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More than 13,000 feet under the sea, scientists have found a volcanic wonderland unlike any other place on Earth.

The newfound ecosystem is crawling with life-hairy snails, ghostly shrimp, and weird worms-including some species that may be new to science. (See pictures of creatures found on volcanic vents in the Gulf of California.)

The discovery involves three new hydrothermal vents that exist along the Mariana Back-Arc, a dynamic zone between Papua New Guinea and Japan where new ocean crust is constantly bursting forth. The Back-Arc is part of an active geologic region that includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.

Finding the new vents was "a big breakthrough, a big thrill for everyone," says team member William Chadwick, a submarine volcanologist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"There's a lot to learn about these habitats-not only the neat animals, but how they fit into the global picture," says Andrew Thurber, a deep-sea ecologist at Oregon State University who was not part of the expedition team.

"This particular [site] is pretty different than those often studied, so it'll add to our overall understanding of the global ecosystem."

Enter the Luck Dragon

Scientists found the vents thanks to SuBastian, a new kind of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) developed at the Schmidt Ocean Institute in Palo Alto, California.

Guided from the surface by the Schmidt research vessel Falkor, the vehicle can stay underwater for weeks at a time.

The Falkor did an initial investigation of the Back-Arc in 2015, but that expedition didn't have SuBastian. Scientists on that trip instead observed what looked like vents and active lava flows using remote sensors, and then marked the approximate locations on a map for future study.

"It's like if we were in a helicopter looking for which house in a neighborhood had their fireplace on, and we're lowering sensors to look for smoke coming out of a chimney," says Chadwick.

That meant there was no guarantee the SuBastian team would be able to find the vents again. But during a three-week expedition in December, luck was on their side: The team located the three chimneys on their very first dive with the ROV.

On that dive, SuBastian flew into a live underwater volcano and was engulfed in smoke. Its bottom half and entire front portion were coated in sulfur as the volcano erupted.

"We came to a point where droplets of molten sulfur were spitting up, and we realized we needed to get out of there," says lead mechanical engineer Jason Williams. "So that was obviously a little stressful-and exciting."

The ROV was not damaged. The bottom of the ocean is very cold, and though molten sulfur spews out from the chimneys at up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, it cools almost instantly.

Finding Fantasia

Over the next couple weeks, the team conducted their research in 12-hour dives, getting up before dawn each day to prep the ROV and send it on its two-hour commute to the bottom of the Back-Arc.

When the vehicle came back to the surface laden with samples, the scientists streamed out of the control room and descended upon its bounty. They spent evenings in the lab processing what was collected, while the ROV team started getting SuBastian ready for the next day's dive.

"It's a long day each day," says Chadwick. "It's a bit exhausting. We stagger the hours so the people who were up late can sleep a little, and the others can run things in the early hours."

Hydrothermal vents are epicenters of diversity in the deep sea. Since much of the ocean floor is mud, the sudden presence of hard rock provides attachment points for corals and sponges, which in turn changes the dynamic of life in the immediate vicinity.

Vents also provide another crucial resource for evolving organisms: heat. These vents churn out up to 3 percent of the total energy in the deep sea. (Also see " Weird Animal World Discovered in Deepest Pacific Ocean Vents.")

The newly discovered vents are especially unusual, because they resemble no other known environment on Earth-except each other.

Though their physical topography differs in size, layout, and other superficial features, the chimneys at all three sites display a remarkably similar chemical makeup even though they're each up to a hundred miles apart.

"Not all vents function the same, they don't all have the same temperature or release the same chemicals," says Thurber. "That leads to different sorts of animals." Studying their genetic makeup may one day reveal new avenues for diverse applications, from medicine to household products.

"All these crazy critters-this expedition definitely got to see lots of cool animals endemic to these vents," adds Thurber.

Neverending Story

Now that the expedition is over, the scientists will take the data and samples to dozens of collaborators back on land. The snails might be sent to someone in Sweden; the shrimp may go to someone in Australia.

It'll take a year or two to really sift through everything and figure out whether they have any new species or other surprises. In the meantime, the scientists will give the ROV team input for potential ways to improve SuBastian for future dives.

As for the Back-Arc, the majority of the region-more than 370 miles of it-remains unexplored.

"That's kind of the fun thing about going to new sites," Chadwick says. "There's a good chance of finding new things nobody's ever seen before."

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect temperature for molten sulfur coming from the hydrothermal vents.

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Pictures Reveal One of the Last Unexplored Places on Earth

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More than 13,000 feet under the sea, scientists have found a volcanic wonderland unlike any other place on Earth. The newfound ecosystem is crawling with life-hairy snails, ghostly shrimp, and weird worms-including some species that may be new to science. (See pictures of creatures found on volcanic vents in the Gulf of California.)

