Working together, chemists and biologists hope to tease out the details that make life in such an environment possible—knowledge that could lead to new medicines, materials such as crystals, and clues about where to look for life on another planet.
The scientific collaboration is a major component to the "biocomplexity" theme of the 2004 expedition. Biocomplexity is the complex interplay between living organisms and their environment, which requires scientists from different disciplines to work together to understand.
Historically, Cary said, scientists never worked with scientists outside their own discipline, so a marine biologist would never work with a geochemist.
"It has been extremely challenging in that we all had to learn new languages but in the end the results are very exciting because we all are now able to look at the complex environmental problems with a new set of eyes and it is amazing what you see," Cary said.
Student Participation
Cary's interest in opening his annual expeditions up to students via the Internet evolved from the feeling that teachers were losing their creative freedom in the classroom as they were forced to comply with national standards.
The program started with just eight schools in 1999, which proved so successful it was opened to schools across the U.S. in 2000. This year students in almost every U.S. state, Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico as well as in Canada, Mexico, Iran, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan are participating.
"It has just taken off beyond my wildest dreams," Cary said. "Kids all over the world get a chance to experience real field science as it is happening. They see us succeed and fail. They see the new discoveries right as we do."
Julie Steen is a science teacher at Mickelson Middle School in Brookings, South Dakota. She is participating in the program for the opportunity it provides her students to interact with the ocean.
"We are landlocked in South Dakota," she said. "The vast majority of my students have only seen an ocean via TV, educational programs, or movies."
Steen has used the program to teach her students about scientific tools and the limits of those tools in an environment such as the deep ocean. On Friday, her students will participate in a live phone conversation with the scientists in the ocean.
Crumrine, the Klamath Falls science teacher, spent much of the fall teaching her students about plate tectonics and the formation of ocean basins. "Seeing footage of scientists visiting areas of active tectonics is a real affirmation for the students," she said.
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