Going into the Becker-Rose Cafe yesterday, I thought the talk was going to be solely about marine ecosystems and preserving them, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Professor Drew Harvell had a lot more in store. She was also there to tell us about the beautiful glass replicas of various underwater organisms that different artists and biologists alike create. Showing us gorgeous pictures of insanely intricate glass models of jellyfish, octopi, sea anemone, and coral—all with vibrant colors and intense detail—Professor Harvell explained to us that these models, specifically those made centuries ago, reveal the change that has occurred in these animal species over time. In other words, because the glass animals capture the physical structure of these animals almost perfectly, marine biologists today can use them to examine how those animals have evolved into what they are in the present time. In this way, Professor Harvell described these highly-detailed objects as being a sort of time capsule to represent the dynamism of different underwater creatures.

Something I found myself wondering as she said this was: “Why don’t students studying the lives, structures, and functions of these organisms just observe ones that have been preserved over time?” And Dr. Harvell had the perfect answer for this: When a jellyfish, for instance, has been preserved in formaldehyde, the animal’s body turns an unappealing gray color and gains an exceptionally hard feel to it, something that doesn’t accurately represent the organism’s features in the slightest. Knowing this, it makes sense why such beautiful models are used for educative purposes instead.

Finally, as Dr. Harvell was wrapping up her talk, she emphasized that we can’t afford to take our oceans and their inhabitants for granted because we only have one earth and these amazing creatures will have no where to go if their homes are continuously destroyed.