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2016 was the hottest year on record -- again - cnn

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2016 was hottest year on record -- again

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2016 was officially the Earth's warmest since record-keeping began in the 1880s, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

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After being repeatedly pressed about President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that "millions" of people voted illegally in the presidential election, White House press secretary Sean Spicer left the door open to a possible investigation into the claims during a press briefing Tuesday.

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On Monday, Trump said during a meeting with congressional leaders in the White House that "3 to 5 million illegals" voted, according to two Democratic aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Spicer told reporters Tuesday "maybe we will" launch an investigation into Trump's claims.

"Anything's possible, I think, at some point," he added. "There is no investigation. I said it was possible. Anything is possible. It was a hypothetical question."

Trump has made repeated claims about voter fraud after losing the popular vote in the election in November, though thus far, no evidence has been presented that backs up his allegations.

"He continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have presented to him," Spicer said Tuesday.

At least five reporters asked questions on the issue during the press briefing, and at one point Spicer dismissed the suggestion that Trump kept bringing up the topic of the unsubstantiated voter fraud because the president was upset about the vote count. Spicer said Trump "won very handily" and "he's very comfortable with his win."

When pressed for specific evidence supporting Trump's "long-standing belief," Spicer cited a 2008 study by Pew Research and "other studies that have been presented to [Trump]."

The Trump transition team was previously asked about this topic and cited the Pew study, which came out in 2012 and focused on the results of the 2008 election and the need to update voter registration rolls.

The primary author of the study in question previously responded, tweeting that "the report made no findings re: voter fraud."

Spicer did not give names or sources for the other studies.

"We'll see where we go from here, but right now the focus that the president has is putting Americans back to work," Spicer said.

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Trump Still Believes Millions Voted Illegally: White House

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After being repeatedly pressed about President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that "millions" of people voted illegally in the presidential election, White House press secretary Sean Spicer left the door open to a possible investigation into the claims during a press briefing Tuesday.

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A rural county in southeast Wisconsin had a sweet, sticky mystery along a highway earlier this week. Hundreds of thousands of red Skittles were found spilled on a road in Dodge County.

"There's no little 'S' on them, but you can definitely smell, it's a distinct Skittles smell," Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt told CNN affiliate WISN.

No one knew where the candy came from or where it was going, but county road crews said the Skittles spill was actually helpful, as the roads in the area have been icy the past couple of days and the thousands of little candies improved traction.

So that's one unexpected silver lining from that mishap.

But the story gets better.

The sheriff's department later found out that the Skittles fell off a truck that was hauling the red candies to be used as cattle feed.

Yes, they're feeding candy to cows -- and they've been doing it for years.

A former farmer told CNN affiliate WBAY that candy makers and bakeries often sell rejects to be used as cattle feed because they provide "cheap carbs."

The practice goes back decades, but it picked up steam in 2012 when corn prices were surging and cattle farmers were looking for a cheaper way to keep their cows and other livestock fed.

"(It) is a very good way for producers to reduce feed cost, and to provide less expensive food for consumers," said Ki Fanning, a livestock nutritionist with Great Plains Livestock Consulting, told CNNMoney at the time.

Sweet treats

OK, fine, but is mixing in castoff candy, cookies or ice cream sprinkles in the hay fed to livestock healthy for them? (And for us, since we eat them?)

"I think it's a viable (diet)," John Waller, an animal science professor at the University of Tennessee, told Live Science. "It keeps fat material from going out in the landfill, and it's a good way to get nutrients in these cattle. The alternative would be to put (the candy) in a landfill somewhere."

Skittles for cows was a shock to folks up in Wisconsin who saw the sheriff's department Facebook post about the roadway spill.

Some were outraged about it.

"Absolutely gross!" wrote one commenter. "Why are we ok with feeding cows Skittles to fatten them up. Know where your meat comes from people. I hope you're all learned something from this."

But another commenter considered the advantages.

"Strawberry skittles = Strawberry milk."

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thousands of skittles end up on an icy road. but that's not the surprising part - cnn

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Thousands of Skittles end up on an icy road. But that's not the surprising part

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A rural county in southeast Wisconsin had a sweet, sticky mystery along a highway earlier this week. Hundreds of thousands of red Skittles were found spilled on a road in Dodge County. "There's no little 'S' on them, but you can definitely smell, it's a distinct Skittles smell," Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt told CNN affiliate WISN.

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iceberg the size of delaware to break off of antarctica - cnn

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Massive iceberg to break off of Antarctica

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A large sheet of ice is set to break away from Antarctica and scientists say it will be one of the largest breaks of its kind recorded.

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A spongy new super-material could be lighter than the flimsiest plastic yet 10 times stronger than steel.

