China has sent a crewed submersible beneath Arctic pack ice for the first time, marking a new phase in polar exploration and great-power competition. The dive, carried out by the Jiaolong on August 6 in the Chukchi Sea roughly 300 nautical miles northwest of Alaska, capped China’s largest Arctic mission to date and underscored its ambition to be a scientific and strategic player in the High North.⁠ ⁠ Four research vessels, led by the icebreaker Xuelong-2, spent the summer completing marine surveys across the Chukchi Plateau, Canada Basin, and central Arctic. The fleet returned to Shanghai on September 26, having executed coordinated “atmosphere-ice-ocean” observations and supported deep-sea operations designed to fill critical data gaps as sea ice thins and retreats.⁠ ⁠ Operating under ice is notoriously hard. Satellite links fade, radio is unreliable, and navigation becomes a puzzle without open-sky fixes. Ice floes can shift suddenly and temperatures punish machinery. Only a handful of nations have managed it, a lineage that includes the USS Nautilus crossing the North Pole in 1958 and subsequent Cold War dives by Soviet and British boats.⁠ ⁠ The scientific takeaways are starting to surface. Teams reported stark regional differences in seafloor life, from organism density to biodiversity and body size. Those measurements will refine maps of deep-sea habitats and help track how warming, acidification, and changing ice cover are reshaping Arctic ecosystems. The mission also advanced China’s polar toolset, pairing submersibles with ice-edge surveys to sharpen forecasting for hazards and shipping.⁠ ⁠ All of this unfolds amid mounting geopolitical interest. China calls the Arctic a “new strategic frontier,” the United States is upping patrols, and melting ice is opening routes and resources long out of reach. Science is the visible face, but strategy is never far below the surface.⁠ ⁠ #arctic #deepsea #china #oceanography #geopolitics #submersible #climate #polarresearch #technology

During a deep-sea livestream off Mar del Plata, researchers from CONICET and Schmidt Ocean Institute spotted a plump orange sea star that viewers nicknamed “Patrick Star” for its cartoon look. The find came from the Mar del Plata submarine canyon, filmed by the ROV SuBastian aboard the research vessel Falkor (too), at depths over 1,000 meters while documenting dozens of previously unseen species.  The viral stream drew millions, spotlighting Argentina’s underfunded ocean science and revealing rich South Atlantic biodiversity. Scientists say the “Patrick” look-alike is likely a species in the genus Hippasteria.  #MarDelPlata #Argentina #DeepSea #PatrickStar #OceanExploration #FalkorToo #ROVSuBastian

👉 Elon Musk's xAI has launched Grok-3, an advanced AI model excelling in reasoning, coding, and problem-solving. 1️⃣ It now ranks #1 on Chatbot Arena, surpassing Gemini-2 Pro, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and GPT-4o. 🚀 Trained with 200K GPUs, doubling compute in just 92 days, Grok-3 is 10x more capable than Grok-2. 🎯 It achieved an Elo score of 1400, with even Grok-3 Mini performing competitively. 🤖 The model showcases emergent creativity, generating novel games and leveraging Big Brain mode for deeper reasoning. ⚡️ Beyond AI models, Grok-3 powers intelligent agents, including DeepSearch, which analyzes user intent, verifies facts, and cross-checks sources. 🔥 With strong generalization across real-world tasks, Grok-3 is now a serious competitor in AI. #ai #artificialintelligence #aitools #aihacks #chatgpt #tech #technology

Scientists have made a fascinating discovery deep in the Pacific Ocean — "dark oxygen," a form of molecular oxygen produced without sunlight. Found 4,000 meters below sea level in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), this oxygen is generated through natural electrochemical reactions in metal-rich rocks on the ocean floor. Unlike typical oxygen, which comes from photosynthesis, dark oxygen forms in total darkness, challenging what we know about life-supporting environments on Earth. This breakthrough suggests that oxygen may have existed in Earth’s oceans long before photosynthetic organisms evolved, providing new clues about the origins of life. It also raises environmental concerns, as the CCZ is being targeted for deep-sea mining due to its valuable metals. Scientists warn that disturbing this region could disrupt delicate ecosystems and the natural production of dark oxygen. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ Disclaimer: NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED! We do not own the rights to this video and photo used in this reel and post. All credit goes to the original creator. This video is shared for informational purposes only. If you are the owner and wish to discuss this content, please DM or email us. FAIR USE: Copyright disclaimer under section 107 of the copyright act 1976. Allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship infringing." We do not own all the material. . . . #news #worldnews #worldinlast24hr #explore #explorepage #trending #DarkOxygen #DeepSeaDiscovery #OceanScience #MarineBiology #ClimateScience #DeepSeaMining #OriginsOfLife

xAI has unveiled Grok 3, an advanced AI model trained on 200,000 GPUs with ten times the computing power of its predecessor. The new model introduces two distinct reasoning modes: 'Think' for basic tasks and 'Big Brain' for complex problem-solving.⁠ ⁠ The system claims superiority over competitors like ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek in mathematics, science, and coding benchmarks. Alongside the main release, xAI launched DeepSearch, a next-generation search engine designed to provide real-time analysis and research capabilities.⁠ ⁠ Grok 3 represents a family of models, including the faster but less accurate Grok 3 mini, all trained at xAI's massive Memphis data center. The platform will be available to X Premium+ subscribers and through a new SuperGrok subscription service accessible via mobile app and Grok.com.⁠ ⁠ This launch intensifies the AI competition, particularly with OpenAI, following Musk's recent rejected $97.4 billion bid to acquire his former company. While xAI seeks $10 billion in funding at a $75 billion valuation, OpenAI pursues $40 billion for a potential $300 billion valuation.