Giant squid photo by NASA 1999

It was once thought to be impossible, but the giant squid video released January 7, 2012 by the Discovery Channel and Japan’s National Science Museum showed that humans could actually capture film of the elusive creature in its natural habitat. In December, Discovery made the announcement that Japanese scientists had captured footage of the creature thought to have inspired the kraken of Greek Mythology, popularized in recent films such as Clash of the Titans.

“Since we’re inclined to take a ‘pics or it didn’t happen’ view of the world over here, it’s safe to say that we were all dubious of the claim, especially when past experience has shown that such overhyped discoveries are often run-of-the-mill colossal squid that don’t even merit a second glance,” wrote Steven Romano in his January 7, 2012 Geekosystem post “Giant Squid footage is actually of a giant squid, and its apparently silver.” The contributor was thrilled, however, that his cynicism was misplaced. The release of an image and a few seconds of film from the raw footage, taken by Tsunemi Kubodera and his team, proved without a doubt that humans had ventured into the giant squid’s domain and captured proof of their visit.

Years in the making

The film captured by Kubodera was the work of more than the 400 hours he and his team spent in their research sub. Dr. Clyde Roper, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the giant squid, has been looking for a living specimen in its natural habitat for years. In 1999, Roper wrapped up an expedition into New Zealand’s Kaikoura Canyon with no sightings, though the team was able to study corpses of the creature caught in fishing nets. The Smithsonian zoologist, also funded in part by the Discovery Channel, noted how inaccessible the creature’s habitat is.

In 2004, Japanese scientists were able to capture the first photographs of the giant squid in its habitat. The same team caught a live squid and hauled it to the surface, where they filmed it, in 2006.

“For hundreds of years, stories and legends and myths have been perpetuated about these huge animals, largely because we have no biological or behavioral information about them,” Roper said in an April 18, 1999 interview, “Smithsonian in search of a giant squid,” with Karen Goldberg Goff of the Washington Times. “Giant squids are portrayed in movies and books as being fearsome beasts that attack ships and eat people. It has always been my objective to try and learn the truth about giant squid, to learn the truth about where they live and how they live and what their behavior is so I can dispel these myths. I have always believed it is much more interesting to know about the real animals than to make up stories, especially horror stories.”

Architeuthis facts

The reasons giant squid, which have the scientific name architeuthis, are so hard to study is due in part to the depth of their home environments. Some fast facts about giant squid include:

• The giant squid lives between 660 feet and 3,300 feet below sea level.
• It can grow as long as 59 feet and weigh up to a ton.
• Its eyes run about 10 inches in diameter, or about the size of a human head.
• The scientific name comes from the Greek for “ruling squid.”
• After death, the body of a giant squid decomposes rapidly, making it difficult for scientists to study the anatomy.
• The beaks of giant squid have been found in the stomachs of sperm whales.

Kubodera’s team

Traveling via research submarine, Kubodera’s team spotted the squid more than a half mile below the surface of the ocean, 620 miles south of Tokyo. Knowing that the giant squid would avoid bright lights and a loud vehicle, the team avoided those usual flaws of research vessels trying to capture footage of the squid. The specimen they discovered was small – only about three meters long – but it was missing its two longest tentacles; with them, it might have been closer to eight meters, or over 26 feet in length.

In his January 8, 2013 article “All hail the kraken: Scientists capture live footage of giant squid” Nolan Feeney of Time magazine quoted the reaction of biologist Edie Widder, a member of Kubodera’s 2012 expedition. “It looked carved out of metal. And it would change from being silver to gold. It was just breathtaking.”

The full footage will be released on January 27, 2012, on the Discovery Channel’s Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real. For more information on ocean life, visit Questia’s topic page on marine biology.

The “Citation Showdown” contest encourages students to locate and cite high-quality, scholarly research to create superior research papers. Questia (www.questia.com), the premier online library and research tool for students, will take submission through December 31^st, 2012 in which students can enter a copy of their bibliography or works cited page for a chance to win one of $2,000 in prizes. The first place winner will receive $500, 2 second place runners-up will each receive $375 and 5 third place honorable mentions will be awarded with $150.

To enter, students must submit a copy of their bibliography along with the following information: student’s name, title of the paper, email and phone number via the online submission form available on the “Citation Showdown” contest page at Questia by 5 p.m. on December 31^st, 2012. All entries must incorporate at least 3 citations, one of which must be from a current source (published within the past 12 months), be formatted in an APA, MLA or Chicago style, and be based on one of Questia’s research topics. Winners will be determined based on the best and most correct use of citations.

Questia is sponsoring this contest as a part of their ongoing effort to illustrate the importance of properly citing research. Students save valuable time on research papers and projects with Questia’s organizational and paper-writing tools and tutorials, allowing them to accurately cite sources in multiple styles, automatically generate footnotes and bibliographies, and conveniently organize their notes, research and sources all in one place. Additionally, since Questia is accessible 24/7, students can research any time of day from anywhere, with the confidence that they’re using credible content from trustworthy sources.

Please visit the contest page at Questia for complete contest details and to submit your bibliography or works cited page for consideration in Questia’s “Citation Showdown.”

Start your unlimited access here

Questia is an online library that’s chock full of books and articles. I’m talking thousands of resources. At Questia you’ll find a wide selection of scholarly journals, you know, the ones that your instructors prefer you use. The resources on Questia have been reviewed and chosen for inclusion by professional librarians. This bonus feature ensures that you can cite them knowing that there won’t be any issues with credibility.