The new super-material is made up of flecks of graphene squished and fused together into a vast, cobwebby network. The fluffy structure, which looks a bit like a psychedelic sea creature, is almost completely hollow; its density is just 5 percent that of ordinary graphene, the researchers said.

What's more, though the researchers used graphene, the seemingly magical properties of the material do not totally depend on the atoms used: The secret ingredient is the way those atoms are aligned, the scientists said.

"You can replace the material itself with anything," Markus J. Buehler, a materials scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a statement. "The geometry is the dominant factor. It's something that has the potential to transfer to many things."

Graphene, a material made up of flaky sheets of carbon atoms, is the strongest material on Earth - at least in 2D sheets. On paper, ultrathin sheets of graphene, which are just an atom thick, have unique electrical properties and indomitable strength. Unfortunately, these properties don't easily translate to 3D shapes that are used to build things.
Related: 7 Technologies That Transformed Warfare
Past simulations suggested that orienting the graphene atoms a specific way could enhance strength in three dimensions. However, when researchers tried to create these materials in the lab, the results were often hundreds or thousands of times weaker than predicted, the researchers said in the statement.

Stronger Than Steel

To address this challenge, the team got down to basics: analyzing the structure at the atomic level. From there, the researchers created a mathematical model that can accurately predict how to create remarkably strong super-materials. The researchers then used precise amounts of heat and pressure to produce the resulting curvy, labyrinthine structures, known as gyroids, which were first mathematically described by a NASA scientist in 1970.

"Actually making them using conventional manufacturing methods is probably impossible," Buehler said.

The material's strength comes from its enormous surface-area-to-volume ratio, the researchers reported in a study published Jan. 6 in the journal Science Advances. In nature, sea creatures like coral and diatoms also leverage a large surface-area-to-volume ratio to achieve incredible strength at tiny scales.
Related: Riding Elevators to Space Is Closer Than You Think
"Once we created these 3D structures, we wanted to see what's the limit - what's the strongest possible material we can produce," study co-author Zhao Qin, a civil and environmental engineering researcher at MIT, said in the statement.

The scientists created a series of models, built them, and then subjected them to tension and compression. The strongest material the researchers created was about as dense as the lightest plastic bag, yet stronger than steel.

One obstacle to creating these superstrong materials is the lack of industrial manufacturing capability for producing them, the researchers said. However, there are ways the material could be produced at larger scales, the scientists said
Related: The Hunt For Alien Megastructures Is On
For instance, the actual particles could be used as templates that are coated with graphene through chemical vapor deposition; the underlying template could then be eaten or peeled away using chemicals or physical techniques, leaving the graphene gyroid behind, the researchers said.

In the future, massive bridges could be made of gyroid concrete, which would be ultrastrong, lightweight, and insulated against heat and cold because of all the myriad air pockets in the material, the researchers said.
Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations
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Ultralight 'super-material' is 10 times stronger than steel

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A spongy new super-material could be lighter than the flimsiest plastic yet 10 times stronger than steel. The new super-material is made up of flecks of graphene squished and fused together into a vast, cobwebby network.

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Standard & Poor 's Financial Services LLC

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Samsung blames fires on batteries, but it may be their design

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Samsung blames faulty batteries for exploding Galaxy phones. Doran Myersdorf, founder of battery company StoreDot, says the phone's design is partially to blame.

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They meet potential leads in cafés, at markets, and sometimes even in their own homes. Social skills are a must; you need to be chatty to get people to open up about the kidnappers in their midst.

The investigators have built up a network of informants. They regularly receive tip-offs that another kidnapping has occurred.

But this can be dangerous. When the victims of kidnapping are rescued, the criminals will often seek out the people who tracked them down, and try to get revenge. To protect themselves, the investigators all have undercover stories, meticulously constructed to help them blend in.

This is the life led by Indonesia's undercover wildlife crime investigators. Over the last 10 years they have rescued hundreds of orangutans that have been illegally captured and sold to the highest bidder. The trade is a lucrative one, and the investigators face an uphill battle. But after a decade of work, they think they know the scale and nature of the problem - and how to save the orangutans from extinction.

Edi Rahman is one of these investigators, working for the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP).

He says getting local people's trust has been crucial. To help with that, the GPOCP provides educational programmes, visits schools, and hosts community discussions and field trips.

When cases are reported and then a confiscation occurs, they are upset and will often search for who conveyed this information

Now it has informants in every village in the area. "If an informant has information, they will contact our investigation team, who will then visit the location to collect more information for the formal report," says Rahman.

But the risk of blowback is real. "People who keep orangutans as pets are very attached to the animal," says Rahman. "They have spent money on care, meals and other maintenance costs. When cases are reported and then a confiscation occurs, they are upset and will often search for who conveyed this information."

