From to shellfish to plankton, DARPA program turns creatures into sensors

Shellfish may not talk in the traditional sense but a new research program would look to harness their responses to the environment to better track manned and unmanned undersea vehicles.

A new program launched by the agency that brings you stealth technology is looking to use living sea creatures, from mollusks and crustaceans to certain types of fish, as part of a sensor network to monitor what threats to U.S. naval vessels are lurking beneath the waves.

But DARPA made clear that not every creature will be studied, specifically those who are protected or on endangered lists such as many sea-dwelling mammals.

“DARPA expressly forbids the inclusion of endangered species and intelligent mammals, such as dolphins and whales, from researchers' proposals on the PALS program,” said Jared Adams, DARPA spokesman.

The Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors, or PALS, program will “study natural and modified organisms to determine which ones could best support sensor systems that detect the movement of manned and unmanned underwater vehicles,” according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency website.

New DARPA radio transmitter could revolutionize battlefield communications

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to revolutionizing battlefield communications by introducing a new project that seeks to bridge gaps in current military communications capabilities.

By: Shawn Snow

The program, run by Lori Adornato in the DARPA Biotech Office, will study the responses of living organisms in the ocean to vehicles, and use a network of hardware devices to relay, capture and interpret the data.

Current hardware-based ocean sensor systems require a wealth of resources, so they can only be used for specific assets such as an aircraft carrier, Adornato said.

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“If we can tap into the innate sensing capabilities of living organisms that are ubiquitous in the oceans, we can extend our ability to track adversary activity and do so discreetly, on a persistent basis, and with enough precision to characterize the size and type of adversary vehicles,” Adornato said in the DARPA release.

Living organisms could give researchers advantages over hardware, according to the release. They adapt and respond to their environment, and they can sense stimuli such as optical, chemical, tactile, acoustic and electrical, according to the release.

How DARPA sparked dreams of self-healing networks

DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge showed how artificial intelligence could give the Defense Department the edge in the ongoing cat-and-mouse network battles.

By: Adam Stone

The hardware systems that researchers aim to create will collect data from a 500-meter distance to avoid disturbing the sometimes-delicate environments.

“Our ideal scenario for PALS is to leverage a wide range of native marine organisms, with no need to train, house, or modify them in any way, which would open up this type of sensing to many locations,” Adornato said.

But, researchers will leave open opportunities to “tune organisms’ reporting mechanisms” while using appropriate environmental safeguards, according to DARPA.

The organization made clear it will not be testing these methods or equipment in the open ocean, opting to do so instead in “contained, bio secure facilities.”

Those with ideas for how to begin this living sensor research project will have a chance to share ideas this week at a “Proposer’s Day” event in Arlington, Virginia.

In early January, DARPA held a similar exhibition, launching a program that would create an “Ocean of Things” sensor project that seeks to create environmentally-safe sensors to deploy in strategically sensitive areas of the ocean.

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Miris.. Video Pari Manta Makan Sampah Plastik Ini Viral

Bagaimana rasanya bila kita makan sampah plastik? Itu yang dirasakan oleh satwa laut saat ini. Tidak terkecuali Pari Manta, satwa bertipe penyaring makanan (feeder). Pari yang biasa makan plankton, tetapi karena tidak bisa membedakan apa yang dikonsumsi, malah makan sampah plastik dengan konsentrasi racun tinggi.

Seperti yang terlihat dalam video dan foto yang dibagi seorang perempuan muda Australia, Lauren Jubb, pada Jumat (16/02/2018) di akun media sosialnya yaitu di Facebook dan Youtube. Terlihat sedikitnya dua ekor Pari Manta berenang di permukaan air yang digenangi sampah plastik. Kresek, bungkus makanan, botol mengapung dan ikut berenang di antara satwa dilindungi ini.

Sejumlah hasil observasi menyebutkan Pari manta menyaring air laut dalam jumlah yang besar dan mencari makan di permukaan air. Sialnya, permukaan adalah area konsentrasi sampah plastik dan mikroplastik di laut.

baca : Makhluk Ini Menyebarkan Mikroplastik ke Dasar Lautan. Begini Kekhawatiran Peneliti

Lauren Jubb, wisatawan Australia yang memposting video pari manta yang berenang diantara sampah di Nusa Lembongan Bali pada 8 Februari 2018. Foto : facebook Lauren Jobb

Lauren yang dikonfirmasi Mongabay Indonesia menyebut video dan foto itu miliknya diambil dengan kamera GoPro, saat liburan di Bali, Kamis (08/02/2018) lalu. Jadi ada beda waktu dengan unggahan di media sosial. Ia mengaku menyelam di Manta Point, Nusa Lembongan, Bali.

Peristiwa ini adalah upaya menggugah kesadaran, bukan soal terjadi di mana. Fakta bahwa sampah manusia makin berdampak pada satwa dilindungi dan juga pangan kita.

Ia menyebut ke lokasi selam yang dituju memang sudah terlihat ada sampahnya. Ketika sudah menyelam di titik penyelaman ia dan temannya melihat Pari Manta dan sangat antusias sampai tak menyangka ada banyak sampah di permukaan.

“But when we went under the water and when the mantas were swimming through it with plastic bags on them and in their mouths I was very sad for them and sad that I couldn’t do anything for them. But, at the same time also really angry at the state we humans have done to the ocean,” katanya tanpa menyalahkan pihak tertentu.

baca : Paus Sperma Itu Pun Mati karena Sampah Plastik

Ia mengaku sakit hati melihat sampah yang mungkin dari berbagai belahan benua ini dibawa arus dan meracuni para hewan yang mencari makan di permukaan air laut. Menurutnya, itu salah kita semua karena apa pun yang dibuang sembarangan di jalan air akan terbawa ke lautan.

Lauren merasa beruntung tinggal di negara dengan kebijakan pengurangan plastik dan upaya recycle cukup mudah. Lauren memberi tips, gunakan tas bekas /daur ulang saat berbelanja, beli makanan dan minuman tanpa kemasan, dan mendaur ulang jika memungkinkan.

Ia mengaku sudah pernah ke Bali sebelumnya dan tidak kaget lagi dengan masalah sampah karena pernah tinggal di Vietnam selama 8 tahun. Namun ia kini lebih memperhatikan karena lebih peduli.

Beberapa lembaga dan komunitas melakukan riset soal ini di wilayah penelitian yang diketahui sebagai tempat mencari makan bagi Pari Manta yakni perairan Taman Nasional Komodo dan Kawasan Konservasi Nusa Penida. Kesimpulannya, potensi Pari Manta menelan mikroplastik berkisar 40-90 potong per jam. Bagaimana nasib hewan ini?

Seekor pari manta di perairan yang penuh sampah plastik di lepas pantai Nusa Lembongan, Bali. Foto : thecoraltriangle.com

Kolaborasi Marine Megafauna Foundation, Universitas Murdoch, Australia, dan Universitas Udayana, Bali tentang tercemarnya Pari Manta ini. Mikroplastik ditemukan pada setiap pelaksanaan survei di kedua lokasi selama musim hujan.

