Home > Author > Helen Scales
1 " Not so very long ago, the deep was a tremendous void containing myths, legends and endless unknowns. "
― Helen Scales , The Brilliant Abyss
2 " As soon as you stop thinking about it, the deep can so easily vanish out of mind — more so than that other great distant realm, outer space. The deep has no stars at night to remind us it is there, and no moon shining down. And yet, this hidden place reaches into our daily lives and makes vital things happen without our knowing. The deep, quite simply makes this planet habitable. "
3 " Molluscs aren’t mathematicians. "
― Helen Scales , Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells
4 " Which came first, the mollusc or the shell? "
5 " One of the new species is Alviniconcha strummeri, named as a joint tribute to the research submarine and to Joe Strummer, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the British punk band The Clash. It was a nod to these hard-as-nails snails that live in the most acidic, most sulphur-ridden hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, close to the islands of Fiji. And like many of the band’s 1970s punk followers, the snails have spiky hairdos in the form of a bristly layer of protein known as the periostracum, which covers their shells. "
6 " Some hexactinellids hold themselves aloft on long stalks and look like shocked sock puppets, mouths agape. "
7 " The oceans, it turns out, are full of bone-eating worms "