If that sounds like a serious operation, it is. Wildlife crime is considered the fourth most lucrative black-market industry in the world. It is worth about $19bn (£15.4bn) a year. And orangutans are some of the criminals' most vulnerable targets.

There are two species of orangutan, separated by geography. Bornean orangutans are only found, as their name would suggest, on the Indonesian island of Borneo. They are critically endangered. Similarly, Sumatran orangutans are confined to the neighbouring island of Sumatra, and are also critically endangered.

A new report, published in the American Journal of Primatology, tracks 10 years of investigations into wildlife crime affecting Bornean orangutans. It identifies two key factors that have contributed to the trade in life orangutans.

Poaching is an indirect effect of deforestation

First, local people want them as pets. "What they say is that they find them in the forest and keep them in their homes, because they 'feel bad for them'," says Cathryn Freund, formerly of GPOCP and now at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, US.

Second, the forests they live in are being cut down, often to make way for palm oil plantations. This in turn leads to more poaching and therefore trading of the animals. The more forest that is removed for palm oil, the easier it is to get to the orangutans.

"In a way the poaching is an indirect effect of deforestation," says Freund. "The animals aren't killed by deforestation, [but] It indirectly fuels the trade by providing more access to the forests for anyone."

The poachers are not specifically hunting orangutans, focusing instead on bushmeat. But if orangutans are discovered, they are often taken in order to be sold as pets. Keeping a great ape is also seen as a "status symbol" among the wealthier classes, says Freund.

Freund and her colleagues have also estimated the scale of the illegal orangutan trade.

Over the 10-year period of the study, 145 illegally-kept orangutans were discovered. This only represents about 11-14 orangutans per year, but the study was solely focused on a small corner of Indonesian Borneo called Kalimantan. "If you extrapolate that figure, it's a lot of orangutans," says Freund.

Far more apes are either killed during the hunt or die in captivity than are ever confiscated

In fact, a 2013 report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project estimates that orangutans are poached more heavily than the other great apes. From 2005 to 2011, about 1,019 orangutans were taken from the wild - compared to 643 chimpanzees, 48 bonobos and 98 gorillas.

This probably does not even represent the full scale of the problem. The same report states that "far more apes are either killed during the hunt or die in captivity than are ever confiscated, and law enforcement and customs officials admit that only a fraction of any contraband is ever seized." Many orangutans are also killed for bushmeat, a practice that has been common in Indonesia for thousands of years.

Despite this, many people in Indonesia may not be aware that there is even a problem.

Compared to the other animals hunted, relatively few orangutans are killed per year. A small village may only come across a killing every two years.

The closer to the jungle people live, the more remote they are. "There is no internet, limited electricity and a lot of the communities are very poor," says Terri Breeden, GPOCPprogram director. "It's hard to reach these really remote communities. They don't know [orangutans] are endangered... They don't know the laws, some are still hunting them."

The Indonesian government needs to immediately revise its wildlife protection laws

This lack of awareness has helped contribute to local extinctions and could wipe out Bornean orangutans for good, according to a 2016 analysis of great ape conservation strategies.

Researchers looked at almost 200 publications. They say that "many conservation scientists, NGOs, local communities, and government officials publicly doubt the magnitude and severity of the orangutan killing problem." This is in part because it is considered a "sensitive" issue, as many of the killings are for food.

To make matters worse, in early 2016 Bornean orangutans were reclassified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That is the most severe level of extinction risk.

Freund's study of orangutan-based wildlife crime should make it harder to ignore the problem. It also offers hints as to how the orangutans might be saved.

Based on her investigation, Freund now offers several recommendations.

First, she says the Indonesian government needs to immediately revise its wildlife protection laws - something it has already pledged to do - and to make punishments more severe.

It will also be necessary to persuade people to take better care of orangutans

Second, Freund recommends that people working in law enforcement need to be more accountable for crimes against orangutans. There have been cases of law enforcement officers themselves hunting or buying apes for pets. Freund recommends an internal evaluation process to "root out the people who aren't good at their jobs and promote those that are".

This ultimately boils down to a need for more money, especially as Indonesia is a "hotspot for live animal trade". Rescuing a single orangutan can cost $500, and that does not even cover the rehabilitation they need afterwards. Local regions are rarely given anything like enough. In Kalimantan alone, Freud's team recommends an additional $3m per year for law enforcement.

Finally, Freund says that enforcing laws will only go so far. It will also be necessary to persuade people to take better care of orangutans. For that reason, she recommends educational programmes for both children and adults.

There is one other positive thing that could come from the study of crimes against orangutans: the plight of Indonesia's dwindling orangutan population may act as a warning signal for other areas where palm oil crops may be planted.

