Down there in the Gulf, down at the bottom, where the continental shelf gives way to a deeper, murky gulf bottom. It’s a mile down from the surface, at a place known as the Macondo and right there lays a large part of the BP oil spill.
It’s cold down there.
It’s dark down there.
And lots of scientists have been trying to figure out what is going on down there.
Because we are all worried.
We have seen oil on top of the water does. What the heck does oil that hangs around the deep, dark bottom do?
And so as science goes, the scientists are arguing about what is going on down there.
They are arguing the way scientists argue, the way we are supposed to argue: they do the experiments and take the measurements and then try and decide what the measurements are saying… and then, and this is an important then, they submit their findings to a journal (think nerd magazine).
Once it goes there, its basically like its on trial, because that paper and it’s findings go to other scientists who are supposed to know, in science terms, what you are doing, and they critique it.. review it, say no to it…
or give it a thumbs up.
So two groups of scientists taking different measurements, in different ways, and using different thinking caps have