Rata-rata perhitungan secara visual pada sampah antropogenik di Nusa Penida yaitu 9.215 (±3.367) potong per km persegi dan di Taman Nasional Komodo yaitu 2.894 (±1.207) potong berdasarkan perkiraan model koresponden.

Selengkapnya baca : Memprihatinkan, Satwa Laut di Bali dan NTB Makin Beresiko Keracunan karena Ini…

Gede Lama, pegiat Komunitas Penyelam Lembongan (KPL) mengonfirmasi peristiwa dan lokasi video dan foto Lauren Jubb. Menurutnya sekitar Manta Bay dan Point berada di bawah terbing terjal dan jauh dari pantai hanya bisa dijangkau boat.

Menurutnya saat musim hujan banyak mendapat sampah kiriman. “Itu sampah bukan dari pulau. Walau hari ini kita bersihkan besok pasti datang lagi karena arus yang membawa,” ujarnya. Jika sedang menyelam, pasti akan dibersihkan rekannya. Upaya lain yang telah dilakukan bersih-bersih pantai dan edukasi ke sekolah.

Seorang penyelam berenang bersama pari manta di perairan yang penuh sampah plastik di lepas pantai Nusa Lembongan, Bali. Foto : thecoraltriangle.com

Terkait mekanisme pengelolaan sampah di kawasan konservasi perairan Nusa Penida, Komang Karyawan dari UPT KKP menyebut belum ada sistem yang bisa diandalkan. “Hanya sebagian kecil desa yang bisa dilayani mobil dinas kebersihan. Sehingga banyak warga juga bakar sampah sendiri dan buang sampah sembarangan,” katanya.

Pendapat Gede Lama benar, sampah dari satu pulau akan berdampak ke pulau lain. Termasuk sampah dari Nusa Penida. Ini dibuktikan dari serial penelitian terkait pergerakan sampah, jenis sampah yang terdampar di pantai, dan distribusi sampah laut di Bali.

Sekelompok peneliti dari Fakultas Kelautan dan Perikanan (FKP) Universitas Udayana mengidentifikasi distribusi sampah di pesisir pada November 2017. Hasilnya, sebagian besar (45%) jenis sampah adalah plastik “lunak” atau soft plastic, dan 40 persen dari sampah plastik itu adalah plastik kemasan.

Selengkapnya baca : Riset Membuktikan Ini Jenis Sampah Laut Terbanyak di Pesisir Bali

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From dolphins to plankton, DARPA program turns creatures into sensors

The TV character Flipper the dolphin often warned his human friends of danger through a series of clicks and squeals.

A new program launched by the agency that brings you stealth technology is looking to use living sea creatures, from dolphins to plankton, as part of a sensor network to monitor what threats to U.S. naval vessels are lurking beneath the waves.

The Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors, or PALS, program will “study natural and modified organisms to determine which ones could best support sensor systems that detect the movement of manned and unmanned underwater vehicles,” according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency website.

New DARPA radio transmitter could revolutionize battlefield communications

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to revolutionizing battlefield communications by introducing a new project that seeks to bridge gaps in current military communications capabilities.

By: Shawn Snow

The program, run by Lori Adornato in the DARPA Biotech Office, will study the responses of living organisms in the ocean to vehicles, and use a network of hardware devices to relay, capture and interpret the data.

Current hardware-based ocean sensor systems require a wealth of resources, so they can only be used for specific assets such as an aircraft carrier, Adornato said.

“If we can tap into the innate sensing capabilities of living organisms that are ubiquitous in the oceans, we can extend our ability to track adversary activity and do so discreetly, on a persistent basis, and with enough precision to characterize the size and type of adversary vehicles,” Adornato said in the DARPA release.

Living organisms could give researchers advantages over hardware, according to the release. They adapt and respond to their environment, and they can sense stimuli such as optical, chemical, tactile, acoustic and electrical, according to the release.

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Don't miss the top Navy stories, delivered each afternoon

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How DARPA sparked dreams of self-healing networks

DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge showed how artificial intelligence could give the Defense Department the edge in the ongoing cat-and-mouse network battles.

By: Adam Stone

The hardware systems that researchers aim to create will collect data from a 500-meter distance to avoid disturbing the sometimes-delicate environments.

“Our ideal scenario for PALS is to leverage a wide range of native marine organisms, with no need to train, house, or modify them in any way, which would open up this type of sensing to many locations,” Adornato said.

But, researchers will leave open opportunities to “tune organisms’ reporting mechanisms” while using appropriate environmental safeguards, according to DARPA.

The organization made clear it will not be testing these methods or equipment in the open ocean, opting to do so instead in “contained, bio secure facilities.”

Those with ideas for how to begin this living sensor research project will have a chance to share ideas this week at a “Proposer’s Day” event in Arlington, Virginia.

In early January, DARPA held a similar exhibition, launching a program that would create an “Ocean of Things” sensor project that seeks to create environmentally-safe sensors to deploy in strategically sensitive areas of the ocean.

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Baca Di sini Bro https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/02/28/from-dolphins-to-plankton-darpa-program-turns-creatures-into-sensors/

Ada 7 Becandaan Rahasia di Spongebob yang Sulit Disadari Maknanya! Apakah Kamu Menyadarinya?

Serial animasi Spongebob Squarepants memang penuh dengan candaan dan guyonan yang kadang mudah dimengerti, namun kadang ada beberapa yang saking sulitnya dimengerti, sampai-sampai orang dewasa yang menontonnya tidak mengerti dan tidak tertawa, apalagi anak-anak.

Mungkin kamu juga tidak menyadari becandaan rahasia di Spongebob ini? Atau kamu sudah menyadarinya sejak kecil? Jika iya, maka tuliskan di kolom komentar, becandaan rahasia di Spongebob mana yang kamu pahami saat kamu menontonnya di televisi dahulu.

Baiklah, tidak perlu berlama-lama lagi, inilah daftar becandaan rahasia di Spongebob yang sulit dimengerti dan memiliki arti khusus.

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CONTINUE READING BELOW

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1

Ini Labku

Kamu ingat episode di mana Plankton mengendalikan otak Spongebob? Becandaan rahasia di Spongebob dimulai dari adegan ini. Spongebob dikendalikan dan membawa burger Krabby Patty ke restoran Chum Bucket. Di sini, Plankton ingin mengetahui kandungan dari Krabby Patty yang sangat melegenda.

Saat masuk ke Chum Bucket, Plankton berkata dengan keras “Ini adalah labku!” dan memperlihatkan seekor anjing yang menggong-gong di layar. Lalu Spongebob masuk ke ruangan berikutnya, dan di sini lebih terlihat seperti laboratorium. Benar saja, Plankton pun berkata “dan ini adalah laboratoriumku!”

