I remember to this day how that card made me feel. The information and stories I ingested from Cousteau’s updates in the mailbox. I have always wanted DSN to do that for our readers, that sense of awe, passion, novelty, and most of all participation in exploration. Kevin, Peter, and I have worked hard to ensure that our “look and feel” and writing work toward this goal. Now I just need to get stocking hats, speedos, and membership cards for our readers!

In 2005, I started DSN with little concept of what a blog was. Originally DSN was a mere website where I posted abstracts of recent papers. My intended audience was my fellow scientists in the field. Over the next months I began to add more news of the latest expeditions and colleague’s papers that had made it to the big time in the popular press. However, I soon realized I could provide something more meaningful and that I was in a unique position to relay science directly to the public. There would be no middleman. I would deliver deep-sea science as it was occurring through the eyes of scientist. Perhaps, along the way I could educate and convey my passion for this unique environment. Maybe I could get a few laughs along the way. But more importantly, I felt as the anthropogenic effect of humans on the deep sea continued to grow, I might provide a voice of protection and conservation.

I met Peter a year into this journey and Kevin a year or so after that. I wasn’t necessarily looking for co-travelers but upon meeting Peter and Kevin, I believed their enthusiasm and knowledge would prove an asset. I haven’t been wrong. Peter and Kevin have been powerful allies in realizing my original goals for DSN and I cannot imagine being here without them. In 2006, we made the big time and Scienceblogs invited us to join their ranks. At the time I bragged we would be bigger, better, stronger, and overall definitely more kicka$$. Our readership grew from just 50 a day to now over 2,000 a day.

On the rollercoaster that is being a burgeoning professional academic, DSN is my daily reminder of why I do this. I enjoy the part of the day I set down at my computer and share with the readers the wonderment that is the environment that I have dedicated my life to. The readers reaffirm how blessed I am to be in this field. I am continually flattered by the positive reviews we get from other bloggers and readership. Indeed, the idea that I can use a term like readership in itself provides a metric of success. Of course, we wouldn’t be here if wasn’t for our readers.

A few months, Discovery Channel approached us about moving DSN to their website. I asked myself what more could we accomplish with Discovery Channel behind us? Is this the Zooillogix stooges playing with us? Will Discovery help get a Scuba Craig action figure on the market? Of course, the move would mean leaving behind my wonderful online family here at Sb. They have helped us along our journey and Seed has overall been a wonderful home. Sb gave DSN more exposure and many of you discovered us first here. It is thus with both excitement and heavy heart we leave our home here. Our new collaboration with Discovery Channel allows us to broaden our message and further realize our goals. The next year will no doubt be exhilarating as we work with our new family. We will still be same DSN but with a new paint job and perhaps a new stereo.

So I end my last post at Sb with thanks to the Sb staff, all the fantastic bloggers here, Discovery Channel for the chance to try something new, and most importantly the readers.

Now where do I go to order personalized speedos?

Seed Media Group has been a wonderful organization to work with and I am sad to leave the excellent blogging community here. Bloggers and overlords alike have helped me personally in more ways than anyone else will know and have become good friends. Seed Magazine has taken up an exciting niche by publishing articles that make science and technology relevant to our lives. It has been a pleasure to be a part of Seed’s mission and has made me appreciate the interconnectedness of people to science even more.

It with great excitement though that I follow Peter and Craig to the Discovery Channel, where we hope to broaden our audience and message further. Speaking for myself at least, it was television programs that got me interested in our natural world. In our little midwestern home as a kid, we were “that” family which never had cable TV. But I waited anxiously for Wild America on Sunday nights, as well as Scientific American Frontiers and Nova on PBS.

Media such as Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Discover Magazine, Scientific American, Seed and even NPR have a special place in my own heart. Religiously subscribing to, reading and watching programs from these outlets were my initial forays into the scientific world. While you may disagree with some of the presentation style and content, the world is much better off for their efforts to energize and educate a general audience.

So please, with no further adieu please bookmark our new homepage, subscribe to the new RSS feed, come over to the new house and comment often! See you there!

Since I will be temporarily living on one of the barrier islands, I may not even be able to get to our new home to unpack and hunker down. They shut the bridge down if winds exceed 60 mph. I even need to get a “hurricane pass” which allows me onto the island in the event there is a mandatory evacuation. So I guess its apparent to me now I am moving to hurricane country. I know several readers are hurricane survivors. What the heck do I do if it makes landfall when we move there?? Its a bit surreal to me. Although I grew up in Iowa and am very used to tornadoes, hurricanes seem much more frightening to me. We used to BBQ, slam down Icehouse and watch the tornadoes form, move a little and disappear. Touch-downs in suburban/urban areas were much rarer during the time I grew up and area where I lived. Hurricanes seem to just destroy everything in a wide path. Water damage sucks. Seriously it does.

What are some of your hurricane experiences?

Extra: Just read this letter to editor regarding the NY Times article on the new alvin:

” Re “New Sphere in Exploring the Abyss” (Aug. 26): I am heartened by the push to deeper ocean frontiers promised by the development of the new subs. Every such exploration yields unimagined life forms and provides us astronomers a greater hope that life will be found on the bizarre exoplanets we are finding.

