Dr Craig R McClain

My "favorite" excuse for anything is "But we've always done it this way" 🙄

Bathysphere - History Of Diving Museum e 5,000-pound cast iron Bathysphere would carry two explorers Otis Barton and William Beebe–to observe ocean life down to a record 3,028 feet below the surface in 1934.

A great write up here if you want to learn more divingmuseum.org/artofabyss/b...

I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking there was no way I, or anybody my size, could fit through the tiny hatch to get inside of it.

The bathysphere, invented in the 1930s, allowed humans to explore depths of over half mile deep underwater for the first time. At only 4 feet in diameter, the sphere was designed to hold TWO people! #deepsea #ocean #science

Nudibranchs as pictured by a Japanese illustrator named Kumataro Ito, artist for the USS Albatross’ Philippine Expedition, 1907–10. More of his stunning images here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/k...

If @aslo.org

@agu.org

@tosoceanography.bsky.social

want to support researchers, especially ECR, for #OSM2026 perhaps they could put into place policies that allow for late submissions for maternity, bereavement, etc.?

I'm ok.

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While I don't necessarily disagree with this, do you really think we have enough evidence for this? Especially considering the biodiversity of insects?

Even if we roll back to the time before human effects on the natural world, the deep-sea would still be more biodiverse.

While this is true, in many cases if you look at standardized amount of area say one meter squared, the deep sea will contain more species. My favorite statement about this is an area the size of coffee table can contain 300 species of multicellular life.

I'm sorry. That is horrible.

So sorry to hear this. I wish I couldn’t sympathize… my mom died shortly before a journal article revision was due and I was not granted an extension… still rather salty about that. Scientists are people, not emotionless robots.

Scientific societies shouldn’t just celebrate publications and prizes. They should also support the realities of being human. Birth, loss, caregiving, childcare… these are not disruptions to science. They are life, and science is better when we make space for them.

Was expecting more out of @also.org @agu.org and Oceanography Society

The first time was the one that hit me hardest. I wanted to deliver a talk at #oceanscience #osm2025 #osm25 but missed the abstract deadline by a week or so. I was told in response to my email inquiry that there was nothing that could be done.

This is now the second time I’ve not been allowed a professional allowance because I needed to focus on my family during the death close family member. #academia

Today’s mood

This bumpy snailfish video is everything I needed on this Monday.

Thank you. I am really bummed about it. I really want to attend because of the program and location. But it's hard to justify international travel on my grants if I'm not presenting. I just feel bad that my graduate students will miss out too.

We talk endlessly about “retention in science.” Here’s a hint: retention starts by recognizing scientists as whole humans with lives outside the lab.

Scientific societies shouldn’t just celebrate publications and prizes. They should also support the realities of being human. Birth, loss, caregiving, childcare… these are not disruptions to science. They are life, and science is better when we make space for them.

I recently lost a close loved one making the last several weeks turmoil. My professional life went the wayside. I emailed a very large society in my field about accommodations me past the abstract deadline for the upcoming meeting. "Unfortunately, there are no extensions for abstract submission."

Congrats to my favorite science power couple!

Deep-sea submersible discovers 'giant' animal 5,922m down in Pacific abyss | Discover Wildlife The creature was found during a deep-sea expedition 500km south-east of Japan.

TLDR is that it a GIANT deep-sea limpet at a whopping 4.5 cm. Which is actually is a giant amongst the miniaturization of most deep-sea mollusks.

'Communities' of strange, extreme life seen for first time in deep ocean A Chinese-led research team captures pictures of life at depths of more than 9km in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

Nice coverage of a recently published paper "Flourishing chemosynthetic life at the greatest depths of hadal trenches" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This has to be the worst usage of AI image generation. "Illustration of an underwater volcano off Vancouver Island revealing a nursery of giant skate ray eggs." www.sustainability-times.com/research/und...

Deep-sea explorers to launch new search for Amelia Earhart - UPI.com A deep-sea exploration company said it has new data that shows the likely location of lost aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart's missing plane and will look for it.

@drandrewthaler.bsky.social time in the news cycle for us to revisit finding Earhart's plane.

"The need for metals to power the energy transition is largely overstated by deep-sea mining advocates...However, these arguments are built on the false premise that demand for transition metals will continuously rise alongside our demand for energy."

"Deep-sea recovery is limited and extremely slow on human timescales. Moreover, current scientific knowledge indicates that any restoration effort there would be difficult and cost-prohibitive, if not impossible."