Sudah menyadari becandaan rahasia di Spongebob yang pertama ini? Kenapa Plankton menyebutkan lab dua kali? Lalu kenapa ada video anjing dan ditunjukan kepada Spongebob? Nah, justru di sini lah becandaan rahasia di Spongebob berada. Jika kamu lupa, tonton terlebih dahulu cuplikannya di bawah ini:

Awalnya, dia berkata “ini adalah labku”, untuk menjelaskan tentang anjing yang ada di layar, yaitu anjing berjenis Labrador Retriever yang memang biasa dipanggil dengan julukan “Lab”, dan ruangan berikutnya, baru lah laboratorium Plankton yang sebenarnya.

Intinya, ini adalah becandaan rahasia di Spongebob tentang permainan kata, yaitu “Lab” untuk jenis anjing dan juga “Lab” untuk laboratorium. Bagaimana? Apakah saat sudah mengerti dengan becandaan rahasia di Spongebob ini kamu tertawa? Permainan kata sebagai candaan memang terkadang tidak sesuai dengan selera humor orang tertentu, sedangkan di Amerika, banyak orang dewasa yang menyadarinya dan tertawa. Namun anak-anak, mereka tidak mengerti dan pastinya tidak peduli.

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Baru satu becandaan rahasia di Spongebob, dan di halaman depan masih ada enam becandaan rahasia di Spongebob lainnya! Cek halaman selanjutnya!

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17 Jenis Krabby Patty yang Pernah Muncul dalam Serial SpongeBob. Mana yang Paling Enak?

Siapa sih yang enggak tahu Krabby Patty? Makanan yang sekilas mirip burger ini merupakan makanan terlezat yang ada dalam serial SpongeBob SquarePants. Saking enaknya, Krabby Patty menjadi salah satu biang masalah perseteruan antara Mr. Krabs dan Plankton. Plankton pun terus berusaha untuk bisa mencuri formula atau resep Krabby Patty dari tangan Mr. Krabs.

Krabby Patty biasa ditemukan di restoran cepat saja Krusty Krab milik Mr. Krabs. Di sana juga, SpongeBob yang merupakan seorang koki, menyajikan Krabby Patty kepada penduduk Bikini Bottom.

Sebagai sebuah restoran, tentunya Krusty Krab menyajikan beragam jenis Krabby Patty. Nah apakah Kamu sudah tahu deretan jenis Krabby Patty berikut ini?

1

Emergency Krabby Patties

Berbeda seperti Krabby Patty biasa yang disajikan di atas sebuah piring, Emergency Krabby Patties merupakan jenis roti yang dikemas dalam kaleng untuk digunakan dalam keadaan darurat.

Dalam episode Yeti Krabs, SpongeBob menggunakan Emergency Krabby Patties untuk menyelamatkan dirinya sendiri, Squidward, dan Mr. Krabs dari Yeti Krab yang kelaparan.

2

Krabby Patty in a Can

Krabby Patty in a Can adalah kaleng berisi daging Krabby Patty yang digunakan SpongeBob untuk Krabby Patty buatan sendiri. Hal itu bertujuan untuk melayani pelanggan restoran barunya dalam episode SpongeBob’s Place.

3

All-Bun Patty

All-Bun Patty adalah Krabby Patty yang dagingnya diganti dengan roti. All-Bun Patty hanya muncul di episode Tutor Sauce.

4

Krabby Double Deluxe

Jenis Krabby Patty selanjutnya adalah Krabby Double Deluxe atau juga disebut Deluxe Krabby Patty. Sebenarnya, Krabby Double Deluxe hampir mirip dengan Krabby Patty biasanya, namun memiliki dua kali jumlah daging.

Krabby yang satu ini beberapa kali muncul dalam serial SpongeBob SquarePants. Salah satunya di episode Pressure, yaitu saat Patrick mencoba memakan Krabby Double Deluxe hanya dengan sekali gigit.

5

Double Triple Bossy Deluxe

Seperti namanya, ini merupakan Krabby Patty dengan versi jumbo. Double Triple Bossy Deluxe pertama kali muncul saat dipesan oleh Bubble Bass di episode Pickles. Diceritakan Bubble Bass menantang SpongeBob menciptakan Krabby Patty jumbo dan super enak.

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CONTINUE READING BELOW

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Awalnya Bubble Bass merasa puas terhadap Krabby Patty buatan SpongeBob, sampai suatu ketika ia menyadari jika Double Triple Bossy Deluxe tidak memiliki acar. Hal itu membuat SpongeBob menjadi bingung dan frustasi.

Masih ada 12 Jenis Krabby Patty yang pernah muncul dalam serial SpongeBob. Apa saja? Cek di halaman selanjutnya!

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Scientists Say: Zooplankton

(for more about Power Words, click here)

algae     Single-celled organisms, once considered plants (they aren’t). As aquatic organisms, they grow in water. Like green plants, they depend on sunlight to make their food.

Arctic     A region that falls within the Arctic Circle. The edge of that circle is defined as the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice. The high Arctic is that most northerly third of this region. It’s a region dominated by snow cover much of the year.

birds     Warm-blooded animals with wings that first showed up during the time of the dinosaurs. Birds are jacketed in feathers and produce young from the eggs they deposit in some sort of nest. Most birds fly, but throughout history there have been the occasional species that don’t.

diet     The foods and liquids ingested by an animal to provide the nutrition it needs to grow and maintain health. (verb) To adopt a specific food-intake plan for the purpose of controlling body weight.

microscope     An instrument used to view objects, like bacteria, or the single cells of plants or animals, that are too small to be visible to the unaided eye.

organism     Any living thing, from elephants and plants to bacteria and other types of single-celled life.

phytoplankton     Sometimes referred to as microalgae, these are microscopic plants and plant-like organisms that live in the ocean. Most float and reside in regions where sunlight filters down. Much like land-based plants, these organisms contain chlorophyll. They also require sunlight to live and grow. Phytoplankton serve as a base of the oceanic food web.

plankton     A small organism that drifts or floats in the sea. Depending on the species, plankton range from microscopic sizes to organisms about the size of a flea. Some are tiny animals. Others are plantlike organisms. Although individual plankton are very small, they form massive colonies, numbering in the billions. The largest animal in the world, the blue whale, lives on plankton.

predator     (adjective: predatory) A creature that preys on other animals for most or all of its food.

prey     (n.) Animal species eaten by others. (v.) To attack and eat another species.

sea     An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.

species     A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.

sun     The star at the center of Earth’s solar system. It’s an average size star about 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Also a term for any sunlike star.

whale     A common, but fairly imprecise, term for a class of large mammals that lives in the ocean. This group includes dolphins and porpoises.

zooplankton     Small organisms that drift in the sea. Zooplankton are tiny animals that eat other plankton. They also serve as an important food source for other marine creatures.

