Born in the Abyss - Coming Soon!
About the Film
Born in the Abyss is a giant screen film in production with collaboration from the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Oregon, and funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The film propels audiences on a submarine adventure to take a unique and immersive look at leading-edge marine biology research focused on larval forms (the microscopic babies) of animals in the deep ocean. Using the famous Alvin submersible, teams of college students visited the deep ocean in the Atlantic, the Tropical Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico to investigate how virtually invisible larvae renew and sustain life in some of the most extreme conditions on the planet. The film highlights student involvement in collaborative big science and how much is still to be discovered.
NSF STEM Day
May 10, 2025
Production of Born in the Abyss is not yet complete, but a teaser reel and other outreach materials will be available on May 10th at select locations as part of the National Science Foundation’s 75th Anniversary Celebration.
Students featured in the film (as well as senior scientists) will be present to talk about their research experiences and to answer questions from the audience. Hands-on activities designed specifically for this special day will be available to visitors at the various venues. These will include QR-based museum-wide activities about larval forms, and live demonstrations of larval form and behavior presented on large video screens attached to high-quality and video-enabled microscopes.
Select theaters will also be showing Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, a previous NSF-funded IMAX movie produced by The Stephen Low Company in collaboration with Rutgers University.
Seattle, Washington
- Born in the Abyss teaser reel
- Showing Volcanoes of the Deep Sea at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
- Q&A with deep-sea scientists after each showing
- Larval Quest Activity and Live Larval Demo 12:30–5:00 p.m.
Portland, Oregon
- Born in the Abyss teaser reel
- Showing Volcanoes of the Deep Sea at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
- Q&A with deep-sea scientists after each showing
- Larval Quest activity and live larval demo 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Charleston, Oregon
- Born in the Abyss teaser reel
- Larval Quest activity 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Highlights of NSF-funded research at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology
- Live larval demo 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Tallahassee, Florida
- Born in the Abyss teaser reel
- Showing Volcanoes of the Deep Sea at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m.
- Q&A with deep-sea scientists after each showing
- Larval Quest activity
Events funded by award #2506146.
Project Team
Movie produced by The Stephen Low Company
Website and content development by Nadia Stoker, Caitlin Plowman, and Trish Mace
Oregon Institute of Marine Biology & Charleston Marine Life Center, University of Oregon
The film is partially funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (award #2215692).
All Larval Quest materials are licensed under creative commons license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.