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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. Fabione Gusteau had some

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Speaker 1: big shoes to fill or finns as it were. As

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Speaker 1: the grandson of famed sea explorer, conservationist, and Scoopa pioneer

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Speaker 1: Jacques Cousteau, Fabion spent his early days aboard his grandfather's

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Speaker 1: ships Calypso and Alcione, and felt drawn to the oceanic

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Speaker 1: family legacy. Today he's fulfilling that dream with Proteus, which

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Speaker 1: he calls the world's most advanced underwater scientific research station

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Speaker 1: and habitat to address humanity's most critical concerns medicinal discoveries,

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Speaker 1: food sustainability, and the impacts of climate change. We spoke

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Speaker 1: with Custo via email. He said there wasn't pressure placed

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Speaker 1: on me to follow in the family fin steps, but

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Speaker 1: growing up diving, starting at the age of four, and

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Speaker 1: then taking adventures on the Calypso made for the most

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Speaker 1: incredible class room. I learned so much from my grandparents

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Speaker 1: and the other crew members. Having that access to the

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Speaker 1: ocean and its marine life was unparalleled. Today, I maintain

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Speaker 1: that same wonder I had as a kid. I'm still

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Speaker 1: in awe of observing everything that the ocean has to

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Speaker 1: offer and teach us. What the ocean has to teach

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Speaker 1: is largely still unknown. According to Cousteau, only five percent

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Speaker 1: of it has been explored. With Proteus, he's hoping to

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Speaker 1: change that. A project of the Fabian custo Ocean Learning Center,

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Speaker 1: Proteus was conceived as the underwater version of the International

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Speaker 1: Space Station. Upon completion, the project will serve as a

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Speaker 1: collaborative platform for researchers, government agencies, and corporations throughout the world.

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Speaker 1: The concept was born from Mission thirty one, a June

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Speaker 1: expedition that set a record for the most days lived underwater,

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Speaker 1: breaking Jacques thirty day record by just one day. It

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Speaker 1: took place at Aquarius, the world's only underwater marine laboratory

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Speaker 1: as of now, which is located nine miles or fourteen

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Speaker 1: klometers off the coast of the Florida Keys and sixty

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Speaker 1: three ft or nineteen meters beneath the sea surface. The

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Speaker 1: journey produced twelve scientific studies and nine thousand, eight hundred

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Speaker 1: published articles from universities including Northeastern m I t In,

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Speaker 1: the University of North Florida and it sparked the idea

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Speaker 1: for Proteus. Becausto said, Proteus was very much a three

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Speaker 1: am dream. After visiting oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle on Aquarius

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Speaker 1: and then leading Mission thirty one, there, I saw that

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Speaker 1: more was needed to accommodate aquanauts for longer, and that

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Speaker 1: more could be done to address additional needs that come

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Speaker 1: with underwater living. The goal is to make Proteus approximately

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Speaker 1: eight times the size of Aquarius and address the multitude

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Speaker 1: of challenges that a company underwater living Like cooking, Custo explained,

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Speaker 1: you can't cook with open flames underwater, but Proteus will

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Speaker 1: have the first underwater greenhouse, which will allow us to

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Speaker 1: grow fresh produce, and living underwater you burn three times

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Speaker 1: as many calories as you do on land. Culinary adventures aside,

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Speaker 1: Proteus is set to transform the landscape of ocean exploration

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Speaker 1: when it does debut, though no official launch date has

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Speaker 1: been announced. It will be located off the coast of

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Speaker 1: Carasau in a bio diverse marine protected area in the Caribbean,

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Speaker 1: about sixty feet or eighteen meters beneath the surface of

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Speaker 1: the water. Will encompass four thousand square feet that's seventy

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Speaker 1: square meters of space and accommodate up to twelve research

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Speaker 1: scientists at a time. It will be made available for academics,

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Speaker 1: private companies, scientists, and non governmental organizations that are involved

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Speaker 1: in ocean exploration and research and development. It will also

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Speaker 1: contain a video production studio, allowing the teams to create

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Speaker 1: videos on site and also live stream with classrooms and

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Speaker 1: learners of all ages around the world. Cousto said it

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Speaker 1: starts with more people making the connection between the ocean

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Speaker 1: and humans. The ocean is where life itself originated, and

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Speaker 1: it regulates so much of what we experience all of

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Speaker 1: the time every day, from providing oxygen to nourishment to

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Speaker 1: provide adding countless jobs and trade and tourism. The live

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Speaker 1: streams of Proteus will offer will lead to more people

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Speaker 1: understanding what is going on down there is very much

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Speaker 1: connected to what's experienced up there on land every day.

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Speaker 1: Proteus will be the first in a series of underwater

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Speaker 1: habitats leading to unparalleled research and discoveries and allowing for

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Speaker 1: global collaboration amongst the most brilliant minds. As Cousto and

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Speaker 1: his team continue to work toward building this new frontier

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Speaker 1: in ocean exploration. He regularly reflects on his family legacy.

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Speaker 1: As I continue to learn and discover more about the ocean,

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Speaker 1: I keep in mind my grandfather's quote. People protect what

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Speaker 1: they love. They love what they understand, and they understand

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Speaker 1: what they are taught. Today's episode was written by Michelle

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Speaker 1: Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler Flang. For more on this

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Speaker 1: and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuffworks dot com.

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Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio. For more

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