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    How beautiful bioluminescent bacteria can expose invisible water pollution

    By journeying to the depths of the ocean to study bioluminescent sea creatures, Edie Widder, president of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association in Florida, has witnessed firsthand the strange, vibrant colours of deep-sea life. In a stroke of inventive inspiration, Widder has taken her work with bioluminescent life and applied it to the ongoing problem of invisible pollution, which is putting the world’s oceans and waterways in peril. A short documentary by the Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney, Speaking With Light is a meditation on hidden problems, inventive solutions and beautifully simple science.

    Director: Alex Gibney

    Producer: Alexis Bloom

    2 November 2015
    Close-up of an orange sea anemone with flowing tentacles against a teal background.

    videoOceans and water

    See what no human eyes have seen before, deep in the sea off Western Australia

    5 minutes

    Abstract digital artwork with glowing circular shapes and bright colours, including red, orange and white, against a cloudy background.

    videoBiology

    How airborne microbes ride clouds, hop continents and even make it rain

    5 minutes

    A person in orange fishing overalls and a blue hat pulling a rope on a boat with seagulls and calm sea in the background, cages are visible on the deck of the boat.

    videoGender

    Defying social pressure, a woman commits herself to lobster fishing and the sea

    11 minutes

    Split image showing two types of coral, a hard coral on the left and a soft coral with tentacles on the right, both in deep blue light.

    videoBiotechnology

    It’s our responsibility to engineer corals that can weather the world we’ve created

    11 minutes

    Digital illustration of a person in profile holding a small golden object, likely a tool, against a dark background.

    videoHistory of science

    ‘I could not but wonder at it’: history’s first glimpses into the microbial world

    7 minutes

    An aerial view of a swampy area with scattered patches of brown vegetation and reflective blue water.

    videoEarth science and climate

    A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse

    6 minutes

    Microscopic close-up of a Hydra with a translucent body, multiple tentacles, and a central, reddish-brown core on a dark background.

    videoBiology

    Peering into the eerie world of plankton reveals a variety of vital creatures

    3 minutes

    Line drawing of a frog from a below perspective, with circles of various sizes indicating ripples.

    videoEcology and environmental sciences

    The tree frog die-off that sparked a global mystery – and revealed a dark truth

    15 minutes

    A diver underwater, reaching out to touch the fin of a large, ascending humpback whale illuminated by sunlight.

    videoEcology and environmental sciences

    Journey with a free diving philosopher, into the alien world of a living ocean

    11 minutes