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The Sky Is Falling

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As the worst wildfire in California history raged last December, a vast plume of smoke rose over the Santa Barbara coast, raining ash into the sea.

At the time, Kelsey Bisson, an oceanography doctoral candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was preparing to set sail on the R/V Sally Ride into the Santa Barbara Channel as part of an ongoing investigation of the region’s plankton. But when she saw satellite images of the plume hanging over the waters she had planned to visit, the focus of her research cruise abruptly changed.

“It was serendipity,” says Bisson. “Natural disaster and tragedy struck, but at that moment, we had a team all ready to go.”

For a week in mid-December, Bisson and a team of 17 specialists—in geochemistry, optics, microbiology, and even music and art—sailed through the channel, capturing the first real-time snapshot of how ash from a wildfire affects everything from marine carbon storage to the health of sea life.

Little is known about how wildfire ash affects the ocean, Bisson says. Scientists know that the iron-rich ash from volcanoes and burning forests can fertilize ocean life, but the fire in California, which became known as the Thomas Fire, was different. The initial stages of the fire incinerated more than 1,000 buildings and untold quantities of drywall, rubber, paint, glass, and even asbestos. Only later did it transition into a wildfire, burning trees and grass.

Key questions emerged in the researchers’ minds as the Sally Ride cruised offshore: what happens to the ash once it falls into the sea, and what effect could this presumably toxic ash have on ocean life?

The ash plume from the Thomas Fire could be seen from the International Space Station. Photo by NASA Photo/Alamy Stock Photo

The team observed that some of the ash settled on the seafloor and as it descended, some of the material dissolved, releasing nutrients, carbon compounds, and trace metals. Other particles became floaters, pushed into patches of debris by surface currents.

Bisson says the ash they observed fell into two categories: glassy and transparent objects with sharp, jagged edges, which she thinks are from burned synthetic materials; and amorphous, dark particles, presumably derived from organic matter.

So far, Bisson only has a working hypothesis about what the ash did to sea life. “Depending on the chemical concentration of the ash, it could either fertilize the ocean to some extent, or possibly inhibit growth, based on the toxins embedded in it,” she says.

Ash from burned organic matter, such as trees, contributes iron and other minerals that support plankton growth. Bisson says many marine environments are typically starved of iron, and they rely on limited supplies from airborne dust, deep-sea vents, and the outflow of rivers. But like fertilizer on land, too much of a good thing can be harmful. Take, for example, the massive 1997 wildfires that struck Indonesia: so much iron was released into the atmosphere that scientists believe it fueled a red tide that asphyxiated an entire coral reef ecosystem downwind, off the coast of southwestern Sumatra.

What makes the Thomas Fire different, Bisson says, is the presence of so much potentially toxic ash from burned buildings. She hypothesizes that this ash could affect plankton, with the damage flowing all the way up the trophic ladder and eventually harming humans. She says the ash particles she observed were small enough that zooplankton could mistake them for food.

For now, Bisson and her team are waiting for results from the analysis of thousands of samples, due later this year, which will detail the chemical composition of the ash, among other things. Oceanographer and University of California doctoral candidate Eleanor Arrington, who accompanied Bisson on the trip, says they will soon have a trove of information on how the wildfire ash affected bacteria, zooplankton, and phytoplankton—a topic that until now has been a blind spot for oceanographers.

“We hope this can be used by many scientists in similar environmental disasters in the future,” Arrington says.

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Mořský plankton je stěží vidět, přesto má být pro lidi potravinou budoucnosti

Pod pojmem mořský fytoplankton si mnozí z nás ani nedovede představit o čem je řeč a jak to vůbec vypadá. Přesto se fytoplankton dere na přední příčky superpotravin a mluví se o něm jako o potravině budoucnosti. Co to je a jaký má význam v lidské stravě?

Fytoplanktony jsou mikroskopické organismy, které tvoří důležitou součást planktonového ekosystému ve světových oceánech, mořích ale i sladkovodních vodách. Tvoří de facto spodní část potravinového řetězce ve vodním světě, přestože jsou natolik malí, aby byli vidět pouhým okem. Fytoplankton přichází v mnoha různých tvarech a formách, ale všechny jsou autotrofní organismy. V posledních letech obliba těchto mikroskopických organismů roste a je jim připisována celá řada účinků na lidský organismus.

Co obsahuje?

Co se týče výživy, jsou fytoplanktony plné bílkovin, omega-3 mastných kyselin, vitaminů B, stopových minerálů, antioxidantů a klíčových aminokyselin. Koncentrovaná síla těchto mikroorganismů z nich činí ideální výživový doplněk pro ty, kteří chtějí posílit celý organismus. Fytoplankton lze zakoupit v prášku, tabletkách i v tekuté formě.

Poznejte všechny přínosy tohoto zázraku z vodního světa.

Přírodní antidepresivum

Vzhledem k tomu, že většina antidepresiv je návykových s fytoplanktonem nemusíte mít žádné obavy, jde o čistě přírodní účinky. Fytoplankton má energizující a revitalizační účinky, minimalizuje změny nálad a depresi.

Detoxikuje tělo

Pravidelné užívání tohoto typu planktonu přispívá ke stimulaci ledvin a také zbavuje tělo přebytečných toxinů, díky posilujícím účinkům na imunitní systém a působivé koncentraci antioxidantů.

Prospěšné pro zdraví jater

Vědecké studie prokázaly, že fytoplankton může být přímo absorbován buňkami, které tělo potřebuje, aniž by zatěžoval játra. To přispívá ke snížení napětí na jednom z nejtvrdších orgánů našeho těla.

Posiluje imunitní systém

Jak již bylo řečeno, fytoplankton se podílí na posílení imunity, je plný vitaminů a minerálů, které naše tělo potřebuje. Lidé užívající tyto doplňky stravy mají vyšší počet T-lymfocytů, což znamená, že jejich imunitní systém pracuje mnohem efektivněji.

Buněčná regenerace

Některé z nejcennějších druhů fytoplanktonu obsahují téměř všechny živiny, které tělo potřebuje pro buněčný růst, takže pokud používáte kvalitní doplňky, můžete výrazně stimulovat buněčnou regeneraci pro hojení a růst.

Pro zdravé srdce

Fytoplankton je známý také tím, že snižuje riziko zánětu a eliminuje vznik tvorbě krevních sraženin, tím snižuje riziko aterosklerózy, infarktu a mrtvice.

Fytoplanktony a rakovina

Tyto mikroskopické organismy osahují významný podíl antioxidantů a řada vědeckých studií poukazuje na skutečnost, že užívání fytoplanktonu opravdu může snížit pravděpodobnost vzniku rakoviny.

