Sailing the Seas in Search of Microbes

Projects aimed at collecting big data about the ocean’s tiniest life forms continue to expand our view of the seas.

Written byShawna Williams

| 5 min read

A boat, the Tara, sailing past an island in Patagonia, Chile

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ABOVE: The Tara team passes Isla Faro, in Patagonia, Chile, on its latest expedition, this time focusing on marine microorganisms.
© MAÉVA BARDY; TARA OCEAN FOUNDATION

Stéphane Pesant was on deck finishing up processing samples and preparing gear after a long day when he heard it: the exhalation of a sperm whale. It was a calm night back in 2011 in the waters off Peru, remembers Pesant, a marine biologist, and he was one of just two people still on deck when the giant animal surfaced. “We couldn’t see it at all, it was pitch-dark,” he says. “But we could hear it, and it would dive and come back up.”

Speaking from his office on land in the UK, where he works for the European Bioinformatics Institute, Pesant tells The Scientist that he’s had many such moments of wonder aboard Tara, a 36-meter research sailboat now on its latest in ...

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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