One worrying example is the already fragile population of bonobos, which along with chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. Bonobos are already an endangered species. They all live in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and their habitat almost entirely overlaps with areas that are suitable for palm oil plantations.

"That's a major point of concern for these bonobos," says Freund.

Conservationists are hopeful that the sad story that has played out for Indonesia's orangutans will not be repeated with Africa's bonobos. And thanks to the detailed information they now have, it may yet be possible to save the orangutans.

Melissa Hogenboom is BBC Earth's feature writer. She is @melissasuzanneh on Twitter.
If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "If You Only Read 6 Things This Week". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, Travel and Autos, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

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They meet potential leads in cafés, at markets, and sometimes even in their own homes. Social skills are a must; you need to be chatty to get people to open up about the kidnappers in their midst. The investigators have built up a network of informants.

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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this photo of a likely meteorite, known as "Ames Knob," on Jan. 12, 2017.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has stumbled onto another rock that likely fell from space.

The object is a small, dark-gray spot among the reddish rock and dirt that make up the Martian surface, so it caught mission scientists' eyes. They named the mysterious rock Ames Knob and zapped it with Curiosity's laser-firing spectrometer, known as ChemCam, to determine its composition.

"You can even see the three spots in the image of Ames Knob where the ChemCam laser zapped the target," NASA spokesman Guy Webster, from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, told Space.com via email. (JPL manages Curiosity's $2.5 billion mission.) [ Amazing Mars Photos by NASA's Curiosity Rover (Latest Images)]

ChemCam's results suggest that Ames Knob is an iron-nickel meteorite, Webster said. The object's moniker comes from a list of places around Bar Harbor, Maine - the naming convention for the region where Curiosity is currently working, he added.

Ames Knob is about 4 inches wide by 5.5 inches long (10 by 14 centimeters). It's the fourth space rock Curiosity has found on Mars, mission team members said. In May 2014, the rover rolled up on two large iron meteorites known as Littleton and Lebanon; the latter is about 7 feet (2 meters) wide. And late last year, Curiosity studied a golf-ball-size space rock called Egg Rock.

The SUV-size Curiosity landed inside Mars' 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater in August 2012. The rover's observations soon showed that Gale hosted a long-lasting, potentially habitable lake-and-stream system in the ancient past.

Curiosity reached the base of the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 km) Mount Sharp, which rises from Gale Crater's center, in September 2014 after a 14-month trek. Ever since, the six-wheeled robot has been working its way up the mountain's foothills, reading the rock layers for clues about the ancient Martian environment.

Mission scientists hope this slow ascent will help them understand how the Red Planet changed so dramatically over the eons, from a relatively warm and wet world long ago to the cold and dry place it is today.

The meteorites found by Curiosity - and by the rover's smaller, older cousins, Spirit and Opportunity - could aid in this quest, said ChemCam principal investigator Roger Wiens, of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

"We hope that the meteorites will be able to tell us some information about the Mars environment, such as whether they fell on land or in water, or how dense the atmosphere was when they fell," Wiens told Space.com via email.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 3 p.m. EST to include more details on the size of the Ames Knob meteorite on Mars from NASA.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Weird Mars Rock Spied by Curiosity Rover Is Probably a Meteorite

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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has stumbled onto another rock that likely fell from space. The object is a small, dark-gray spot among the reddish rock and dirt that make up the Martian surface, so it caught mission scientists' eyes. They named the mysterious rock Ames Knob and zapped it with Curiosity's laser-firing spectrometer, known as ChemCam, to determine its composition.

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Moth species Neopalpa donaldtrumpi. (Vazrick Nazari)

A scientist in California has named a newly discovered moth species after President-elect Donald Trump, saying the white and yellow scales on the insect's head are reminiscent of Trump's blond hairdo.

The moth was named Neopalpa donadltrumpi by evolutionary biologist Vazrick Nazari, who discovered it while dissecting moths and noticing that three specimens had a distinct wing pattern and unique DNA profile, the Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday.

The scientist chose the name, in part, to bring awareness to fragile habitats that may contain undiscovered species.

He chose the name, in part, to bring awareness to fragile habitats that may contain undiscovered species. The moths have been found in two Southern California counties, where urban growth is threatening its habitat, according to the research article.

Naming newly discovered species after famous people is nothing new. Nine species have been named in honor of President Barack Obama, including an ancient lizard and a coral reef fish.

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California Scientist Names Moth Species After Donald Trump

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Moth species Neopalpa donaldtrumpi. (Vazrick Nazari) A scientist in California has named a newly discovered moth species after President-elect Donald Trump, saying the white and yellow scales on the insect's head are reminiscent of Trump's blond hairdo.

