Midnight Ore: When the Deep Ocean Meets the Oldest Hunger

Dear friend,

Hold a manganese nodule in your hand. It is heavy. It is dark. Three billion years rest quietly in your palm. A sailor on the Nautilus II called it midnight ore. It formed slowly beneath the ocean. Now it carries your fingerprint, mine, and Earth's.

Five thousand meters below, an octopus moves quietly through darkness. It holds questions we d…