The Deep Sea’s Mysterious Oxygen Source

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Trillions of potato-sized rocks scattered across the deep ocean floor are rich in metals such as cobalt and copper—making them a target for mining companies eager to fuel the clean-energy transition. But recent research suggests these rocks may also be supporting marine life in ways scientists are only beginning to understand. In this episode, scientist and journalist Clare Fieseler and filmmaker Jason Jaacks join host Rachel Feltman to explore the surprising science behind these deep-sea rocks and the environmental stakes of harvesting them. Recommended Reading A ‘Dark Oxygen’ Mystery Is Unfolding at the Ocean Bottom—But Undersea Mining Giants May Soon Move In Join the #SciAmInTheWild photography challenge for a chance to win a one-year Unlimited subscription to Scientific American—plus an exclusive bundle of gadgets and gear to level up your next adventure. See the rules for entry here. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check the show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:53.0	Scattered across the deep ocean floor are trillions of potato-sized black rocks packed with valuable metals like cobald and copper.
1:03.5	Mining companies want to harvest these nodules to get materials for electric vehicle batteries and other clean energy tech.
1:10.6	But recent research suggests the rocks might be producing oxygen in the darkness of the deep
1:16.0	sea, potentially supporting marine life in ways we're just beginning to understand.
1:22.0	Today we're joined by Claire Feasler and Jason Jax, who recently explored these mysterious
1:27.3	deep sea rocks in a mini documentarydocumentary for Scientific American.
1:31.2	Jason is a documentary filmmaker and an associate professor of journalism at the University of Rhode Island.
1:36.9	And Claire is a scientist as well as a journalist for Canary Media, a non-profit news outlet focused on clean energy and climate change.
1:44.9	Thank you both so much for coming on to chat.
1:47.0	Thanks for having us.
1:48.2	Yeah, thank you.
1:49.3	So let's start with a basic question.
1:51.5	What are nodules and how do scientists think that they're formed?
	...

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