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July, 2011:

Lost Shipping Containers

Have you seen pictures of cargo ships with containers stacked high above the deck? And have you wondered what happens when the ship is in a storm? Yes, containers get swept overboard, floating just below the surface for a while, then slowly sinking to the sea-floor. But what happens to them once they hit the bottom?

sunken shipping container

Out of the estimated 10,000 shipping containers that are lost every year only one has been found on the sea-floor. And that one was an accident, this container landed in an area being surveyed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

Under the sea: Life on a lost shipping container[^] is an interview BoingBoing’s Maggie Koerth-Baker had with MBARI’s research coordinator, Andrew DeVogelaere. In the interview they discuss some of environmental impacts of these steel boxes, such as corrosion and their possible use as a habitat for deep sea creatures. If nothing else it makes you realise how little we know about this strange, hostile environment.

Scale of the Universe

Do you want something that will make you stop and think?

The interactive scale of the universe [^] should give you something to ponder on. The starting point is a human scale view and the page goes up to the size of the universe to down to the size of the strings in string theory. This should help put things in perspective!

Scale of the Universe

Scale of the Universe