The many challenges of exploring hidden realms

Think about a younger girl who sought to discover the oceans’ depths however was barred from going to sea. From her desk in New York Metropolis within the Nineteen Fifties, she used bits of knowledge gathered by the ships she couldn’t sail on to create maps that revolutionized our understanding of the seafloor and helped revise Earth’s historical past. Her title was Marie Tharp.

Then think about different scientists, many many years later. They traveled to Antarctica for mapping initiatives of their very own. Like Tharp, the researchers confronted obstacles: The river they sought lies underneath lots of of meters of strong ice. So the workforce patched collectively clues, together with a wrinkle on the floor of a glacier, which led to the invention of a spectacular river-carved cavern beneath the ice that’s nearly as tall because the Empire State Constructing.

So many challenges in science revolve round exploring the invisible or inaccessible, whether or not the quarry is subatomic particles, distant galaxies or the genetic code of life. The will to see, to measure, to disclose drives years of grueling, painstaking work and the invention of latest instruments for exploration.

In Tharp’s case, applied sciences refined throughout World Warfare II made it doable for ships to make use of soundings to precisely measure ocean depth. As freelance journalist Betsy Mason studies, Tharp used that restricted acoustic data to plot two-dimensional vertical slices of seafloor topography, then fastidiously extrapolated that data to fill within the many clean spots on the map. It was a cartographical tour de power — and one which helped scientists understand the truth of continental drift.

Current-day Antarctic researchers use World Warfare II–period applied sciences together with radar to look underneath the ice, in addition to cumbersome gear to soften deep exploratory holes after which decrease cameras down. It’s tedious work, however the payoff might be thrilling, freelance journalist Douglas Fox describes on this concern’s cowl story. He is aware of firsthand. Fox has traveled to Antarctica six instances and was current in 2013 when scientists tapped right into a subglacial lake and retrieved water and dust samples for the primary time. He remembers the goose bumps he felt upon seeing the primary glimpses of the lake’s murky inside, likening it to “seeing the floor of Venus for the primary time.”

Scientists acquired their first view of the long-sought river on the finish of 2021; they have been astonished when the digital camera spied orange shrimplike creatures. The world these animals inhabit, nearly 500 kilometers from daylight, is a brand new thriller to discover.

Marie Tharp’s story is a part of our Unsung Characters sequence, which tells the tales of scientists whose work has been underappreciated or little identified. We launched this sequence on-line as a part of our Century of Science challenge. The profiles proved so well-liked that we’re bringing them to our print readers and lengthening the sequence to raise the work of each previous and present-day scientists.

Is there a scientist whose work you suppose deserves extra consideration? We welcome your nominations for potential profile topics. E mail your strategies to us at editors@sciencenews.org.