Is the deep ocean the answer to some of our biggest problems?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2019
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our species is facing a whole lot of problems. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, land based minerals are depleting and there are serious concerns about how warm everything’s becoming.
As the population grows these problems are only going to get worse, but what if we could find some of the solutions to our most pressing problems beneath the waves? Scientists have discovered that deep sea sponges could help fight MRSA, your smart phone could be powered by minerals located thousands of metres beneath the sea, and there are even enzymes that could help your washing machine run on a colder cycle, saving both energy and your new cashmere sweater. Is the deep sea the answer to some of our biggest problems? There’s a lot of promise, but what are the risks?
Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Lizzy McNeill
(Photo: Sunset over the sea. Credit: da-kuk/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.2 | I'm Ruth Alexander. |
| 0:04.8 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:15.0 | Life support, good. |
| 0:18.0 | Life support, good. |
| 0:20.0 | Def, one, zero,9er 2-8 meters. |
| 0:27.5 | Enveloped in a cloud of sediment, |
| 0:29.8 | Victor Vaskovo makes his landing. |
| 0:32.4 | At bottom, repeat, at bottom. |
| 0:36.0 | Miles away in the control room, |
| 0:38.0 | there was, at first, disbelief. |
| 0:41.0 | At the bottom? |
| 0:42.0 | The off the bottom. disbelief. It's like a moon landing, but Vait Viskovo isn't in space. He's just achieved the deepest |
| 0:57.6 | ever dive to the bottom of the ocean. An American billionaire private equity investor who's already climbed the highest peaks of all seven continents, |
| 1:08.0 | Victor Viskovo has now ventured almost 11 kilometers beneath the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1:15.0 | His specially built submersible, paid for with his own fortune, |
| 1:19.0 | has at its core a titanium hull designed to withstand the crushing pressure of the deep sea water. |
| 1:25.8 | 1,000 bars, the equivalent of 50 jumbo jets piled on top of one another. |
| 1:32.3 | Well done, beginning exploration of the bottom. |
| 1:36.0 | In a mission that can last only a few hours, |
| 1:39.0 | Victor Vaskovo finds four new species of crustaceans and brightly colored rocky outcrops. |
| 1:47.0 | Barely explored because of the sheer challenge of getting to them, |
... |
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