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New effort to understand the impact of the changing Atlantic

CLIMATE

Find Your Forecast

News Deeply
Special to The Weather Network

Friday, February 23, 2018, 9:02 - On an icy evening in late January, a group of ocean scientists departed a small port in southern Rhode Island aboard the National Science Foundation’s RV Endeavor vessel. Their mission over a stormy five days was to get a rare scientific glimpse of conditions in an unforgiving part of the Atlantic Ocean during the heart of winter. More importantly, however, they were launching a new major effort to understand how rapid environmental changes are affecting the Northeast Continental Shelf, one of the most economically and ecologically crucial areas of U.S. coastal waters.

Most scientists are funded to study only a few aspects of the ocean for a few years at a time. But the January cruise was kicking off a different kind of project – what is known as Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), a National Science Foundation initiative that has grown to study 28 regional ecosystems on land and at sea since 1980. The idea is that consistent funding allows research teams to collect data over long time spans to track and understand changing ecosystems. The Northeast U.S. Shelf LTER (NES-LTER) and another coastal area in the Gulf of Alaska are the newest of these sites at a time of rapid change in the marine ecosystem. Funding is awarded for six-year cycles and the NES-LTER will receive $5.6 million through 2022.

---

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---

“Many of the pressures on the ecosystem are occurring over long time scales, such as climate change and variability and human development,” said Jon Hare, a U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist involved in the project. “To understand these pressures and their effect on ecosystems, long-term projects are necessary.”

A team led by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will track changes in the waters stretching along the U.S. east coast, from Cape Hatteras in the south to the Gulf of Maine in the north. This rich ecosystem is the reason the northeast’s fishing economy exists, generating more than $100 billion a year in annual economic activity. Marine life from whales to salmon to seabirds feast on smaller, forage fish in waters such as the Georges Bank, the Gulf of Maine and around the Hudson Canyon. The little fish in turn feed on dense concentrations of tiny plankton that thrive on the area’s nutrient-dense waters.

Already, the Northeast Shelf is one of the fastest-changing regions of the ocean, said Hare. It is a place where waters are warming relatively rapidly and becoming more acidic, and new kinds of coastal and offshore development – such as wind energy and aquaculture – are emerging. Yet the waters still appear highly productive; they’re full of plankton and the marine species that consume plankton to survive.

VIDEO: Cold patch in the north Atlantic alerts scientists:

Scientists at Woods Hole, NOAA and other research institutions have studied various aspects of the shelf for decades. However, there has not been any one project connecting those scientists and data sets until now.

“One of the most exciting things about the NES-LTER project is that we will be able to repeat these kinds of [collective] observations year after year,” said Heidi Sosik, a senior biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the project’s principal investigator. It will help, she said, “us understand not only how the ecosystem works now, but also how it is changing in response to natural variability, ongoing human impacts and the extended effects of climate change.”

During their initial research expedition aboard the Endeavor, the scientists cruised from Martha’s Vineyard due south through 11 undersea research nodes and anchored moorings, which collect data for the project year-round. They also snapped undersea images and collected water and biological samples that will help them get a better picture of the populations of both phytoplankton and zooplankton on the shelf.

NOAA is helping with the project, dragging trawl nets through the water to study fish populations in the area twice a year. The overarching goal is to better understand how plankton populations and ocean conditions affect fish populations and fish health in the continental shelf area.

Changing ocean conditions – even those that are slight – can threaten many marine species with extinction, said Joel Llopiz, an assistant scientist at Woods Hole. Some of these threats are already a reality.

---

STUDY:'The Big One' puts California at risk of significant sinking

---

The average annual sea surface temperature on the Northeast Continental Shelf has increased by 1.8F (1C) over the past century and, according to Llopiz, spring and fall seasonal transitions are occurring further apart, stretching out the summer season when water there is particularly warm. Marine species’ lives are finely adapted to regular seasonal transitions, and when those transitions are out of balance there is the potential for major food chain disruptions, he said.

The team of researchers, which also includes those from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Wellesley College, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Rhode Island, hope to stay at the forefront of that change by using their data to create new ocean models that will help compare past and present ocean patterns and make future predictions.

Due to the collaborative nature of the project, cooperation will prove critical and there is little time to waste. “We’re a large group of people researching all trophic levels and many kinds of physics in this important part of the ocean,” said Llopiz. “A big challenge is keeping people focused on our shared goal. We’re all highly dependent on one another – if we don’t work together, we cannot link our research together.”

“For example, phytoplankton may bloom earlier due to more heat, but copepods that eat phytoplankton don’t respond to the heat – they respond to sunlight,” said Llopiz. “So the copepods would reproduce after the blooms and have less food. There’d probably be many of these mismatches, and that would harm species’ survival.”

This article originally appeared on Oceans Deeply. You can find the original here. For important news about our world’s oceans, you can sign up to the Oceans email list.

VIDEO: Winter sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean:

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New effort to understand the impact of the changing Atlantic

CLIMATE

Find Your Forecast

News Deeply
Special to The Weather Network

Friday, February 23, 2018, 9:02 - On an icy evening in late January, a group of ocean scientists departed a small port in southern Rhode Island aboard the National Science Foundation’s RV Endeavor vessel. Their mission over a stormy five days was to get a rare scientific glimpse of conditions in an unforgiving part of the Atlantic Ocean during the heart of winter. More importantly, however, they were launching a new major effort to understand how rapid environmental changes are affecting the Northeast Continental Shelf, one of the most economically and ecologically crucial areas of U.S. coastal waters.

Most scientists are funded to study only a few aspects of the ocean for a few years at a time. But the January cruise was kicking off a different kind of project – what is known as Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), a National Science Foundation initiative that has grown to study 28 regional ecosystems on land and at sea since 1980. The idea is that consistent funding allows research teams to collect data over long time spans to track and understand changing ecosystems. The Northeast U.S. Shelf LTER (NES-LTER) and another coastal area in the Gulf of Alaska are the newest of these sites at a time of rapid change in the marine ecosystem. Funding is awarded for six-year cycles and the NES-LTER will receive $5.6 million through 2022.

---

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! Highlight the ever-changing weather in your area by uploading your photos and videos into our gallery

---

“Many of the pressures on the ecosystem are occurring over long time scales, such as climate change and variability and human development,” said Jon Hare, a U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist involved in the project. “To understand these pressures and their effect on ecosystems, long-term projects are necessary.”

A team led by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will track changes in the waters stretching along the U.S. east coast, from Cape Hatteras in the south to the Gulf of Maine in the north. This rich ecosystem is the reason the northeast’s fishing economy exists, generating more than $100 billion a year in annual economic activity. Marine life from whales to salmon to seabirds feast on smaller, forage fish in waters such as the Georges Bank, the Gulf of Maine and around the Hudson Canyon. The little fish in turn feed on dense concentrations of tiny plankton that thrive on the area’s nutrient-dense waters.

Already, the Northeast Shelf is one of the fastest-changing regions of the ocean, said Hare. It is a place where waters are warming relatively rapidly and becoming more acidic, and new kinds of coastal and offshore development – such as wind energy and aquaculture – are emerging. Yet the waters still appear highly productive; they’re full of plankton and the marine species that consume plankton to survive.

