How Do Scientists Study Deep Sea Animals? One Answer Involves Lasers.

By Tobias Carroll Scientists who study animals who live in the depths of the ocean find themselves in an impossible situation. The water pressure thousands of feet below the surface makes it impossible for humans to easily visit that ecosystem, but bringing deep sea creatures up to the surface can have an equally unsettling effect. Remember that photo of a blobby fish that went viral a few years ago? In its natural habitat, that’s not what the fish in question looks like. That natural habitat happens to be 3,000 feet underwater, however. Now imagine that issue, but for countless other species,...