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More than 13,000 feet under the sea, scientists have found a volcanic wonderland unlike any other place on Earth.

The newfound ecosystem is crawling with life-hairy snails, ghostly shrimp, and weird worms-including some species that may be new to science. (See pictures of creatures found on volcanic vents in the Gulf of California.)

The discovery involves three new hydrothermal vents that exist along the Mariana Back-Arc, a dynamic zone between Papua New Guinea and Japan where new ocean crust is constantly bursting forth. The Back-Arc is part of an active geologic region that includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.

Finding the new vents was "a big breakthrough, a big thrill for everyone," says team member William Chadwick, a submarine volcanologist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"There's a lot to learn about these habitats-not only the neat animals, but how they fit into the global picture," says Andrew Thurber, a deep-sea ecologist at Oregon State University who was not part of the expedition team.

"This particular [site] is pretty different than those often studied, so it'll add to our overall understanding of the global ecosystem."

Enter the Luck Dragon

Scientists found the vents thanks to SuBastian, a new kind of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) developed at the Schmidt Ocean Institute in Palo Alto, California.

Guided from the surface by the Schmidt research vessel Falkor, the vehicle can stay underwater for weeks at a time.

The Falkor did an initial investigation of the Back-Arc in 2015, but that expedition didn't have SuBastian. Scientists on that trip instead observed what looked like vents and active lava flows using remote sensors, and then marked the approximate locations on a map for future study.

"It's like if we were in a helicopter looking for which house in a neighborhood had their fireplace on, and we're lowering sensors to look for smoke coming out of a chimney," says Chadwick.

That meant there was no guarantee the SuBastian team would be able to find the vents again. But during a three-week expedition in December, luck was on their side: The team located the three chimneys on their very first dive with the ROV.

On that dive, SuBastian flew into a live underwater volcano and was engulfed in smoke. Its bottom half and entire front portion were coated in sulfur as the volcano erupted.

"We came to a point where droplets of molten sulfur were spitting up, and we realized we needed to get out of there," says lead mechanical engineer Jason Williams. "So that was obviously a little stressful-and exciting."

The ROV was not damaged. The bottom of the ocean is very cold, and though molten sulfur spews out from the chimneys at up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, it cools almost instantly.

Finding Fantasia

Over the next couple weeks, the team conducted their research in 12-hour dives, getting up before dawn each day to prep the ROV and send it on its two-hour commute to the bottom of the Back-Arc.

When the vehicle came back to the surface laden with samples, the scientists streamed out of the control room and descended upon its bounty. They spent evenings in the lab processing what was collected, while the ROV team started getting SuBastian ready for the next day's dive.

"It's a long day each day," says Chadwick. "It's a bit exhausting. We stagger the hours so the people who were up late can sleep a little, and the others can run things in the early hours."

Hydrothermal vents are epicenters of diversity in the deep sea. Since much of the ocean floor is mud, the sudden presence of hard rock provides attachment points for corals and sponges, which in turn changes the dynamic of life in the immediate vicinity.

Vents also provide another crucial resource for evolving organisms: heat. These vents churn out up to 3 percent of the total energy in the deep sea. (Also see " Weird Animal World Discovered in Deepest Pacific Ocean Vents.")

The newly discovered vents are especially unusual, because they resemble no other known environment on Earth-except each other.

Though their physical topography differs in size, layout, and other superficial features, the chimneys at all three sites display a remarkably similar chemical makeup even though they're each up to a hundred miles apart.

"Not all vents function the same, they don't all have the same temperature or release the same chemicals," says Thurber. "That leads to different sorts of animals." Studying their genetic makeup may one day reveal new avenues for diverse applications, from medicine to household products.

"All these crazy critters-this expedition definitely got to see lots of cool animals endemic to these vents," adds Thurber.

Neverending Story

Now that the expedition is over, the scientists will take the data and samples to dozens of collaborators back on land. The snails might be sent to someone in Sweden; the shrimp may go to someone in Australia.

It'll take a year or two to really sift through everything and figure out whether they have any new species or other surprises. In the meantime, the scientists will give the ROV team input for potential ways to improve SuBastian for future dives.

As for the Back-Arc, the majority of the region-more than 370 miles of it-remains unexplored.

"That's kind of the fun thing about going to new sites," Chadwick says. "There's a good chance of finding new things nobody's ever seen before."

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect temperature for molten sulfur coming from the hydrothermal vents.

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Pictures Reveal One of the Last Unexplored Places on Earth

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More than 13,000 feet under the sea, scientists have found a volcanic wonderland unlike any other place on Earth. The newfound ecosystem is crawling with life-hairy snails, ghostly shrimp, and weird worms-including some species that may be new to science. (See pictures of creatures found on volcanic vents in the Gulf of California.)

