Word: jannasch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Recalls biologist Holger Jannasch, at Woods Hole in Massachusetts: "I got a call through the radio operator at Woods Hole from the chief scientist . who said he had discovered big clams and tube worms, and I simply didn't believe it. He was a geologist, after all." Disbelief was quickly replaced by intense curiosity. What were these animals feeding on in the absence of any detectable food supply? How were they surviving without light? The answer, surprisingly, had been found by a Russian scientist more than 100 years earlier. He had shown that an underwater bacterium, Beggiatoa, lived on hydrogen...
Since then, scientific astonishment over the discovery has burgeoned. Unlike most terrestrial life, these creatures in the deep survive without the benefit of sunlight to supply energy or help create food supplies. Rather, they rely totally on the earth's internal heat. Explains Marine Microbiologist Holger Jannasch of the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution, which operates the Alvin: "If the sun didn't shine any more, these deep-sea populations would still be growing, while we and all the green plants would die. They depend only on Mother Earth...
...months after the accident, when the little sub was raised and drained, scientists noticed that the six bologna sandwiches, two apples and two thermoses of bouillon seemed remarkably well-preserved-even though they were soaked in sea water. Intrigued, a four-man team led by Microbiologist Holger Jannasch at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution ran tests on the lunches ranging from simple tasting to detailed lab analysis. Their conclusion: the apples were about as well-preserved as if they had been kept in a refrigerator while the rest of the food had fared far better than that...
| 1 |