What topics do you want to write on? You’ll find them all here. How about:

• Money and banking
• International trade
• Corporate finance
• Outsourcing
• Intrapreneuring

What about finding what you need? After all, you’re on a tight schedule and you can’t spend all night combing through thousands of items. No problem, you’re going to love the powerful search function that will save you time as it helps you zero in on that perfect book or article.

Small business, big resource

The Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) are located both online and locally where you live. SBDCNet is an information clearinghouse of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The purpose of the site is to provide business research assistance to the SBDC advisors and their small business clients.

The site’s Bootstrapping 101 Blog has plenty of easy-to-read posts such as this one from Bob Reiss titled, “Business Incubators Can Be a Start-Up’s Best Friend.” In the post, Reiss applies a friendly approach to explain how business incubation jumpstarts the development of a new company by providing advice, consulting, and technical assistance.

“Incubators are physical plants that primarily house the offices of start-up companies. They will rent you flexible leases, which can allow you to expand or shrink your space quickly. Rents vary by incubator, but most often are lower than the market rates at the outset,” Reiss explained.

Naked Capitalism

For insightful commentary on the state of the economy you will want to check out the Naked Capitalism blog where you can find information and opinion parsed into digestible chunks for your enjoyment and education. You’ll be able to look over the shoulder of contributors like Lynn Parramore, co-founder of Recessionwire and founding editor of New Deal 2.0.

In an April 5, 2012 post titled, “Capitalism’s Dirty Secret: Corporations Don’t Create Jobs, They Destroy Them,” Parramore explains how American corporations are not living up to their reputation as job creators.

“The U.S. Department of Commerce found that from 2000 to 2009, U.S. transnational corporations, which employ about 20 percent of all American workers, cut their domestic employment by 2.9 million even as they boosted their overseas workforce by 2.4 million. The result was an enormous loss of jobs nationally, as well as a net loss globally,” Parramore said.

Other resources

• The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) [www.bea.gov]: Statistical information on the U.S. economy.
• The Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution: Produces information and reports on current and emerging tax policy issues. One of the latest entries is a report titled, “How Big is the Federal Government?”
• The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) [www.cbo.gov]: Produces independent, nonpartisan, timely analysis of economic and budgetary issues to support the Congressional budget process.
• Publications USA: The Federal Citizen Information Center offers important consumer information and publications to help you make important life decisions.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics [www.bls.gov]: The principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
• Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE): A nonprofit association, supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and staffed by volunteers, delivers services online and at events held locally across the U.S.
• The Small Business Administration (SBA): The SBA helps small businesses find the resources they need to start and grow. Programs and services are available both online and at local offices.

There are quite a few websites dedicated to providing business and finance information, and happily, many of them are produced by the U.S. government, which means that they’re free to use. Soon you’ll have all the information and interpretation you’ll need in order to create a stellar research project.

Librarian selected, professor approved

What makes Questia so great for students? First of all, the sources have all been approved by librarians and professors. No more worrying about having your sources questioned. Plus, thousands of the available books have been written by professors so you know that their content is based on years of experience and research — just the kind of sources that your instructors love to see on a term paper.

As for subjects, check out our research topics page to find books and articles on all kinds of topics including:

• History
• Economics
• Psychology
• Political science
• Anthropology
• English and literature

Need research tools? No problem. Questia tools help you to streamline your research process with tools such as:

• Highlights: use different colors to select and save text of interest.
• Notes: write notes to yourself directly to book pages or articles.
• Bookmarks: want to go back for that great quote? Find it fast with a bookmark.
• Bibliographies: no more sweating over proper format. Questia will automatically generate your bibliography in MLA, APA or Chicago format.
• Citations: you’ll be able to cite passages, pages or entire articles instantly.
• Project folders: if you’re working on several projects at once, you’ll love the ability to organize your notes, highlights, bookmarks, and reference information into custom project folders.

Become a research superstar

Many students find the research process to be tedious and time consuming. In other words — boring. It doesn’t have to be that way. Questia’s research tools will help you do accomplish more and enjoy the process, too.

When it comes to research, you need to have a plan. You’ll begin by finding your focus. What are you going to research and write about? Finding your research topic is a breeze with Questia because its library of topics will help you to flow from general subjects to specific topics. Then, all you have to do is to follow the many resource links to zero in on the exact books and articles that you’ll use for your project.

Help when using other sources

Even if you decide to use sources outside of Questia’s vast library, you’ll still benefit because Questia’s research tutorials teach you how to evaluate sources to make sure that they are the kind of credible sources that your instructor will accept. Not only does Questia help you to find and evaluate credible sources, it also gives you examples of how to distinguish between those sources that are popular and those that are scholarly (based on research). It also teaches you to identify when an author’s approach is opinion and whether it is too biased to be of use to you.

Do you like to use Wikipedia despite the fact that the very thought makes your instructors cringe? No problem. Questia will show you how and when to use Wikipedia and other encyclopedias in your research process.

Your secret weapon

The new Questia will quickly become your best friend, a valued tool and secret weapon in achieving your academic goals. You’ll amaze your instructors and yourself at the quality of your research projects and the ease with which you completed them. Get a head start on success and go check out Questia now!