A space-age laser for science! #designingthefuture3 #midwater

Imagine a human hand laid out on a lab table. Another being, a scientist from a distant world, carefully measures each digit and records the data for comparison with the other digits — the distance between the thumb (Pollex) and the pinky (Digitus minimus manus), and between each joint. The skin's coloration has changed, a byproduct of the chemicals used to halt decay. Preserved, these alien scientists can study that hand and compare it to others they collect over their years of studying this species, so mysterious to them.

These measurements might give them clues to the mechanics of this animal, but what will they really reveal? They will never see that hand picking up a paint brush and creating a fine work of art, or holding the hand of their beloved. The aliens lack the context for what a human hand does.

The #DesigningtheFuture3 team has mounted a special imaging system on ROV SuBastian. The space-age instrument on the left side of the video frame is DeepPIV, for Deep particle image velocimetry; it was developed by Dr. Kakani Katija’s team in the Bioinspiration Lab at @MBARIvideo. The imaging system can illuminate a sheet of fluid and measure how it moves around an animal, and how the animal might manipulate the fluid for locomotion, feeding, and reproduction. It can also create a rich 3-D portrait of a living animal by scanning sections of the body, allowing scientists to observe different aspects of its physical structure.

Historically, much of what we know about ocean animals comes from specimens retrieved from the depths by scientists using large nets. They would drop the net and study whatever they retrieved; often, what made it to the surface resembled blobs of goo, which they would carefully measure and analyze. Video footage from remotely operated vehicles has dramatically advanced scientific knowledge of animals and how they look in their natural setting. But those images are two-dimensional and lack essential details for species description. The team is creating a 3D image of this jellyfish (spotted at 876 m), using DeepPIV in international waters off Brazil. Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Видео A space-age laser for science! #designingthefuture3 #midwater канала Schmidt Ocean Institute