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Bubble Lab

Scientists find ways to have a little fun amid the relentless hard work on long research cruises. Former MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Dan Ohnemus pokes his head out of a decorated makeshift bubble lab built aboard the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. For his Ph.D. research, Ohnemus investigated bits of detritus in the ocean that transport important chemicals such as carbon and essential nutrients such as iron. The scientists collected particles from seawater but worked inside a plastic bubble lab, with filtered air pumped in to prevent trace chemicals from contaminating their samples. (Photo by Phoebe Lam, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)