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It's truly astounding how viruses can thrive in the harshest conditions, enduring the frigid permafrost of ten-thousand-year-old ice and the scorching heat of thousand-metre-deep hydrothermal vents. Yet, maintaining a mere houseplant can feel like an uphill battle. As you contemplate playing soothing tunes for your struggling Monstera, scientists have unveiled an extraordinary discovery.<br /><br />Exploring sediment retrieved from the depths of the <keyword id="985546" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mariana-trench" source="Orion">Mariana Trench</keyword>, researchers stumbled upon a previously unknown <keyword id="10860" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="virus" source="Orion">virus</keyword> that had adapted to this inhospitable environment. At an astonishing depth of 8,900 metres, it's the deepest location ever recorded for a <keyword id="6734361" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bacteriophage" source="Orion">bacteriophage</keyword>, a type of virus that infects <keyword id="6376020" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bacteria" source="Orion">bacteria</keyword>. This tenacious virus has been endearingly named vB_HmeY_H4907.<br /><br />The newly found phage targets bacteria from the <keyword id="19145618" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="halomonas" source="Orion">Halomonas</keyword> family, which inhabit the deep <keyword id="53745" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ocean" source="Orion">ocean</keyword> near hydrothermal vents on the seafloor, where scalding mineral-rich water constantly emanates. Interestingly, another member of this bacterial family, H. titanicae, is anticipated to play a role in the eventual deterioration of the sunken Titanic by 2030.<br /><br />While bacteriophages are thought to be the most abundant life forms on <keyword id="6359982" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="earth" source="Orion">Earth</keyword>, discovering one at such extreme depths is still remarkable. Genomic analysis has also revealed its presence in oceans across the world.<br /><br />This virus shares structural similarities with its host, reproducing without causing the bacterial cell's demise, a process known as lysogeny. In contrast, viruses that follow the lytic cycle use their bacterial hosts for replication and eventually burst out of the cells in a manner reminiscent of the movie "Alien."<br /><br />This discovery significantly advances our understanding of the diversity, evolution, and genomic characteristics of deep-sea phages and their interactions with host bacteria. The identification of more viruses in extreme environments adds valuable chapters to our understanding of Earth's virosphere.<br />

Mariana Trench's hidden secret: the remarkable discovery of deepest-dwelling underwater virus that feasts on bacteria

