On The Radar

CLAIRE O’CONNELL

The pick of the week in science

Dark side of the ocean 

The Census of Marine Life this week highlighted some of the 17,650 or so species it has logged at depths of 200m-5,000m below the ocean surface (including the “Dumbo” octopod, right). The majority have never experienced sunlight, and more than 5,700 of the species have been found at depths of greater than 1,000m. A survey currently being undertaken at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, south of the Equator, has found an “indescribable catch” of invertebrates, including corals, sea cucumbers and sea urchins.

Helpful Bugs 

Bacteria on the skin could help the body’s immune system to avoid over-reacting to threats, new research on mice and human skin cells suggests. The US study found that pre-treating skin with a compound naturally produced by the skin-residing bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis dampened down inflammation by blocking a molecular switch that normally ignites the immune system.

3 

The number of new crocodile-like species identified in fossils found in the Sahara desert that dated from the Cretaceous period (145 million to 65 million years ago)

355 

The number of kilometres above earth that Atlantis shuttle astronaut Randy Bresnik was orbiting when his wife Rebecca gave birth to their daughter Abigail Mae at the weekend