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 ...
