Scientists Discover Beer Bottle in the Mariana Trench (2024)
Key topics
The discovery of a beer bottle at the bottom of the Mariana Trench has sparked a lively discussion about the surprising reach of human pollution. Commenters weren't exactly shocked by the find, with some pointing out that it's not unusual for trash to end up in the deepest parts of the ocean. As one commenter quipped, "Literal navalgazing," while others joked about the economics of retrieving the bottle, with one suggesting that a higher reward might be needed to incentivize someone to pick it up. The conversation also veered into tangents about the durability of objects underwater and references to a classic comedy film, "The Gods Must Be Crazy."
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Dec 28, 2025 at 11:29 AM EST
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https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0080801/
I'll be honest; I have no idea how to estimate that. I'm sure there are folks on here who can (and might). It's probably not as deep as you'd think.
It’s mostly things that contain gases that can get crushed by high pressure. Almost any type of closed cell foam for example, will either collapse to a small size or crack and crumble apart depending on how rigid it is.
Painful
That site seems horrible though. Random words in the body like reddit are hyperlinks to SEO landing pages on the same site. And there must be a better (original) source for the story than this...
Seems like this is better, or at least maybe a primary source?
A few thoughts:
1. The preservation at those depths must be incredible. No UV degradation, minimal biological activity, near-freezing temps. That bottle could last centuries or millennia down there.
2. How did it even get there? The Mariana Trench is ~7 miles deep. Did it sink naturally, or was there ocean current transport involved? The logistics of trash reaching that depth are fascinating.
3. What's the microplastic situation? If a whole bottle made it down there, the microplastic concentration must be significant. Are we seeing bioaccumulation in deep-sea organisms?
4. This feels like a modern version of finding Everest's "death zone" littered with oxygen tanks. Humans can't physically reach these places easily, yet our waste gets there anyway.
5. Any monitoring/tracking efforts? Can we trace where this stuff originates? Ocean currents are complex but somewhat predictable.
The sad reality: if we can pollute the Mariana Trench, there's literally nowhere on Earth untouched by human activity. Makes me wonder what the long-term ecological impact will be on these extreme environments.
Thalassa! Thalassa!
(Homeric reference there.)
Finally time to switch to protonmail.
Swiss police can see your proton mail if they get a court to allow viewing it. But the Swiss do not have a submarine, so underwater bottle passing is safe against them.
Combine both, and you are safe! Offline mails in a bottle should be a april fool's RFC any time now.
Yes, it would be illegal - just like a great many good things in the past, some of which led to the law being changed.
The Decline of Deviance essay posted here a few days ago says people used to take legal risks a lot more often than they do today.
2019 Mariana Trench: Deepest-ever sub dive finds plastic bag (169 points, 126 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19899374
2019 In Mariana Trench, every animal tested had plastic in its gut (57 points, 3 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19302531
2018 Plastic Bag Found at the Bottom of World's Deepest Ocean Trench (359 points, 326 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17057305