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gambia's new president sworn in; incumbent yahya jammeh refuses to step down - cnn

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Troops enter Gambia to remove defeated President

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Adama Barrow was sworn in Thursday as Gambia's new President at the West African nation's embassy in neighboring Senegal, but incumbent Yahya Jammeh has so far refused to step down.

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After TMZ obtained and posted a video allegedly taken on the set of "A Dog's Purpose," animal advocate group PETA has called for a boycott of the movie.

The video, which was released yesterday, appears to show a German shepherd named Hercules fighting his handler, who is trying to get him into a pool of turbulent water for one of the film's planned scenes.

The movie, which hits theaters next week, details the relationship between dogs and their owners.

"[The] footage shows a terrified dog who is forced into churning water on set," PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange told ABC News via a statement. "PETA is calling on dog lovers to boycott the film in order to send the message that dogs and other animals should be treated humanely, not as movie props."

The film's producer Amblin Entertainment and the studio distributing the movie, Universal Pictures, told ABC News in a statement that the recording and the incident's circumstances are being reviewed.

"'A Dog's Purpose' ... is a celebration of the special connection between humans and their dogs. And in the spirit of this relationship, the Amblin production team followed rigorous protocols to foster an ethical and safe environment for the animals," the statement read. "Amblin is confident that great care and concern was shown for the German shepherd Hercules throughout the production of the film."

Amblin added that the scene in question was scrapped because the dog was not comfortable.

"Hercules is happy and healthy today," the statement said in closing.

Actor Josh Gad, who is the voice of the dog in the film, issued a statement calling the video "disturbing." In a long Twitter post, the actor wrote that he signed on to the movie because he saw it as "one of the most beautiful love letters to animals I have ever seen."

"While I do not know all the details and cannot speak to the level of care and caution that went into this moment [in the video], I am shaken and sad to see any animal put in a situation against its will," he continued. "I have reached out to the production team and studio to ask for an explanation for these disturbing images."

The director of the film, Lasse Hallstrom, also expressed his concern on social media.

"I am very disturbed by the video released today from the set of my film A dog's purpose," he wrote on Twitter. "I did not witness these actions. We were all committed to providing a loving and safe environment for all the animals in the film. I have been promised that a thorough investigation into this situation is underway and that any wrongdoing will be reported and punished."

I am very disturbed by the video released today from the set of my film A dog's purpose.
- lasse hallstrom (@HallstromLasse) January 19, 2017

We were all committed to providing a loving, respectful and safe environment for all the animals in the film.
- lasse hallstrom (@HallstromLasse) January 19, 2017

The Associated Press spoke to a representative from American Humane, the organization that ensures animal safety on movie sets, and that person said the group has suspended the safety rep who worked on the film. American Humane is conducting an independent investigation into the film and the matter, according to the representative.

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'A Dog's Purpose' Star Josh Gad 'Shaken' by Alleged Video From Set

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After TMZ obtained and posted a video allegedly taken on the set of "A Dog's Purpose," animal advocate group PETA has called for a boycott of the movie. The video, which was released yesterday, appears to show a German shepherd named Hercules fighting his handler, who is trying to get him into a...

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Some maps are meant to be felt, not seen.

The photograph above shows a page from an atlas commissioned by a Swiss psychologist for a friend who loves geography and maps but is unable to use traditional atlases because he is completely blind. The new atlas is printed with special ink that expands when heated to create tiny bumps and ridges on the page.

Making a tactile map like this isn't easy, says Anna Vetter, a cartographer who works in Zürich for the mapping software company Esri and led the team that created the new atlas. "It was quite challenging for me because you really have to think in a different way," Vetter says.

For example, Vetter used hatched lines to indicate railroad tracks, as you can see in the image below. At first she put the hatch marks closer together, but the blind man they were made for couldn't distinguish the railways from the solid lines indicating rivers and boundaries. "I thought it looked pretty good, but it was totally useless for feeling," Vetter says.

She learned other lessons along the way, too. The triangles indicating mountains had to be bigger than she would have thought to be distinguishable from the squares that indicate towns. And the labels were especially tricky. Braille letters have to be a certain size to be readable, but there's only so much space on a page. The cartographers developed a two-letter abbreviation system to keep down the clutter, but that required creating an accompanying dictionary to decipher them.

Maps designed to be read with the fingertips have to be less dense with information, says Amy Lobben, a geographer at the University of Oregon in Eugene who studies how people use tactile maps. "The best analogy for a sighted person is to imagine looking through a soda straw and moving it around the map and trying to figure out the layout of that map," Lobben says. Not only are you limited to seeing a tiny portion of the map at a time but you also have to remember all the tiny soda-straw views and stitch them together in your mind to get the big picture, she says. "You have to use so much more memory than if you were just looking at it with your eyes."

