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Laser light from a Raman spectrometer shines into a vial of water in Sheri White’s laboratory, focusing about mid-way through the sample. White and colleagues are using Raman spectroscopy to examine the minerals and gases dissolved in the water emitted from hydrothermal vents. The researchers are working to develop instruments to make such measurements in situ that is, in real time at the hydrothermal vents, under the massive pressures and deep cold of the seafloor. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)