off a brain drain. Seizing on the surge of public excitement about Conicet, researchers have called for a 48-hour nationwide strike on Wednesday to draw attention to their plight. Although Milei has not commented on the livestream, his allies have expressed disdain. 'They should livestream an offshore drilling operation instead,' said Alejandro Álvarez, an official in Milei's government, referring to growing crude production in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation, an oil boom that Milei hopes can help revive the nation's crisis-stricken economy. 'It's a beautiful process of wealth creation and natural resource exploitation that will make Argentina greater." In the meantime, Argentines seem content to be mesmerised by orange starfish.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Great Barrier Reef suffers worst coral decline on record
Parts of the Great Barrier Reef have suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover since records began nearly 40 years ago, according to a new report. Northern and southern branches of the sprawling Australian reef both suffered their most widespread coral bleaching, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) found. Reefs have been battered in recent months by tropical cyclones and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish that feast on coral, but heat stress driven by climate change is the predominant reason, AIMS said. AIMS warns the habitat may reach a tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between catastrophic events and faces a "volatile" future. The 'underwater bushfire' cooking Australia's reefs A really simple guide to climate change AIMS surveyed the health of 124 coral reefs between August 2024 and May 2025. It has been performing surveys since 1986. Often dubbed the world's largest living structure, the Great Barrier Reef is a 2,300km (1,429-mile) expanse of tropical corals that houses a stunning array of biodiversity. Repeated bleaching events are turning vast swaths of once-vibrant coral white. Coral is vital to the planet. Nicknamed the sea's architect, it builds vast structures that house an estimated 25% of all marine species. Bleaching happens when coral gets stressed and turns white because the water it lives in is too hot. Stressed coral will probably die if it experiences temperatures 1C (1.8F) above its thermal limit for two months. If waters are 2C higher, it can survive around one month. Unusually warm tropical waters triggered widespread coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2024 and in the first few months of 2025, the sixth such event since 2016. As well as climate change, natural weather patterns like El Nino can also play a role in mass bleaching events. The reef has "experienced unprecedented levels of heat stress, which caused the most spatially extensive and severe bleaching recorded to date," the report found. Any recovery could take years and was dependent on future coral reproduction and minimal environmental disturbance, according to the report. In the latest AIMS survey results, the most affected coral species were the Acropora, which are susceptible to heat stress and a favoured food of the crown-of-thorns starfish. "These corals are the fastest to grow and are the first to go," AIMS research lead Dr Mike Emslie told ABC News. "The Great Barrier Reef is such a beautiful, iconic place, it's really, really worth fighting for. And if we can give it a chance, it's shown an inherent ability to recover," he said. There has been some success with the Australian government's crown-of-thorns starfish culling programme, which has killed over 50,000 starfish by injecting them with vinegar or ox bile. "Due to crown-of-thorns starfish control activities, there were no potential, established, or severe outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish recorded on Central GBR reefs in 2025," the AIMS report noted. The creatures are native to the Great Barrier Reef and are capable of eating vast amounts of coral. But since the 1960s their numbers have increased significantly, with nutrients from land-based agriculture run-off regarded as the most likely cause. Richard Leck from the global environmental charity WWF said the report shows that the reef is an "ecosystem under incredible stress" and scientists are concerned about what happens when "the reef does not keep bouncing back the way it has," he told news agency AFP. Leck said some coral reefs around the world are already beyond recovery, warning the Great Barrier Reef could suffer the same fate without ambitious and rapid climate action. The Great Barrier Reef has been heritage-listed for over 40 years, but Unesco warns the Australian icon is "in danger" from warming seas and pollution. Scientists discover 'catastrophic' levels of coral bleaching at Great Barrier Reef Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change Countries gather to thrash out deal on 'plastic crisis'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
How a livestream from the bottom of the ocean became the latest social media hit
Transparent-faced fish glide through the murky depths, snow-like detritus drifts from above, and soft sponges emerge from the seafloor's soot. This mesmerizing glimpse into the South Atlantic's deep sea has unexpectedly captivated Argentines. Researchers operating a remotely controlled vehicle, filming life 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) beneath the surface, have admitted they never anticipated their unusual deep-sea mission would become a social media phenomenon. Their live video feed has garnered over 1.6 million daily views on YouTube, dominated national television news, and even ignited a significant public debate regarding the defunding of Argentine scientific research under the libertarian President Javier Milei. "It was a huge surprise for us," said expedition leader Daniel Lauretta. "It's something that fills our hearts because we want to spread the word." Equipped with high-definition cameras and advanced sensors, the autonomous robot is, for the first time, revealing the enigmatic organisms of Mar de Plata's submarine canyon with unprecedented clarity and intricate detail. The region, where the warm current from Brazil meets the cold current coming up from the Falkland Islands, is known for its little-studied biodiversity. In dives lasting around eight hours a day, the camera encounters an array of surprising creatures lurking in the inky depths off the coast of Buenos Aires: An orange starfish so bright it drew comparisons to Patrick of 'SpongeBob SquarePants' cartoon fame, a sea cucumber viewers nicknamed 'sweet potato,' a deep sea crab that looked like a hairy spider. 'The colors, the zoom capability – that really amazed me,' Lauretta said. 'I think that feeling reached the public too.' Often peaking at some 50,000 simultaneous viewers, the livestream from the deep-sea research vessel kicked off last week and runs until Aug. 10. Argentine researchers and American experts from the nonprofit of former Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt, the Schmidt Ocean Institute Foundation, use the vehicle to map the underwater gorge, collect samples and identify scores of new species at a depth below the reach of sunlight, where scientists have only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to understanding marine life. Few viewers have been able to resist the impulse to anthropomorphize the featured life-forms, assigning zodiac stars to invertebrate and sharing social media quizzes along the lines of 'Which deep sea creature are you based on how you handle stress?' (If you ignore the world, you're a translucent squid; if you explode with anger, you're apparently a pistol shrimp.) 'Argentines are very passionate about everything that happens in Argentina,' said Georgina Valanci, 40, her eyes fixed on floating translucent fish while crocheting on Monday. 'I think it represents a bit of the pride that something like this is being done in our country.' Most Argentine researchers on the expedition come from Conicet, Argentina's leading scientific funding and research body, shining a light on the institute's work at a moment when its funding is under attack. President Milei has taken his bureaucracy-slashing chainsaw to Argentine research projects and grants, curbing science spending as a part of a broader drive to eliminate Argentina's chronic fiscal deficit and bring down inflation. State-backed science organizations have lost 4,000 positions in the last year and a half — a combination of layoffs, frozen contracts and resignations over poor working conditions and low pay. Conicet suffered a 21 per cent budget cut in real terms last year. Salaries for Conicet researchers have lost 35 per cent of their value. Many warn that the measures are setting off a brain drain. Seizing on the surge of public excitement about Conicet, researchers have called for a 48-hour nationwide strike on Wednesday to draw attention to their plight. Although Milei has not commented on the livestream, his allies have expressed disdain. 'They should livestream an offshore drilling operation instead,' said Alejandro Álvarez, an official in Milei's government, referring to growing crude production in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation – an oil boom that Milei hopes can help revive the nation's crisis-stricken economy. 'It's a beautiful process of wealth creation and natural resource exploitation that will make Argentina greater." In the meantime, Argentines seem content to be mesmerized by orange starfish.
