The ocean holds vast riches in the form of chemical compounds like AZT, a compound found in a Caribbean sponge and used to fight the AIDS virus, according to an article from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Still, much of the ocean’s potential remains unknown. The $7 Million Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE aims to dig into the ocean’s mysteries by challenging teams to develop deep-sea underwater robots for ocean exploration. A special $1 million chemical engineering challenge specifically incentivizes teams to develop technologies to detect the source of chemical and biological signals underwater, according to the article.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bonus Prize reportedly requires entrants to detect the source of at least one of the following five chemical/biological signals: rhodamine dye, sulphur, salt, sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid. Teams must identify “anomalies in the water column that indicate the presence of ocean life or another significant chemical feature of the ocean environment,” according to the article, and navigate and find the source. These types of capabilities could reportedly help in the future to rapidly uncover pollution sources, identify methane seeps and hydrothermal vents and track marine life for scientific research and conservation efforts.
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