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in 2018 nasa started testing a new probe
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designed to explore
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the oceans but why is the world's
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biggest space agency decided to go
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underwater it turns out that this
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challenging task requires using the
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newest knowledge and technologies in
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this video you'll find out what
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challenges is nasa gearing up to face
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deep under the sea how can james cameron
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help us find extraterrestrial life and
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why does the ocean remain the most
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significant mystery known to humankind
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[Music]
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how deep can a human dive into the ocean
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probes are a must when exploring outer
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space is we can't go there ourselves but
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the ocean is a different story am i
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wrong many people can run their own
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ocean studies by just diving into it a
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regular human with no special equipment
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can't go deeper than just six meters if
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they have a scuba set they can go 40
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meters down although there are free
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divers that can plunge a hundred meters
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below sea level without it it's still
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nothing compared to the formidable depth
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of the ocean it's very far away even
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from the first layer called the
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epipelagic zone its lower boundary lies
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at a depth of 200 meters this is where
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sunlight can still penetrate and where
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phytoplankton lives as well as the fish
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that feed on it plus predators like
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dolphins or sharks but can a human get
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any deeper this is ahmed gaber and he
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has broken a record for the deepest
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scuba dive at a stunning 332 meters this
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means he reached the mesopelagic also
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known as the midnight zone it extends
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from 200 to 1 000 kilometers below the
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surface even the best military
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submarines can't go down this line
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there's no sunlight anymore and animals
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living there possess incredible features
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they've adapted to semi-darkness thanks
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to their big eyes and bioluminescence
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and what's more this place is where
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ninety
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of all fish can be found and that's
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around 10 billion tons the population of
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creepy cyclophone alone stands at one
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quadrillion fish but it's just the tip
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of the iceberg since deep sea trenches
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extend across many more kilometers and
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keep many secrets what if we try to
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explore them
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[Music]
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how do we reach the dark and cold ocean
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floor if even submarines can't do that
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the deepest point is located beneath the
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western pacific ocean it's the mariana
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trench it's called the challenger deep
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and it has a depth of 11034
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meters the pressure at that depth is 100
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times higher than on the surface to
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survive in this place we'll need a
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special watercraft the most famous of
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them is deep sea challenger as it was
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used in 2012 by oscar-winning director
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james cameron in an expedition to the
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mariana trench bottom the only piloted
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submersible that had ever been there
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before was trieste in 1960 this
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bathuscafe carrying lieutenant don walsh
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and jacques picard an engineer became
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the first vehicle in history to descend
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to the ocean floor since then 13 more
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people have repeated this journey that's
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ten times less than astronauts flying
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into space the deepest region of the
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ocean is called the hadal zone it
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stretches from the six kilometer point
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and down to the very bottom of oceanic
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trenches life forms that have adjusted
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to existing in such a place look like a
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product of some mad imagination for
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example these disco jellies or this
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snailfish that resembles a water dragon
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or these fish that belong to the genus
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of ophidian and look as though they've
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been turned inside out scientists
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haven't used piloted vehicles but rather
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modern and remotely controlled ones to
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study them closely they can descend to
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the maximum depths and stay there for a
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long time while receiving commands via
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long cables but even they sometimes fail
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to withstand severe conditions specific
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to the ocean floor in many ways they're
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even more dangerous than those of outer
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space in 2014 an underwater vehicle
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nereus operating under the u.s flag went
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down to the kermadec trench located
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close to new zealand it was simply torn
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apart at a depth of around 10 kilometers
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because of high pressure at that time it
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was the only functioning watercraft
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designed for such missions losing it
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caused a long hiatus in related studies
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and stalled progress it seems that we've
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tried to bite off more than we could
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chew but there are other oceans in this
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world too and they're even more
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inaccessible and hostile
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why are extraterrestrial oceans much
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more mysterious than our own the surface
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of europa jupiter's satellite is
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composed of water ice according to
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scientists this ice sheet has a
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thickness between 15 and 25 kilometers
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and under it there's an ocean
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astrobiologists suggest that there might
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well be life on its bottom around
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hydrothermal vents that release the
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satellite's internal heat this kind of
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life might be similar to that existing
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in the deep waters of earth furthermore
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enceladus saturn's satellite may also be
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habitable from time to time steam jets
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generated by internal heat break through
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the ice covering its poles in 2018 a
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space probe called cassini discovered
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that they contained water however to
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find life there we'll have to send a
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nerius-like probe to the depths of both
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satellites but the ocean of enceladus
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must be around 30 kilometers deep while
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on europa the waters must be as much as
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from 60 to 150 kilometers deep that's 15
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times more than what we have here on
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earth what can be hidden at a tremendous
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depth like that compared to this
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cameron's expedition seems to be a
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cakewalk such a mission requires serious
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preparations and that's why nasa has
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started practicing deep diving on earth
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so how is the space agency going to
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explore the mysterious ocean pits of our
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planet we've entered the coastal water
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with scuba sets we've reached the depths
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in bathus caves and yet we don't really
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know what lies in most of the water
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territory at the moment around 80
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percent of the ocean remains unexplored
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these ocean parts are called the
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bathypelagic and abyssopelagic or the
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midnight zone and the abyss highly
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specialized species resistant to high
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pressure like for example a tripod fish
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or a deep sea angler fish are just a
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small part of the deep sea world we've
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managed to discover given zero
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visibility the research is basically
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done by groping around in the darkness
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and since the submersibles can work only
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for some limited time under such
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enormous pressure it's impossible to
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probe the vast expanse of the midnight
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zone and the abyss or instead it used to
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be impossible until nasa stepped in
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they've created an underwater drone
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called orpheus to fill in the blanks on
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ocean maps it's equipped with high
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sensitivity cameras and sensors that had
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been previously installed on the
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perseverance mars rover and can examine
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rocks shells living organisms and create
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3d maps of the bottom areas the
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relatively small probe weighs 250
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kilograms and is made of syntactic foam
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a floating composite material filled
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with teeny glass beads to make it more
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durable sounds fun i'd like to take a
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ride in it
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and its powerful flashlight helps it
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save energy and take high quality
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pictures at the same time many details
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for the orpheus were taken from the
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bathuscafe used by james cameron to go
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down the mariana trench i guess it means
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that we're gonna witness mysterious
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creatures getting discovered very soon
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who knows how many of them lurk in the
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obscure world of the oceans and who
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knows what else we can find in the abyss
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perhaps a huge prehistoric shark that
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crashes our probes or maybe atlantean
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citizens are behind that because they
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hate seeing our machines polluting their
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secret city or could it be aliens doing
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their best to stay unnoticed anyway drop
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a comment and tell us what you expect to
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find on the ocean floor but remember if
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you gaze long enough into an abyss the
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abyss will gaze back to you
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also check out my other videos like this
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one where i show what would happen if we
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could breathe in space will it then be
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possible to travel there without a
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protective suit
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[Music]
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you
