The United States has never been more connected to the global community than it is today.
Asides
Doing something as simple as washing your hair may raise a new threat to aquatic health. Many personal-care products have been formulated with plastic beads the size of a sand grain — known as microbeads — which add a gritty texture. Microbeads are designed to be flushed down the drain.
The Pacific Northwest, famous for its delectable fried oysters and succulent steamed clams, is one of several coastal “hot spots” where shellfish are subject to “acidification” — seawater whose chemistry is becoming corrosive because of greenhouse gases.
In the ocean’s darkest depths, superheated water seeps from cracks on the seabed. This lightless world supports exotic creatures like tubeworms and giant clams. It’s their very oddity that makes them exciting to OSU medicinal chemist Kerry McPhail.
To meet the world’s demand for minerals, oil and geothermal energy, humans are now looking toward the seabed.
The whole world could be powered by a tiny fraction of the ocean’s untapped energy — if it could be harnessed.