This isn’t your typical message from WHOI, and that’s our intent! We’re bringing you in on something special. Something the science community has always known, but hasn’t always highlighted: science has always been weird!
In science, weird is the spark of creativity, the outside-the-box thinking that leads to “Eureka!”.
Albert Einstein
Melba Roy Mouton
Jane Goodall
But in our society, kids as young as five are already learning to think of weird as bad, and by age nine they’ve learned to conform and lock their wonderful, creative weirdness away.
So weird needs protecting. That’s true for kids. It’s true for adults. And it’s true for the bizarre and beautiful world of the ocean twilight zone—the weirdest place on Earth!
Imagine if the weird and wonderful creatures of the twilight zone could teach us to understand and celebrate the weird within each of us?
Does that sound weird? We’re counting on it!
When you look at the creatures of the twilight zone, you realize that the things that make them weird are also their super powers. And that's exactly what we're celebrating.
Strawberry Squid
The strawberry squid has the superpower of two different eyes—one fine-tuned to look up toward the surface for prey and the other constantly watching below for hungry predators.
Phromina
The phromina creates a home for herself and her offspring by hollowing out a salp’s gelatinous body.
Angler Fish
Weird is the fierce female angler fish who absorbs the body of her mate until all that’s left are his reproductive organs.
These weirdly wonderful creatures are more than curiosities, though. They are critical to the health of our planet and our key to understanding of the vast twilight zone.
Our mission is to expand knowledge of the twilight zone to discover more complex creatures that live there, understand their life cycles and behaviors, how they fit into the global food web, and how they regulate Earth’s climate. We need to do this before our actions, whether fishing or through climate change, reshape their home forever. Now, all we need for you to do is to get weird with us!
So, you want to help keep the ocean twilight zone weird? Here’s how!!