To keep the density of information low for the new Swiss atlas, Vetter created two separate sets of maps. One includes settlements, administrative units, mountains, and bodies of water; the other charts the country's rail network.

Reading a tactile map is a slow process, but Vetter says she was impressed to see the blind man feel his way around a map of Zürich, his home city. "It was really interesting to watch how he did that and how he immediately recognized it," she says. It's definitely an acquired skill, though. When Vetter closed her eyes and felt the Zürich map herself she could only recognize individual features-a railway or a river, for instance-but not the place as a whole. The big picture didn't click into place in her mind.

Lobben says tactile maps like this are still fairly rare. That's because the demand is low relative to the demand for conventional maps and also because maps like this are difficult and expensive to make. Many sight-impaired people don't have access to them, she says. "There's such a limited supply."

The psychologist who commissioned the maps will be able to give the final printed copy of the atlas to his friend this month, and Vetter says the psychologist plans to have additional copies printed for Switzerland's national library for sight-impaired people and for schools for the sight-impaired.

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A Tactile Atlas Helps the Blind 'See' Maps

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Some maps are meant to be felt, not seen. The photograph above shows a page from an atlas commissioned by a Swiss psychologist for a friend who loves geography and maps but is unable to use traditional atlases because he is completely blind.

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The newest deliveryman in Redwood City, California, and Washington, D.C., isn't a person, but a six-wheeled robot.

In early February, delivery startup Postmates will begin testing ground robots in D.C., and DoorDash will follow suit in Redwood City.

Customers placing orders during daylight may receive an order from the robots, which autonomously navigate sidewalks. The robots hold deliveries in their hulls, which flip open with the push of a button. For now, Starship Technologies, which makes the robots, will have an employee walking behind the robot to keep it out of trouble and answer any questions from curious pedestrians.

Starship Technologies, which is led by Skype's cofounders, has covered 16,000 miles in the last year, including tests in Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Estonia. The DoorDash and Postmates programs are its first partnerships in the United States.

"It's been almost like a dream from the robot's perspective," said Starship Technologies COO Allan Martinson, of operating on wide, uncrowded American sidewalks. It's much harder for the robot to handle, for example, London's sidewalks.

Five robots will operate in D.C., and will be limited to parts of Northwest Washington. In Redwood City, there will be 10 robots.

Related: Europe calls for mandatory kill switches on robots

Cofounder Stanley Tang said DoorDash will use the robots for deliveries under a mile. He said his human deliverymen are better suited for long-range deliveries and large orders. The Starship robot travels about the speed of a pedestrian, making them ill-suited for extended trips.

"If you happen to live within 500 feet of a restaurant and you order a $5 beverage, I think the likelihood of you getting assigned a robot will go up," he told CNN. There's no way to guarantee one will receive a robot delivery.

Tang said he wasn't sure if the robot deliveries will end up being cheaper or more expensive than traditional methods. Neither company will charge extra for a robot delivery.

Postmates, which makes 1.5 million deliveries a month, said it will expand the use of robots if the results are good.

CNNMoney (Washington) First published January 18, 2017: 9:14 AM ET

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Robot deliveries are about to hit U.S. streets

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In early February, delivery startup Postmates will begin testing ground robots in D.C., and DoorDash will follow suit in Redwood City. Customers placing orders during daylight may receive an order from the robots, which autonomously navigate sidewalks. The robots hold deliveries in their hulls, which flip open with the push of a button.

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TRUMP!🇲🇽

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A tiny moth with a very recognisable "hairstyle" has become the first creature named after the soon-to-be 45th president of the United States.

The Neopalpa donaldtrumpi was discovered in California by researcher Vazrick Nazari, of Ottawa, Canada.

The name was inspired by the striking golden flakes covering its head, which he likened to Donald Trump's famous mop.

Nine species were named after President Barack Obama during his term in office.

What would Trump's wall mean for wildlife?

What Mr Trump will make of the honour remains to be seen - especially as the tiny moth, with its wingspan of just more than a centimetre, is native to southern California and the Mexican region of Baja California.

However, Mr Nazari said he hoped it would inspire Mr Trump to prioritise ecological issues during his term in office.

He told Live Science: "I hope that the president will make conservation of such fragile ecosystems in the US his top priority. These ecosystems still contain many undiscovered and undescribed species, and deserve to be protected for future generations."

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A tiny moth with a very recognisable "hairstyle" has become the first creature named after the soon-to-be 45th president of the United States. The Neopalpa donaldtrumpi was discovered in California by researcher Vazrick Nazari, of Ottawa, Canada. The name was inspired by the striking golden flakes covering its head, which he likened to Donald Trump's famous mop.