# Mariana Trench was a Jeopardy answer tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823 "2013-01-11T03:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/1 "2013-01-11T03:35:29Z")
Once. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/2 "2013-01-11T04:06:22Z")
For 20 seconds? ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/3 "2013-01-11T04:21:10Z")
[Wikipedia says:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench) Four descents have been achieved. The first was the manned descent by Swiss-designed, Italian-built, United States Navy-owned bathyscaphe Trieste which reached the bottom at 1:06 pm on 23 January 1960. This was followed by the unmanned ROVs Kaikō in 1996 and Nereus in 2009. The fourth was made by Canadian film director James Cameron in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/4 "2013-01-11T15:34:21Z")
That last answer will make “Legion” (our original poster) spin in his grave or wherever he is. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/5 "2013-05-10T14:54:48Z")
Sorry for necromancing this thread, but it’s not that old, so . . . It’s too bad ponces like Cameron can’t take the money they piss away on bullshit like this and give it to the [real explorers](http://www.sci-news.com/biology/article00946.html). > [@](#): > > \*\*An international team of scientists has discovered a surprisingly huge and active bacterial community living on the sea floor at the deepest site on Earth, [the Mariana Trench](http://www.marianatrench.com). > > \*\*According to their [study, published in the journal _Nature Geoscience_](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1773), a highly active bacteria community exists in the sediment of the trench – even though the environment is under extreme pressure almost 1,100 times higher than at sea level. > > “Deep sea trenches act as hot spots for microbial activity because they receive an unusually high flux of organic matter, made up of dead animals, algae and other microbes, sourced from the surrounding much shallower sea-bottom. It is likely that some of this material becomes dislodged from the shallower depths during earthquakes, which are common in the area,” said lead author Prof Ronnie Glud from the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution at the University of Southern Denmark. For some reason I now have this image of Cameron dressed up as Elmer Fudd in his wabbit huntin’ outfit. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/6 "2013-05-10T16:13:50Z")
Why take a shot at Cameron? How has he done anything other than bring attention to the importance of better understanding the deep seas, and helped create devices that can help with that objective? ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/7 "2013-05-10T16:21:29Z")
Well, if I’m mistaken I’ll apologize, but my impression was that his excursion was little more than grandstanding. If you’re aware of any discoveries or technological breakthroughs that were made as a result though, I would certainly like to hear about them. However even in that case, I somehow doubt that the cost/benefit analysis will be anything comparable to what could have been achieved by actual scientists with the money that was spent. In which case, I’ll stick to my original statement. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/8 "2013-05-10T16:24:19Z")
Did they take 20 minutes to respond? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/9 "2013-05-10T16:32:33Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Well, if I’m mistaken I’ll apologize, but my impression was that his excursion was little more than grandstanding. If you’re aware of any discoveries or technological breakthroughs that were made as a result though, I would certainly like to hear about them. However even in that case, I somehow doubt that the cost/benefit analysis will be anything comparable to what could have been achieved by actual scientists with the money that was spent. In which case, I’ll stick to my original statement. I’m about to go buy a cheeseburger for lunch. I could donate that money to a research scientist instead to help fund his research. Should I feel bad? \*Note that this argument is more than a little complicated by the fact that I AM a research scientist, but let’s ignore that. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/10 "2013-05-10T16:36:13Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I’m about to go buy a cheeseburger for lunch. I could donate that money to a research scientist instead to help fund his research. Should I feel bad? > > \*Note that this argument is more than a little complicated by the fact that I AM a research scientist, but let’s ignore that. Yeah, it’s a slippery slope, especially if we’re talking cheeseburgers. I just think one is a bit more of a luxury than the other. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/11 "2013-05-10T17:20:04Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Well, if I’m mistaken I’ll apologize, but my impression was that his excursion was little more than grandstanding. If you’re aware of any discoveries or technological breakthroughs that were made as a result though, I would certainly like to hear about them. However even in that case, I somehow doubt that the cost/benefit analysis will be anything comparable to what could have been achieved by actual scientists with the money that was spent. In which case, I’ll stick to my original statement. He [paid for the sub](http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/03/james-cameron-makes-deep-donation-to-oceanographers.html), and he’s apparently got [quite a few hours in exploration subs](http://deepseachallenge.com/the-team/james-cameron/). ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/12 "2013-05-10T17:25:41Z")
Well that’s good. It’s too bad it’s such an obvious afterthought, but at least it will serve some meaningful purpose now. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/13 "2013-05-10T17:28:09Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Why take a shot at Cameron? How has he done anything other than bring attention to the importance of better understanding the deep seas, and helped create devices that can help with that objective? Not about the Mariana Trench per se but in a special on the Titanic he routinely dismissed the ideas of marine engineers and other experts when they conflicted with his own opinion. He struck me as someone who read wikipedia for 15 minutes and is now an “expert”. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/14 "2013-05-10T18:00:55Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Well that’s good. It’s too bad it’s such an obvious afterthought, but at least it will serve some meaningful purpose now. [Here is](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/2013/04/14/what-lives-at-the-bottom-of-the-mariana-trench-more-than-you-might-think/) the third result from Google when looking up “mariana trench”. It’s a pretty extensive article about Cameron’s team, and the bonanza of scientific discoveries from just Cameron’s descent, and an allusion to the fact that this is just the tip of the iceberg, as Cameron’s team has copyright on the images, which they’re saving for a documentary release. I’d hardly call it “grandstanding”. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mariana-trench-was-a-jeopardy-answer-tonight/646823/15 "2013-05-10T18:15:29Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > [Here is](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/2013/04/14/what-lives-at-the-bottom-of-the-mariana-trench-more-than-you-might-think/) the third result from Google when looking up “mariana trench”. It’s a pretty extensive article about Cameron’s team, and the bonanza of scientific discoveries from just Cameron’s descent, and an allusion to the fact that this is just the tip of the iceberg, as Cameron’s team has copyright on the images, which they’re saving for a documentary release. I’d hardly call it “grandstanding”. Maybe you could point out some of those discoveries for me. I skimmed the whole article and nothing jumped out at me but this. > [@](#): > > Then, while writing up what she told me, I discovered the American Geophysical Union had posted a [recording of the December 2012 presentation in which Cameron](http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2012/events/deepsea-challenge-new-science-and-technology-at-extreme-depths/), microbiologist Douglas Bartlett, astrobiologist Kevin Hardy, and others presented their findings. It had received only light media coverage at the time. It was a gold-mine. Most of the imagery was hidden by copyright protective coverings. But the audio was not. With these two sources in hand, I’ll try to describe what this team knows about what’s down there.