How Citizen Sailing Oceanographers will save the World’s Oceans | Federico Lauro | TEDxNTU

"In the vast of the ocean, in its invisible organisms, lie mankind's most coveted secrets - undiscovered."

In this talk, Federico combines the roles of sailing, oceanography and deep-sea microbiology into a single endeavor aimed at revealing the invisible and understanding the marine microbiome.

As a competitive sailor turned oceanographer, Federico Lauro wants to change the way we look at invisible life in the oceans. In 2013, along with his wife, he cofounded Indigo V Expeditions and pioneered citizen sailing oceanography as a way to crowdsource vital marine microbiome data. The Indigo V Indian Ocean Pilot Project sailed from Cape Town (South Africa) to Singapore, collecting water samples of the most underexplored ocean waters of our planet. He is an Explorer's Club fellow and winner of the prestigious Lowell Thomas Award. The Associate Chair of Asian School of Environment at NTU, Dr Lauro is an authority in marine microbiology. A recepient of Lowell Thomas Award, champion sailor and a fellow of Explorer’s club, he cofounded Indigo V Expeditions in 2013. The organisation crowdsourced the largest repository of planktonic genomic information in the world at a fraction of research vessel costs. His research projects include microbially induced corrosion, and physical and biogeochecmical effects of sediment transport on coral reefs. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx