'Kissing' corals

The new Benthic Underwater Microscope (BUM) developed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography is the first underwater microscope that a diver could carry into the field and use to take pictures of seafloor inhabitants at nearly micrometre resolution. The instrument allows us to clearly see features as small as one-hundredth of a millimeter underwater. An additional feature, a squishy electrically tunable lens, gives us the ability to rapidly focus on the objects that we are imaging. This allows us to capture all parts of an object with substantial three-dimensional relief in focus. The final system consists of two housings, one for the camera, lights and the lenses, the other for a computer controlling the camera along with a live diver interface and data storage. With the new ability to see and record these processes happening in real-time in the ocean, researchers could make some interesting new discoveries.