MATE Celebrating 20 years!

“I’m thrilled to be celebrating our 20th World Championship! What started as a workforce development program for the marine industry has evolved into a workforce development program for our planet, one that empowers students to work collaboratively and creatively to address issues — from mitigating climate change to feeding our growing global population — that impact us all,” said Jill Zande, president and executive director of MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II) and one of the competition founders.

Articles: AZORobotics 22jun22

MBARI discovers new jellyfish

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) captured absolutely stunning ROV footage of a new species of jelly, inside the midnight zone of Monterey Bay:

Atolla jellyfish or Coronate medusa, is a species of deep-sea crown jellyfish with a characteristic deep red in color and a hypertrophied trailing tentacle that is significantly longer than the others and thought to help capture prey.

Over the past 15 years, MBARI researchers have observed and collected numerous specimens of three types of Atolla-like jellies that lack the typical trailing tentacle. Researchers realized this rare jellyfish, living at depths of 1,000m to 3,000m and with distinctive thorny projections around its body or bell, had never been seen before. It has subsequently been named the species Atolla reynoldsi, in honor of the Aquarium’s first volunteer Jeff Reynolds.

GLUBS sound library

Marine experts across the world are working together to create a global catalog of sounds of underwater life, to monitor the changing environment and inform marine conservation. The open-access Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds (GLUBS) will use artificial intelligence (AI) and citizen science to capture signature sounds from mammals like whales, as well as invertebrates, fish and crustaceans.