Tube worms about a third of the way down to the depth of the Deepwater Horizon leak

The seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico hosts a bizarre and barely understood ecosystem, only discovered 26 years ago, based not on sunlight or even geothermal heat vents, but on natural seepage of hydrocarbons (methane, etc.). One particularly spectacular element are the tube worms. Some of the individuals (not colonies, individual worms) in the Gulf appear to be over five hundred years old, predating the arrival of Europeans to the Gulf.

Now, in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster*, these communities are getting bombarded with extra oil, methane, and other hydrocarbons. Presumably this will have one of two effects.

- The oil will destroy these fascinating ecosystems, irreplaceable and virtually unknown in terms of exploration.

- The oil and methane will supercharge the giant ancient worms, who will wreak terrible vengeance upon humanity.

In related news, SyFy Channel** is opening up it’s Original Movies to the public, in terms of stories (all of which are about Mega-CGI creatures), production etc.. It seems inevitable that someone would make this connection and turn it into schlock entertainment in poor taste, so I’m just pointing the way.

*I understand how horrible the “spill” (seems hard to call it just that). I especially have sympathy for those in the region as someone who lived in New Orleans for over 10 years, and lost all of my possessions in Hurricane Katrina, or more specifically the flood resulting from the failure of the US Corps of Engineers levees, built with poor materials and using out of date soil measurements. But when I read this story, the obvious fantastical possibilities could not be denied, and should not be taken as minimizing the disaster anymore than the movie Godzilla minimizes the nuclear bombings of Japan in WWII.

**Full Disclosure: I once was consulted, quasi-formally, by the Sci-Fi Channel (before it changed its name), regarding archaeology and stories of crashed UFOs (their researchers found my website and wondered if anyone else other than themselves had done archaeological investigation of such stories. I led them to a research proposal I was familiar with, that suggested methods for such an investigation). I was in El Salvador at the time, and I’m not saying they didn’t send me the promised bag of swag, maybe it just got lost in the mail.

Cold, Dark, and Teeming With Life [New York Times]
Image Lamellibrachia luymesi1 by Charles Fisher [Wikicommons]

The dwindling bee population is an issue that concerns us greatly. Not only do we enjoy the sweet fruits of bee labor, but the glorious gardens through which we wheel Ross on his day trips from “the home” would cease to exist were it not for the hard work of our striped mascot’s forebears.

Adam Makarenko is a photographer that grieves the tragic loss of the bee with us, producing stunning photographs of the world of Langstroth Range, a bee paradise in which they drift lazily among fields populated with only the most rare, delectable plants and take on a monstrous size more in keeping with the pants-shitting terror they inspire in the uninformed.

There remains no explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the bees, but if there is indeed a just and loving Creator in this universe it has transported them to this wonderland free from cell phone death rays and douchebag frat boys with a freezer and some string. Now if only I could find a saddle and a way in.

Adam Makarenko [Cool Hunting : Artist's Site]

The transformation of mankind’s idealized future over the last century is a fascinating thing. Our tendency to speculate wildly is our greatest trait, resulting in a rich history of lofty, unrealistic goals and incredible literature that only serves to drive us to speculate further; to hope for a future like nothing we’ve ever seen.

From a sky full of hot-air balloons, from which dapper gents doff their hats to ladies on pedal powered flying machines, to pill-food and brushed chrome flying cars, to now, where our idealized future includes skull-mounted USB jacks and HUD’s. However, our visions of the future have a distinct difference from those of our forebears. Namely in that we envision the possibility of a dystopian future, a blasted, rusted heath on which we eke out our misery filled days; which we dream of alongside the optimistic fantasy of a future of soft, off-white plastics, bio-integrated technology, and utopian ideals.

It’s almost as if in the last 50 years or so we’ve finally started to realize that the future might not be coming to save us, but that it might just be one more boot to humanity’s collective chin.

Hydro Net [Flickr] : Dezeen : Drawn!

Cory Doctorow’s nailed the metallophagic quality of this xenomorph-like junk sculpture far better than I can:

I’m quite taken by Ukrainian artist Andrew Severynko’s “Gourmand” junk-sculpture. I think it’s the glass beaker combined with the kitsch souvenir suit-of-armor head, and the overall quality of predation in this thing, as though it spent its nights squirming through fantastic junk shops, eating their best pieces

Man, he’s such a great writer when he’s not just cut-and-pasting tips. Then again, looking at this post, I should talk.

That said, I can somehow easily imagine David Cronenberg making a movie in which this is breach birthed from a shrieking morphine addict’s urethra.

Gourmand: Severynko’s handsome junk sculpture [Boing Boing] : Severynko : Owen

Update: Ross indignantly whinges, “Florian, I beat both you AND Cory Fucking Doctorow!” Except you didn’t post this sculpture. Suck it up, New Scum.