HuffPost Science: Sunken Skeleton, Sports Physics and Asteroid Warning

March 20, 2013 Subscribe · Forward Giant Sunken Skeleton Discovered Talk about a whale of a find. In what's being called the first discovery of its type, scientists recently stumbled upon a whale skeleton on the ocean floor near Antarctica -- one of only six natural whale skeletons found worldwide. That's not all. As the researchers took a closer look at their find, they noticed something else quite remarkable -- at least nine never-before-seen species of deep-sea organisms feeding on the bones and skull. "Whale skeletons are able to support life on the seafloor, even after a considerable amount of time," study author Diva Amon, a Ph.D. student at the University of Southampton in England, told The Huffington Post. Whales sink to the ocean floor after their deaths, and then the carcasses, known as "whale fall," become a sort of feeding ground for other marine life. The researchers said the skeleton they found, believed to be that of a Minke whale and "several decades" old, was unearthed in a crater about a mile beneath the ocean's surface. In this instance -- as in many "whale fall" discoveries -- the skeleton was uncovered with the help of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). "We were at the end of a very long remotely operated vehicle survey with the U.K. ROV Isis and had already gone an hour over our allocated time on the seafloor, when we spotted a row of curious white blocks in the distance," Amon said. "Upon investigation, we realized it was a whale skeleton with lots of deep-sea animals living on and around it." Those deep-sea organisms, which were confirmed as new discoveries, included a type of bone-eating Osedax worm. The researchers collected three of the whale bones and shipped the specimens to the U.K. for analysis by the British Antarctic Survey and the Natural History Museum. A paper about the discoveries, "The discovery of a natural whale fall in the Antarctic deep sea," was published in the online journal Deep-Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. Watch two clips of the ROV footage in the video above, and click through the gallery below to see photos of the findings.  Continue reading... Fossils Cast Doubt On Theory Of Early Humans' Gait WATCH: High Jump Champ Shows Physics Of Winning Leap Congressman Gives Dire Warning About Asteroids Old Skeletons Reveal Sad Plight Of Ancient People Feds Make Dramatic Arrest Of Former NASA Contractor Skull Deformity Suggests Strange Truth About Early Humans WATCH: Deep-Freezing For Life After Death Are Birds Evolving To Dodge Traffic? LOOK: Unique 'Whale Fall' Triggers Discovery Of New Sea Creatures Old Skeletons Reveal Sad Plight Of Ancient People CONFIRMED DOUGLAS C. JOHNSON Can a Tragedy Be the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You? We know that suffering is amplified when we don't see it coming, when we don't have any control over it, and when it's something we've never had to deal with before. All of which makes Stacey Kramer, and those who respond to suffering like she has, even more remarkable. Continue reading... DAVE PRUETT Science's Sacred Cows (Part 7): Reductionism Reductionism has its limitations. Is a human being -- one who bristles at injustice, weeps at Pachelbel's Canon, loves her children, is awestruck by beauty, and craves chocolate -- simply the product of Pavlov's conditioned reflexes to stimuli? Continue reading... MATTHEW HUTSON Even Top Scientists Believe Everything Was Created by Magic The sense that certain things were "meant to be" or even that "everything happens for a reason" is encouraged by the intuitive assumption that a mind is guiding all the events in our lives. Continue reading... DR. LEE RITTERBAND The Staggering Costs of Insomnia: A Call for More Research Medical research is big business in this country. But historically very little of this money has gone to insomnia research. For decades, those with insomnia were regarded as "silent sufferers," often going undiagnosed, even when seeking help. Continue reading... NESSA CAREY We Let Down Lieutenant Uhura What's deeply depressing for most women, and perhaps particularly for those of us who work in science, is how little progress we seem to have made in the world outside Starfleet Academy. Continue reading... Received this from a friend? Sign up for alerts from The Huffington Post here. Unsubscribe here.