Off the coast of Bermuda, tiny vessels are diving 1,000 feet to research something we know surprisingly little about: the ocean itself. Though the ocean makes up 95 percent of the planet’s habitable area, we’ve explored 0.0001 percent of it.

Nekton, a U.K.-based NGO, launched its first mission in mid-July to finally give us an understanding of the deep sea, using tiny research pods that are reminiscent of goldfish bowls — bowls with robot arms that grab samples from corals and sponges. The Guardian reports that the mission has uncovered new species, large black coral forests, and fossilized beaches.

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There’s one thing we do know about the deep sea: We’re already changing it. Higher temperatures and ocean acidification are starving the deep sea of oxygen and changing how food circulates. That’s worrisome, because the deep ocean performs important functions: absorbing heat, regulating carbon, and terrifying us with alien-like creatures (Exhibit A: the blobfish).

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Once the Nekton mission is complete, the pods will turn their grabby little arms to the Mediterranean Sea.

Until then, the goings-on of the deep sea remains one of life’s greatest mysteries — like how life originated or where your socks disappeared to after that last load of laundry.