Katy Baker

Did you know aliens live among us? Tiny creatures with gooey bodies, see-through heads, and glowing skin might sound like visitors from outer space, but these unsung climate heroes inhabit our own planet, deep in the Ocean Twilight Zone, a region 200 to 1000 meters beneath the sea’s surface. These extraordinary critters, some no larger than a grain of rice, others the size of your hand, live in a cold, dark world where some make houses out of snot, wield razor-sharp fangs, and have jaws that can dislocate to consume prey many times their size.

What do they all have in common? They play a crucial role in regulating our planet’s climate. Every night, they embark on the largest animal migration on Earth, swimming up to the surface to feast on tiny plants that have absorbed sunlight and carbon dioxide. As dawn breaks, they descend back into the twilight zone, their daily migrations contributing to the deep-sea storage of carbon through their bodily processes like pooping, breathing, and shedding skin.

To uncover the secrets of these climate superheroes, I venture out to sea, deploying cameras, nets, and sound waves to explore this mysterious zone. My research focuses on understanding the roles these creatures play in the climate puzzle: who’s migrating, who’s eating whom and how much they breathe, shed and poop!

Just like the fascinating critters I study, my journey into science has been a weird and wonderful adventure, driven by an unending curiosity and passion for the ocean. I am eternally grateful to share the beauty and wonder of this unseen world with curious minds like yours, shedding light on the incredible ways these tiny ocean dwellers help sustain our planet.