VIDEO: Cold patch in the north Atlantic alerts scientists:

Scientists at Woods Hole, NOAA and other research institutions have studied various aspects of the shelf for decades. However, there has not been any one project connecting those scientists and data sets until now.

“One of the most exciting things about the NES-LTER project is that we will be able to repeat these kinds of [collective] observations year after year,” said Heidi Sosik, a senior biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the project’s principal investigator. It will help, she said, “us understand not only how the ecosystem works now, but also how it is changing in response to natural variability, ongoing human impacts and the extended effects of climate change.”

During their initial research expedition aboard the Endeavor, the scientists cruised from Martha’s Vineyard due south through 11 undersea research nodes and anchored moorings, which collect data for the project year-round. They also snapped undersea images and collected water and biological samples that will help them get a better picture of the populations of both phytoplankton and zooplankton on the shelf.

NOAA is helping with the project, dragging trawl nets through the water to study fish populations in the area twice a year. The overarching goal is to better understand how plankton populations and ocean conditions affect fish populations and fish health in the continental shelf area.

Changing ocean conditions – even those that are slight – can threaten many marine species with extinction, said Joel Llopiz, an assistant scientist at Woods Hole. Some of these threats are already a reality.

---

STUDY:'The Big One' puts California at risk of significant sinking

---

The average annual sea surface temperature on the Northeast Continental Shelf has increased by 1.8F (1C) over the past century and, according to Llopiz, spring and fall seasonal transitions are occurring further apart, stretching out the summer season when water there is particularly warm. Marine species’ lives are finely adapted to regular seasonal transitions, and when those transitions are out of balance there is the potential for major food chain disruptions, he said.

The team of researchers, which also includes those from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Wellesley College, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Rhode Island, hope to stay at the forefront of that change by using their data to create new ocean models that will help compare past and present ocean patterns and make future predictions.

Due to the collaborative nature of the project, cooperation will prove critical and there is little time to waste. “We’re a large group of people researching all trophic levels and many kinds of physics in this important part of the ocean,” said Llopiz. “A big challenge is keeping people focused on our shared goal. We’re all highly dependent on one another – if we don’t work together, we cannot link our research together.”

“For example, phytoplankton may bloom earlier due to more heat, but copepods that eat phytoplankton don’t respond to the heat – they respond to sunlight,” said Llopiz. “So the copepods would reproduce after the blooms and have less food. There’d probably be many of these mismatches, and that would harm species’ survival.”

This article originally appeared on Oceans Deeply. You can find the original here. For important news about our world’s oceans, you can sign up to the Oceans email list.

VIDEO: Winter sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean:

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New effort to understand the impact of the changing Atlantic

CLIMATE

Find Your Forecast

News Deeply
Special to The Weather Network

Friday, February 23, 2018, 9:02 - On an icy evening in late January, a group of ocean scientists departed a small port in southern Rhode Island aboard the National Science Foundation’s RV Endeavor vessel. Their mission over a stormy five days was to get a rare scientific glimpse of conditions in an unforgiving part of the Atlantic Ocean during the heart of winter. More importantly, however, they were launching a new major effort to understand how rapid environmental changes are affecting the Northeast Continental Shelf, one of the most economically and ecologically crucial areas of U.S. coastal waters.

Most scientists are funded to study only a few aspects of the ocean for a few years at a time. But the January cruise was kicking off a different kind of project – what is known as Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), a National Science Foundation initiative that has grown to study 28 regional ecosystems on land and at sea since 1980. The idea is that consistent funding allows research teams to collect data over long time spans to track and understand changing ecosystems. The Northeast U.S. Shelf LTER (NES-LTER) and another coastal area in the Gulf of Alaska are the newest of these sites at a time of rapid change in the marine ecosystem. Funding is awarded for six-year cycles and the NES-LTER will receive $5.6 million through 2022.

---

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! Highlight the ever-changing weather in your area by uploading your photos and videos into our gallery

---

“Many of the pressures on the ecosystem are occurring over long time scales, such as climate change and variability and human development,” said Jon Hare, a U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist involved in the project. “To understand these pressures and their effect on ecosystems, long-term projects are necessary.”

A team led by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will track changes in the waters stretching along the U.S. east coast, from Cape Hatteras in the south to the Gulf of Maine in the north. This rich ecosystem is the reason the northeast’s fishing economy exists, generating more than $100 billion a year in annual economic activity. Marine life from whales to salmon to seabirds feast on smaller, forage fish in waters such as the Georges Bank, the Gulf of Maine and around the Hudson Canyon. The little fish in turn feed on dense concentrations of tiny plankton that thrive on the area’s nutrient-dense waters.

Already, the Northeast Shelf is one of the fastest-changing regions of the ocean, said Hare. It is a place where waters are warming relatively rapidly and becoming more acidic, and new kinds of coastal and offshore development – such as wind energy and aquaculture – are emerging. Yet the waters still appear highly productive; they’re full of plankton and the marine species that consume plankton to survive.

VIDEO: Cold patch in the north Atlantic alerts scientists:

Scientists at Woods Hole, NOAA and other research institutions have studied various aspects of the shelf for decades. However, there has not been any one project connecting those scientists and data sets until now.

“One of the most exciting things about the NES-LTER project is that we will be able to repeat these kinds of [collective] observations year after year,” said Heidi Sosik, a senior biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the project’s principal investigator. It will help, she said, “us understand not only how the ecosystem works now, but also how it is changing in response to natural variability, ongoing human impacts and the extended effects of climate change.”

During their initial research expedition aboard the Endeavor, the scientists cruised from Martha’s Vineyard due south through 11 undersea research nodes and anchored moorings, which collect data for the project year-round. They also snapped undersea images and collected water and biological samples that will help them get a better picture of the populations of both phytoplankton and zooplankton on the shelf.

NOAA is helping with the project, dragging trawl nets through the water to study fish populations in the area twice a year. The overarching goal is to better understand how plankton populations and ocean conditions affect fish populations and fish health in the continental shelf area.

Changing ocean conditions – even those that are slight – can threaten many marine species with extinction, said Joel Llopiz, an assistant scientist at Woods Hole. Some of these threats are already a reality.

---

STUDY:'The Big One' puts California at risk of significant sinking

---

The average annual sea surface temperature on the Northeast Continental Shelf has increased by 1.8F (1C) over the past century and, according to Llopiz, spring and fall seasonal transitions are occurring further apart, stretching out the summer season when water there is particularly warm. Marine species’ lives are finely adapted to regular seasonal transitions, and when those transitions are out of balance there is the potential for major food chain disruptions, he said.

The team of researchers, which also includes those from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Wellesley College, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Rhode Island, hope to stay at the forefront of that change by using their data to create new ocean models that will help compare past and present ocean patterns and make future predictions.

