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Scientists at California’s Stanford University have fashioned an elegant device that allows them to watch microscopic plankton traverse the ocean’s depths no wetsuits needed!
The word “plankton” comes from the Greek
planktos meaning wandering or drifting. But plankton don’t move as aimlessly as their name suggests. Every day, for example, plankton participate in a great migration, with trillions of the tiny sea creatures rising to the surface at sundown and descending into the depths at daybreak. This daily commute has profound consequences for the Earth’s biosphere; plankton’s movements are key to processes that transport carbon to the deep ocean and regulate the flux of nutrients in the water.