Marine Science Fiction Earth's deep oceans have often been called the final frontier. But despite being a largely-unexplored environment that's both deadly to humans and inhabited by weirdly alien creatures, it's been woefully underutilized as a setting for science. But underutilized doesn't mean nonexistent. There are a number of excellent science fiction stories either set in the ocean or with a marine biology focus.

As an introduction to what I like to call Marine SF, I thought I'd point to some of the related short fiction that authors have shared for free online. The stories range widely in both subject matter and tone, from Peter Watts' hard science stories featuring humans modified to work deep in the ocean to Vonda McIntyre's alternative17th century natural history. There should be something to entertain almost everyone.

Energy and the environment CAN be related to marine life!

We know this quite well thanks to Accsys Technologies Engineering Director Robert Rapier and R-squared Energy blogger, who has shown TRT quite a connection between the three topics, proving a keen interest in marine biology meets energy topics such as alternative energy possibilities in the ocean and algal biodiesel.

The modest engineer told us at first that he does not expertise in these areas, but his answers in this Q&A prove a thorough knowledge of the importance and of marine biology and energy to society.

As if writing for publications like New York Times, Popular Science, Discover, and National Geographic, publishing seven books, and keeping up the acclaimed science blog The Loom wasn't enough, Carl Zimmer has an incredible knowledge of the evolution of marine life to boot---from the intelligence of octopuses to the origin of four-legged vertebrates. 

What’s on your current work schedule? What are you doing these days?

People interested in metagenomics and/or marine microbiology should check out a recent paper in PLoS One on Metagenomics of the Deep Mediterranean, a Warm Bathypelagic Habitat.

In this paper, the authors use metagenomic sequencing to study microbes from 3000m depth int he Mediterranean. The most interesting thing about this paper is that the water at this depth is much warmer than water from similar depths that have been previously studied by metagenomics. The authors do some comparative metagenomic analysis and conclude that temperature of the water is more important than depth in determining the suite of organisms and genes that are present in the water. This is a preliminary result but does being to show the potential power of comparative metagenomic analyses.

In the world today, there is only one operating undersea research station, where scientists get firsthand access to a coral reef 24/7 for a period of up to two weeks.  It is currently the sole location where divers can stage out from a habitat at 50 feet and spend six to nine hours a day diving down to some 100 feet.  It is the Aquarius Reef Base three and a half miles off Key Largo, Florida.  And if you are a lover of the undersea world and coral reefs, the views from inside or around it are fantastic.

As divers from the surface we are temporary visitors to the reef, but by living underwater we can become a part of the undersea world for extended periods of time.   As a scientist, the access afforded over a short two weeks allows for work that would be logistically difficult and often cost prohibitive.  Researchers can do intensive surveys, run 24-hour experiments, test technology or study behaviors that are difficult to monitor while diving from the surface.  It is truly a unique facility that has and continues to produce coral reef research on the forefront and inspire people of all ages to learn more about the ocean, conservation, and undersea technology.

We caught up with Dr. Tim Lambert, a computer scientist at the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who happens to blog about topics outside of computer science. For TRT, Tim's popular blog, Deltoid, is quite a stellar read--it features quality posts on issues like marine conservation, global warming, and climate change---the things that matter! So quips Tim in a short, but sharp-witted Q&A below...

I am a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales.  I also have a blog, Deltoid, which is mainly about the intersection of science and politics.

London-based freelance science writer Ed Yong does more then put award-winning science prose to the page. He also runs a popular blog he refers to as a news site juxtaposed with a popular science book highlighting new research.  Ed Yong writes for his blog, Not Rocket Science, because as he says, "I care about making science understandable and interesting to non-scientists and about good writing."  Perhaps that's why it's such a hit with science fiends everywhere as well as The Reef Tank.

Before you have the privilege to peruse some of his blog work reposted on this blog, we got to ask Ed a few questions about his thoughts on marine science.

Greg Laden may focus on human biology for his work, but don't tell him he knows nothing about marine life. The University of Minnesota instructor, adviser, researcher, one-time archeologist and Harvard PhD student, and current blogger for Greg Laden's Blog, pretty much has his hands full, but lucky for us, he doesn't mind opening up about his stance on marine life's contributions to evolution and society from time to time. And he sure didn't mind answering a few questions for The Reef Tank.

Tell us about yourself and your current work and situation.

It's a little complicated.  I work for the University of Minnesota in what is called the Program for Individualized Learning.  This is a research and project based degree program.  I advise students and teach
classes in this program, and I teach in the University Honor's program as well.  By preference, I'm not full time.  I have a slow moving low level research program in the area of Human Origins mainly in South Africa as well. And I blog.