Due to the collaborative nature of the project, cooperation will prove critical and there is little time to waste. “We’re a large group of people researching all trophic levels and many kinds of physics in this important part of the ocean,” said Llopiz. “A big challenge is keeping people focused on our shared goal. We’re all highly dependent on one another – if we don’t work together, we cannot link our research together.”

“For example, phytoplankton may bloom earlier due to more heat, but copepods that eat phytoplankton don’t respond to the heat – they respond to sunlight,” said Llopiz. “So the copepods would reproduce after the blooms and have less food. There’d probably be many of these mismatches, and that would harm species’ survival.”

This article originally appeared on Oceans Deeply. You can find the original here. For important news about our world’s oceans, you can sign up to the Oceans email list.

VIDEO: Winter sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean:

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Permafrost Arktik Meleleh, Jutaan Galon Merkuri Bisa Lepas ke Lautan

KOMPAS.com -- Di samping naiknya permukaan air laut, menyebarnya virus raksasa kuno, dan lepasnya gas rumah kaca, tampaknya ada bahaya baru yang perlu kita pertimbangkan dari melelehnya permafrost (tanah yang membeku) di Arktik.

Studi baru yang dipublikasikan dalam jurnal Geophysical Research Letters menyebutkan bahwa tundra di Eurasia dan Amerika Utara menyimpan 15 juta galon merkuri alami.

Jumlah itu 10 kali lipat dari jumlah merkuri yang telah kita lepaskan ke atmosfer selama 30 tahun terakhir dan dua kali lipat dari semua merkuri yang ada di lautan, atmosfer, dan tanah kita lainnya.

Salah satu penulis studi dan peneliti di National Snow and Ice Data center di University of Colorado, Kevin Schaefer, mengatakan, jika ada sebagian saja dari merkuri di permafrost yang lepas, maka efeknya terhadap sumber makanan dan lingkungan akan negatif. Merkuri adalah neurotoksin.

Baca juga : Polusi Merkuri Sebabkan Kerugian Hingga 24 Miliar Per Tahun

Schaefer dan kolega menemukan hal ini setelah mengebor dan mengukur kadar merkuri dan karbon di 13 titik Alaska selama 2004 dan 2012. Data yang mereka dapatkan kemudian dibandingkan dengan data 11.000 sampel merkuri di seluruh dunia.

Para peneliti berkata bahwa merkuri di tanah Arktik berasal dari lumut dan tanaman lain yang mati, membusuk dan membeku.

Jika meleleh akibat pemanasan global, merkuri ini akan dimakan oleh mikroba dan masuk ke dalam rantai makanan kita. “Mikroba memakannya, lalu plankton makan mikroba, ikan makan plankton, dan kita makan ikan. Ini adalah bahaya bagi kesehatan,” ujar Schaefer.

Di dalam studi, para peneliti menulis bahwa merkuri sudah mulai terdeteksi pada makanan yang berasal dari lautan, dan pada 2100, 30 hingga 90 persen permafrost akan meleleh jika emisi karbon tidak berkurang.

Schaefer dan kolega memang tidak tahu berapa lama waktu yang dibutuhkan oleh merkuri untuk menyebar ke seluruh dunia setelah es meleleh, tetapi risikonya terlalu besar untuk diabaikan.

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Kenalkan Ikan Bermata Senter, Tak Butuh Matahari untuk Melihat

KOMPAS.com - Hidup di laut dalam yang gelap membuat beberapa spesies berkembang dengan bentuk dan kemampuan yang unik dan aneh.

Salah satunya seperti ikan triplefin yang hidup di kedalaman lima sampai 50 meter, ia memiliki mata seperti senter.

Ikan dengan panjang 2-3 inci atau 5 sampai 7,5 sentimeter itu dapat mengeluarkan cahaya dari mata dan mengubah warna cahaya sesuai kebutuhan.

Kini, peneliti asal University of Tübingen, Jerman, berhasil menjelaskan mengapa ikan triplefin mampu memiliki mata yang mirip lampu sorot sehingga dapat menangkap sedikit cahaya dan memantulkannya kembali untuk menguntit mangsa.

Baca juga : 400 Juta Tahun Lalu, Ikan Bisa Berjalan

Temuan baru yang dipublikasikan dalam Royal Society Open Science, Rabu (21/2/2018), menyatakan bahwa ikan triplefin (Tripterygion delaisi) memiliki kontrol penuh atas daerah reflektif irisnya, sehingga dapat menyesuaikan warna cahaya yang dipantulkan dengan cepat agar bisa melihat sasaran dengan lebih jelas.

"Ikan triplefin dapat mengganti cahaya menjadi berwarna merah atau biru. Kami menduga frekuensi dan warna sinar bergantung pada latar belakang dan keberadaan mangsa," kata Nico K. Michiels, pemimpin penelitian dari Institut Evolusi dan Ekologi di Universitas Tübingen,  dilansir BGR, Rabu (21/2/2018).

"Pada percobaan pertama, kami menemukan bahwa sinar biru secara signifikan lebih sering menyala terhadap latar belakang merah dan sinar merah menyala pada latar belakang biru, terutama saat kelompok Copepoda (crustacea kecil seperti plankton dan bentos, red) muncul," sambung penulis.

Peneliti kemudian melakukan percobaan lagi untuk menentukan apakan ikan yang belum makan juga bisa melakukan kemampuan mengeluarkan sinar, hal itu ternyata tidak terjadi.

Percobaan ini semakin menunjukkan bahwa warna lingkungan adalah faktor pendorong terbesar agar ikan triplefin dapat memancarkan sinarnya. Inilah yang memperkuat teori bahwa ikan ini punya kendali penuh atas senter pada matanya yang mungil.

Baca juga : Kasus Langka, Dokter Temukan Cacing Pita dan Ribuan Telur di Mata Pria

Selain ikan triplefin, masih banyak makhluk laut dalam yang memanfaatkan cahaya dengan cara menarik. Ada ikan yang mampu melakukan bioluminescence atau menghasilkan cahaya sendiri untuk memancing mangsa atau kabur dari buruan.

Akan tetapi ikan triplefin tidak menghasilkan cahaya sendiri, namun mereka mengandalkan cahaya apa pun untuk dapat melihat kedalaman tempat ia berada.

Ikan triplefin diklaim sebagai satu-satunya makhluk penghasil cahaya yang dapat mengubah warna cahaya yang dipantulkan sesuka hati. Ini yang membuatnya sangat istimewa.

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Mikroplastik, Ancaman Tersembunyi bagi Tubuh dan Lingkungan

Sampah plastik di perairan Indonesia (Foto: Dok. Orb Media)

Mikroplastik, zat plastik berukuran sangat kecil, bahkan tak lebih dari beberapa mikron, mulai mengancam kesehatan lingkungan serta biota laut di perairan Indonesia.

