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Octopuses that live 4 kilometres beneath the sea surface have been discovered by German and American marine scientists. Their habitat is found in desolate plains that are littered with metal-rich nodules that have precipitated over the millennia from sea water. And that’s the problem – because the area is attractive to submarine prospectors for the precious metals they could harvest there. And that could disturb the delicate deep-ocean ecological balance. Autun Purser of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven describes the discovery and explains the issues.

Migrating Insects
Trillions of insects migrate over southern England every year – moving north in the spring and south in the autumn. These mighty migrations were tracked down using radar and high-flying experimental balloons. The University of Exeter’s Jason Chapman explains.

Prehistoric Porridge Pots
Broken shards of pottery discarded in the Libyan Sahara 10,000 years ago, when the area was lush and green, carry tell-tale traces of plants that were once cooked by the primitive inhabitants. Roland Pease visits the Bristol University Labs of Richard Evershed and Julie Dunne to hear how they uncovered the origin of what could be the oldest example of bubbling cereal porridge.

Inuits’ Genetic Gift
The ability of Inuit to survive the harsh conditions of the polar north may be attributable to an inheritance left to them tens of thousands of years ago, when their ancestors interbred with Denisovans, the mysterious hominid relatives discovered in Siberia a few years ago. University of California, Berkeley’s Rasmus Nielsen relates the genetic detective story.

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Deborah Cohen

(Image: Caspar the octopus.
Credit: Jason 2 ROV team.)