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Titanic sank in 1912, and ever since people have wanted to salvage it.</li><li>There are many reasons why the ship cannot be raised.</li></ul><p>Since the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-highest-quality-footage-ever-of-titanic-wreck-on-atlantic-seabed-2022-9">Titanic</a> sank in 1912, people have been imagining ways to <a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-museum-missouri-photos-exhibits-tickets-2023-6">raise it</a> from the bottom of the seafloor. </p><p>"But it will never come out," Daniel Stone wrote in "<a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-60111-20&amp;h=b085b655fc0676fbcb3612ec5bcff653cb37638d13bc45305809245396ce1923&amp;postID=6499ce9e9c8bef6c2e6f9d98&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSinkable-Obsession-Deep-Shipwreck-Titanic%2Fdp%2F0593329376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea, and the Shipwreck of the Titanic</a>." "Not only is the exposed steel on the upper bow too brittle for even the most industrious crane operation, but the mud has also acted as deep-sea quicksand for longer than most humans have been alive." </p><p>Its lack of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-shipwreck-disappearing-dive-reveals-2019-9">structural integrity</a> is just one of three main reasons why the Titanic is destined to remain sunk forever. </p><h2><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;">1. </strong>The Titanic wreck site is a gravesite </h2><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-famous-survivors-victims-2018-4">Approximately 1,500 people</a> lost their lives in the sinking of the Titanic. After the ship sank, boats recovered over 300 bodies. Others wearing life jackets may have been swept further from the site by currents while others went down with the ship.</p><p>The US government and Britain have agreed to treat the wreck as a memorial site. "NOAA recognizes the Titanic wreck site as a maritime memorial and supports Article 4(1) of the '<a href="https://www.noaa.gov/gc-international-section/rms-titanic-international-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agreement Concerning the Shipwrecked Vessel R.M.S. Titanic</a>'," which states that the site will be preserved, not salvaged, Monica Allen, NOAA Research's director of public affairs, told Insider in an email.</p><p>In 2020, RMS Titanic Inc., which owns the salvage rights to the ship, planned to retrieve the radio used to make distress calls. The plan stirred up a debate over the possibility the expedition could disturb human remains. Some argued animals and saltwater have completely decomposed the bodies, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-radio-mission-debate-human-remains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>.</p><p>"I've seen zero human remains," James Cameron, the director who's visited the site dozens of times, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/science/titanic-may-hold-passengers-remains-officials-say.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> in 2012.</p><p>For some, the wreck is a marker of the tragedy, regardless of whether there are remains. Many descendants of those who died consider it a gravesite. In 1987, Titanic survivor Eva Hart <a href="https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/etc/titanic2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referred</a> to those salvaging the site as "fortune hunters, vultures, pirates." </p><h2><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;">2. </strong>The Titanic wreckage is deteriorating </h2><div type="image" title="Titanic_wreck_bow" height="1035" width="1381" msid="101288953" hostid="261" sizebytes="201440"></div><p>The Titanic ship was built out of thousands of 1-inch-thick steel plates and two million steel and wrought iron rivets, according to a report in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369702108702244" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Materials Today</a>. </p><p>Halomonas titanicae, bacteria named for the ship, are "working symbiotically to eat, if you will, the iron and the sulfur," microbial biologist Lori Johnston told <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/21/titanic-wreck-shocking-state-deterioration-new-images/2080134001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USA Today</a>. </p><p>As bacteria consume the ship's iron, they form what is called rusticles, which look like stalactites covering the ship.</p><p>The rusticles are "a much weaker form of the metal," that are fragile enough to turn to dust, Clare Fitzsimmons, from Newcastle University, told the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49420935" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a> in 2019. The ocean currents and salt corrosion have also caused damage over time.<em> <br /></em></p><p>The extent of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-shipwreck-disappearing-dive-reveals-2019-9">Titanic's deterioration</a> is obvious if you compare images of Captain Edward Smith's quarters from 1996 and 2019.</p><p>"Captain's bathtub is a favorite image among the Titanic enthusiasts, and that's now gone," Titanic historian Parks Stephenson said in a <a href="https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2019/08/titanicdive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> in 2019. "That whole deck hole on that side is collapsing, taking with it the staterooms, and the deterioration is going to continue advancing." </p><h2><strong style="background-color: #ffffff;"><div type="image" title="The wreck of the Titanic with a bathtub visible, taken in 1996." height="3495" width="4661" msid="101288955" hostid="261" sizebytes="899988"></div>3. </strong>The cost of raising the Titanic would be enormous</h2><p>Ambitious Titanic enthusiasts have been dreaming up ways to raise the ship since 1914, when engineer Charles Smith devised a plan to attach electromagnetic cables to the hull and slowly raise it with steam engines and winches, according to "Sinkable."</p><p>At the time, he estimated the cost would be $1.5 million — that's roughly $45 million today. </p><p>Raising the capsized cruise ship the Costa Concordia in 2013 cost $800 million, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/09/photos-raising-the-costa-concordia/100592/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Atlantic</a> reported. That ship was only partially submerged, so bringing up the Titanic would be far more complex and costly. </p><h2>A piece of the Titanic on land</h2><div type="image" title="An ironworker moves the big piece of the Titanic into the Luxor Resort &amp; Casino." height="1500" width="2000" msid="101288957" hostid="261" sizebytes="333862"></div><p>While the site is a memorial site some artifacts from the wreck have been salvaged. Any salvaging of the site is limited to the debris field around the two hulls and must comply with the NOAA guidelines, international agreement, and federal regulations.</p><p>That said, exposing the Titanic to the air comes with its own problems for the ship. </p><p>For example, it took two attempts, the first in 1996 and the second two years later, to haul what's known as the "big piece" of the Titanic to the surface. The 13-by-30-foot, 15-ton hull section still had rivets and glass in some of the bronze portholes, according to <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/A-15-ton-piece-of-the-Titanic-s-hull-finishes-2496984.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SF Gate</a>. </p><p>The seafloor is a low-oxygen environment, so the piece had to go back into the water during transport to slow the corrosion process. Eventually, the hull piece soaked in an above-ground pool filled with a solution of sodium carbonate and water for 20 months to remove salts that were weakening the metal, according to the book "<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PkkeCwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA128&amp;lpg=PA128&amp;dq=%22the+big+piece%22+titanic+desalination&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=GEO6vbZwGH&amp;sig=ACfU3U14ww4n-VkyKtmP3h_qPW57C2RzdQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj307C8r-H_AhUlIH0KHUuDCqY4FBDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&amp;q=%22the%20big%20piece%22%20titanic%20desalination&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cleaning Techniques in Conservation Practice: A Special Issue of the Journal of Architectural Conservation</a>."</p><p>The big piece is currently on display at the <a href="https://luxor.mgmresorts.com/en/entertainment/titanic.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Luxor Hotel</a> in Las Vegas. It's probably the closest most people will come to seeing the Titanic above the waves.</p>

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Mariana Trench's hidden secret: the remarkable discovery of deepest-dwelling underwater virus that feasts on bacteria

Ankush Banerjee

3 reasons why the Titanic will never be raised

Jenny McGrath

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