At the same time I am saddened by the struggle to find the $25 million to finish the project in a timely manner. We spend that much money in Iraq in less than two hours. One can only dream of what wonderful intellectual and practical returns U.S. science could provide with comparable investment. Daniel B. Caton

Boone, N.C.

The writer is director of observatories at Appalachian State University.”

So true… it hurts.

Toxel has sexy designs for both a collapsible surfboard AND the Volitan Futuristic Lightweight Boat!! Check out the concept video:

Mike Haubrich follows an awesome expedition to the Cayman Trench.

The North and South American continents joined up just three million years ago, but before then there was a chain of deep sea channels from the Pacific through to the Atlantic. Sandwiched between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a trench approximately 5000 meters deep (or a little more than three miles,) which has yet to be explored. But that will soon change thanks to the National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton.

The BBC reports on a NEW SPECIES OF GIANT CLAM!!

“T. costata has “very peculiar characteristics” that set it apart from two other species of giant clam that are also found in the area.

The Latin word costatus means “ribbed” and T. costata has a disitinctive, zig-zag outline to its shell.

“The new species are mid-sized clams – up to 40cm long and a couple of kilograms heavy,” explained co-author Dr Claudio Richter, from the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.

The new species has a distant relative, T. gigas, which can grow up to 1.4m long.

Live specimens of T. costata appear to be restricted to very shallow waters. Other species were also found in deeper reef zones.

The clam has an earlier and shorter breeding season that coincides with the seasonal plankton bloom. Genetic analysis confirmed the status of the new species.”

Oops, its also almost gone (at least we found it first, think of how many species are gone before they can be discovered by biologists).

“Fossils suggest that, about 125,000 years ago, the species Tridacna costata accounted for more than 80% of the area’s giant clams.

The species may now be critically endangered, researchers report in Current Biology journal.

The scientists believe their findings may represent one of the earliest examples of the over-exploitation of marine organisms by humans.”

The New Scientist warns that sea levels could rise past the IPCC estimates. Doesn’t Earth know better to heed an international governing body? How dare it act unilaterally and rise more than we’ve calculated!

9. Ocean Health. Scientists estimate that some 75 percent of the world’s fisheries are in serious decline and habitats around the world like coral reefs are seriously threatened. What steps, if any, should the United States take during your presidency to protect ocean health?

“Oceans are crucial to the earth’s ecosystem and to all Americans because they drive global weather patterns, feed our people and are a major source of employment for fisheries and recreation. As president, I will commit my administration to develop the kind of strong, integrated, well-managed program of ocean stewardship that is essential to sustain a healthy marine environment.

Global climate change could have catastrophic effects on ocean ecologies. Protection of the oceans is one of the many reasons I have developed an ambitious plan to reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases 80 percent below 1990 by 2050. We need to enhance our understanding of the effect of climate change on oceans and the effect of acidification on marine life through expanded research programs at NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). I will propel the U.S. into a leadership position in marine stewardship and climate change research. Stronger collaboration across U.S. scientific agencies and internationally is needed in basic research and for designing mitigation strategies to reverse or offset the damage being done to oceans and coastal areas.

The oceans are a global resource and a global responsibility for which the U.S. can and should take a more active role. I will work actively to ensure that the U.S. ratifies the Law of the Sea Convention – an agreement supported by more than 150 countries that will protect our economic and security interests while providing an important international collaboration to protect the oceans and its resources. My administration will also strengthen regional and bilateral research and oceans preservation efforts with other Gulf Coast nations.

Our coastal areas and beaches are American treasures and are among our favorite places to live and visit. I will work to reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act in ways that strengthen the collaboration between federal agencies and state and local organizations. The National Marine Sanctuaries and the Oceans and Human Health Acts provide essential protection for ocean resources and support the research needed to implement a comprehensive ocean policy. These programs will be strengthened and reauthorized.”

Read the rest of the questions and Obama’s answers here.

There are several things I would have loved to hear more about. He was stuck on the global warming mantra, which is undoubtedly important, and brought up acidification. I would have liked to hear him say he supports the creation of a Oceans Agency of some sort that unifies the disparate federal arms of USGS, NOAA, NASA, USFWS and provides them with a budget and clear set of objectives. I also want to know how he intends on increasing funding. I’ve his tax structure next to McCain’s. But with all the other things to pay for, where do you think the compromise will be? How important does an Obama government view the oceans, relative to social issues? From this answer, it is hard to judge because he seems to have a generally positive view about science (see all his answers to the 14 questions), which certainly gladdens my heart. But when the ocean research funding line has to be drawn, where is the line going to be in the sand? I am anxious to hear how John McCain answers this question.

“I was watching inconvenient truth the other day and theres the bit where it shows the sea level rising really high and flooding most of the world. Well i live near the sea, and don’t want to drown, so i got to thinking. Maybe if we lower the sea level a bit, when the water level rises then it won’t rise high enough to flood.

Anyway, heres the plan. Everyone who can should take a bucket of sea water and pour it down the sink. If lots of people put the effort in, we could lower the sea level substantially and create a better world for our children to live”

ROTFLMAO, but seriously this is a scientist, education and media fail. If this person is to represent an average person who gets his information from TV and the internet with no scientific background, then we may as well be doomed.

Just another lazy friday afternoon. I don’t know about you, but i felt more relaxed after listening to that, almost sleepy. Maybe you need a little sting to wake you up after that? (below the fold)