Hunting For the Grandma of All Eukaryotes

Hunting For the Grandma of All Eukaryotes

In 2008, I found myself sitting at the bottom of the ocean, in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, more than a mile deep, in the Alvin submersible. The very vehicle that was used to discover the first hydrothermal vent, the Alvin is the only human-occupied deep submergence vehicle in the United States scientific fleet—it was also used to discover the wreck of the Titanic—and it handles extreme pressure with grace. At the time of my dive, Alvin could’ve…