Researchers develop new way to study ocean life
Monday, August 17, 2020 - 10:00
in Earth & Climate
Like spirits passing between worlds, billions of invisible beings rise to meet the starlight, then descend into darkness at sunrise. Microscopic plankton's daily journey between the ocean's depths and surface holds the key to understanding crucial planetary processes, but has remained largely a mystery until now. A new Stanford-developed rotating microscope, outlined in a study published Aug. 17 in Nature Methods, offers for the first time a way to track and measure these enigmatic microorganisms' behaviors and molecular processes as they undertake on their daily vertical migrations.