For anyone with cable, no Friday night plans, and no FSN Sox game, the Discovery Science Channel is airing a new program on the search for useful druds from the sea. The marine research facility I work for (HBOI) is the primary focus of the show. It's pretty good, I saw tape of the show earlier in the week. Shows a lot of our at-sea ship and submersible work.

 

Check your local listings, it's on at 9pm out here.

 

http://science.discovery.com/convergence/s...p/medicine.html

 

See how the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution's (HBOI) Division of Biomedical Marine Research (DBMR) and partnering institutions use the JSL submersible to discover new anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents.

 

Find out how "Discodermolide," an anti-cancer agent now in human clinical trials, has been harvested from primitive deep sea sponges. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 65 percent of all cancer drugs come from natural products. Drugs from the sea are without question one of the most promising new directions of marine science today.

 

Of course, the show is running up against Bob Ballards 20/20 Return to the Titanic piece, which should also be good. Their sub goes down about 4x as deep as ours, but ours is a lot better for mid-depth (to 3,000 feet) work.

That's cool. They took Discovery Science off of my Dish Network. My wife is a science geek, she was pissed off!

I'll hav to check the Discovery Channel to see if it's on.

I take it back. I guess they brought back the Science Channel when I wasn't looking. I caught some of the show last night. Pretty interesting stuff. I actually flipped between that and the Titanic thing (Sorry )

I take it back. I guess they brought back the Science Channel when I wasn't looking. I caught some of the show last night. Pretty interesting stuff. I actually flipped between that and the Titanic thing (Sorry  )

One ran at 9 and one at 10 here, so there was no similar conflict - though I missed the top of the first inning of the game last night watching the Titanic thing.

One ran at 9 and one at 10 here, so there was no similar conflict - though I missed the top of the first inning of the game last night watching the Titanic thing.

While I understand where that guy was coming from concerning the Titanic, he acted like it's his property because he found it. He came across as very arrogant, to me.

 

I borrowed "Old School" from a friend and threw that in at 10:00. I hadn't seen it before.

While I understand where that guy was coming from concerning the Titanic, he acted like it's his property because he found it. He came across as very arrogant, to me.

 

I borrowed "Old School" from a friend and threw that in at 10:00. I hadn't seen it before.

Bob Ballard IS arrogant, to be sure. In addition to finding the Titanic in 1985, he was part of the 1977 Woods Hole Alvin expedition that first discovered chemosynthetic rift vent communities in the deep sea. A huge deal since it was the first time an entire community not dependent on sunlight as the original source of energy. He was more the explorer and less the scientist in both instances, but he let it all go to his head.

 

I think he's on the money now though. Marine archeological sites need protection from natural and man-made threats, and sometimes you have to treat gravesites more solemn than a tourist attraction.

I think he's on the money now though.  Marine archeological sites need protection from natural and man-made threats, and sometimes you have to treat gravesites more solemn than a tourist attraction.

I absolutely agree with that. And I agreed with his comparison of the Titanic and other deep sea wrecks, etc as museums of the sea and they should be preserved and respected like the museum on land.

 

Those two finds are incredible. I can see where his arrogance comes from.