Mikroplastik sendiri berasal dari polimer beserta zat turunannya seperti polystyrene. Selain polimer, zat ini ternyata juga berasal dari kantong plastik yang biasa kita gunakan, yang secara perlahan-lahan hancur tapi tidak terurai.

Menurut M. Reza Cordova, peneliti di Pusat Penelitian Oseanografi (P2O) LIPI, dari 76 juta plastik yang manusia gunakan, hanya dua persen yang didaur ulang. Sementara 32 persen sisanya masuk ke ekosistem.

Semua sampah plastik yang ada di ekosistem nantinya dapat dipastikan berakhir pada lautan dan mengancam biota yang ada. Bagi biota laut, sampah plastik dapat berakibat fatal.

Reza mencontohkan seekor penyu yang biasa memangsa ubur-ubur. Ketika berada di dalam air laut, plastik akan terlihat layaknya ubur-ubur dan membuat si penyu akan langsung memakannya.

"Ketika dimakan biota, plastik akan merusak dan merobek bagian dalam saluran pencernaan (hewan)," ujar Reza saat ditemui kumparanSAINS di Kantor P2O LIPI di Ancol, Selasa (20/2).

Ia menambahkan bukan itu saja dampak buruk plastik. Ketika plastik berubah menjadi mikroplastik, biota laut seperti plankton dapat memakan zat tersebut.

Plankton yang kemudian dimakan oleh ikan dan ikan itu nantinya akan dimakan oleh manusia. Hal ini membuat mikroplastik yang awalnya berada di plankton bisa berpindah ke makhluk lain seperti ikan dan manusia.

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Meski belum diketahui secara pasti dampaknya bagi manusia, riset yang dilakukan Reza menemukan sesuatu yang mengkhawatirkan.

Dalam riset tersebut ditemukan, hewan yang mengkonsumsi mikroplastik mengalami tumor pada bagian saluran pencernaan. Hal ini menjadi indikasi bahwa plastik berdampak buruk pada biota.

Selain itu, imbuh Reza, mikroplastik juga dapat membawa zat polusi ke dalam tubuh.

"Mikroplastik atau plastik secara umum bisa menjadi tempat menempel bahan polusi lain. Akibatnya, bahan pencemar bisa masuk ke tubuh," jelasnya.

Sampah Plastik di Tepi Laut (Foto: Wikimedia Commons)

Mikroplastik di Indonesia Masih Sedikit, Tidak Berbahaya?

Meski Indonesia adalah salah satu negara penyumbang polusi plastik terbanyak di dunia, ternyata jumlah mikroplastik di Indonesia masih sedikit.

"Mikroplastik di Indonesia sebenarnya sedikit. Jika dibandingkan dengan China dan AS, kita masih lebih rendah," papar Reza.

Menurut hasil risetnya, kandungan mikroplastik di Indonesia masih kurang lebih sama dengan kandungan mikroplastik di Samudra Hindia.

Diperkirakan, ada sekitar 30 sampai 960 partikel mikroplastik per liter air. Sementara di China ditemukan ada sekitar 17 ribu partikel zat tersebut dalam tiap satu liter air.

Data mikroplastik di dunia. (Foto: LIPI)

Meski jumlah mikroplastik di Indonesia masih terhitung sedikit, apa yang ditemukan Reza dalam risetnya di atas menunjukkan bahwa mikroplastik bisa jadi membawa ancaman dan bahaya tersembunyi, setidaknya pada biota laut.

"(Memang) mikroplastik dampaknya ke jangka pendek lebih rendah dan belum diketahui dampak jangka panjangnya (pada manusia). Tapi bukan berarti kita bisa mengabaikannya," ujarnya.

Reza mengatakan, dirirnya akan melakukan riset jangka panjang terhadap mikroplastik untuk mendalami bahaya tersembunyi zat ini.

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Robots and computers offer new ways to study sea life

Researchers seeking new ways to explore the ocean have developed an underwater “robotic plankton” inexpensive enough to be deployed in swarms to study the ocean from a plankton-eye viewpoint.

Not that the devices truly resemble plankton. Plankton is a mix of tiny organisms, including diatoms, microscopic crustaceans, and the larvae of larger marine creatures. The new devices are the size of a football, and look like a cross between a tin can and Thor’s hammer. Not to mention that they’re bright yellow, so researchers can easily retrieve them at the end of a mission.

What they have in common with plankton is that they can drift with the current, adjusting depth as necessary.

One goal is to understand the motions of larvae within the plankton.

Jules Jaffe, a research oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, is enthusiastic about the idea.

“We can make them mimic planktonic larvae,” he says. “We’re in the reference frame of the organisms.”

Because the devices only cost $3000 to $5000 each, it’s possible to deploy a dozen or more at a time, allowing researchers to determine how entire groups of plankton drift on currents. In particular, Jaffe says, researchers want to figure out how larvae harness the forces of wave action to find their way from the deep sea to coastal waters, where they can mature and reproduce.

But that’s not the only way these devices can be used. They could also track the movement of subsurface oil spills, such as the plume created by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, in which much of the oil was trapped far below the surface. Or they could eavesdrop on whales, monitor red tides, or look for subsurface links between marine sanctuaries.

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Other robotic devices are larger. For more than a decade, an international project called Argo has maintained an array of 3000 floats drifting around the world’s oceans. Every 10 days, each of these floats dives to 2000 metres and returns to the surface. So far, says Dean Roemmich, a physical oceanographer from Scripps, these dives have produced 1.8 million salinity and temperature profiles. The next step is to deploy 1200 next-generation floats to carry the process all the way to the ocean bottom.

Robots aren’t the only way in which scientists hope to harness computer technology to peel back the ocean’s mysteries. Stuart Sandin — yet another researcher from Scripps — is using computer-driven image processing to stitch together photos into detailed 3D images of 100-square-metre portions of coral reefs such as the Palmyra atoll in the equatorial Pacific, south of Hawaii.

Based on this, he says, it is possible to identify individual types of coral, mapping their distributions across the reef. In one recent paper, he says, his team was able to map 45,000 individual coral colonies across 16 sites — something that would have been inconceivable with traditional research techniques conducted by scuba divers.

Better yet, this type of analysis can be done by anyone with computer access to the images. “I have 30 to 50 undergraduates in my lab that may never have seen a coral reef who are learning the taxonomy of corals,” he says.

It’s also possible to return to the same site time and again, observing how the coral reacts to changing conditions. “The scientific potential is really at its infancy,” Sandin says.

Ultimately, it may even be possible to take human taxonomists out of the loop entirely. Jaffe is developing artificial-intelligence methods to scan microscope images of plankton in order to determine what types of organisms are present.

The goal is to put the microscopes in the water, on robotic vehicles. But rather than have them use satellite links to transmit images whenever they surface — a time-consuming task—he wants onboard microprocessors to do their own processing. Then, he says, “we won’t even have to transmit the images. The satellite [uploads] will just tell us what’s there.”

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