• Question: What is the most exciting discovery you have made?

    Asked by Lissie-1904 on 13 Nov 2023.
    • Photo: Amina Moss

      Amina Moss answered on 13 Nov 2023:


      I have not made any Nobel Prize-worthy discoveries, just small findings here and there. My latest is concerning shrimp feeding behaviour, and listening to the clicking sounds they make as they feed, which lets us know how much they love the food they were given.
      So:
      1. Lots of loud sounds = delicious food
      2. Softer sounds = food that they’d rather not eat.

    • Photo: Cristina Steliana Mihailovici

      Cristina Steliana Mihailovici answered on 13 Nov 2023:


      human nature and marine life in different forms are amazing.

    • Photo: Camilla Cassidy

      Camilla Cassidy answered on 14 Nov 2023:


      My research put together conclusive proof that animals in the seabed change their behaviour in response to their surroundings (the climate, and other animal species) and their history, and that these changes alter the roles they’re playing in the ecosystem such that we need to factor those changes in when we’re thinking about how to measure and predict changes in habitats. Even little experiments can be proof of really huge discoveries!

    • Photo: Mimi Asogwa

      Mimi Asogwa answered on 14 Nov 2023:


      I discovered a protein used by bacteria to survive extreme condition (hypoosmotic shock)

    • Photo: Anton Edwards

      Anton Edwards answered on 15 Nov 2023:


      One thing that I remember is that when I was measuring ocean currents off the coast of Oman I discovered that deep water from the Indian Ocean was occasionally rising to the surface. Deep water has more nutrients in it than surface water so plants can grow faster and such areas produce far more food than other similar sized areas of the ocean.

      Microscopic plants are called phytoplankton; they are eaten by small animals called zooplankton; the zooplankton are eaten by larger animals such as small fish; the small fish are eaten by larger animals and this whole “food chain” is more productive in areas like this where deep water rises to the surface.

    • Photo: Karen Edwards

      Karen Edwards answered on 15 Nov 2023:


      That the behaviour of larval fish may not matter to their survival. Even though they can and do control their vertical position in the water column, they are too small to swim against horizontal currents. And, in my PhD, I showed that in some circumstances, vertical behaviour may not be a major determinant of where they are transported and ultimately if they survive.

    • Photo: Stephanie Horn

      Stephanie Horn answered on 16 Nov 2023:


      I was really excited when I discovered how good kit-kats wrapped in cheese slices were!
      But in terms of research, I’ve not made any big discoveries, but I have been developing a novel technique to measure the combined environmental and food security impact of food production.

    • Photo: Tanya Riley

      Tanya Riley answered on 20 Nov 2023:


      So whilst I have made some discoveries over the years there are not many ‘exciting’ discoveries I’m afraid. Its often just chipping away at a problem. Sometimes finding new areas that need to be explored in more depth to be able to make a discovery

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