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Andrew Sweetman in Podcasts

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Andrew Sweetman, professor of seafloor ecology at the Scottish Association for Marine Science.

person professor scientist marine_science (0.800000011920929)

Mentions Over Time

15 mentions

Mentions in Podcasts

Discovery
Dark Breath

His former employer also weighed in. In September 2024, a post on X from the metals company's CEO Gerard Barron's account described dark oxygen as bad science and Andrew Sweetman as having, quote, a dark ego. It went on to say of Andrew that, quote, this wannabe Einstein chose to go public with his unsupported extraordinary claims about dark oxygen production. A follow-up post included a short video of Russell Brand comparing himself to Jesus.

Discovery
Dark Breath

Andrew Sweetman and his team drew criticism from scientists and non-scientists alike. Comments have appeared on social media questioning the research and the conclusions, but I've also seen comments about the competence and the integrity of Andrew and his team. Some posts I've read on social media platforms, including LinkedIn and Reddit, have used terms like fabricating science, shoddy and even fraud to describe his claim of dark oxygen production.

Discovery
Dark Breath

Michael says Andrew Sweetman left the project early and that the metals company then engaged a third party to go back out to the same area with more sophisticated landers. That third party, he says, found no dark oxygen. The dark oxygen discovery made headlines around the world. And with that global coverage came intense scrutiny from other scientists. Some shared critiques of Andrew and his team online.

Discovery
Dark Breath

We'll get more into the detail of the scientific debate later, but Michael says that other researchers have studied the Clarion-Clipton zone and found no evidence of dark oxygen being produced. He argues that Andrew Sweetman's claim is simply flawed science. I am very defensive about our science program. I want this to be very, very high quality science. And when I see people who are associated with us, who we've actually funded, not producing high quality science, I will call that out. I think that's part of my job.

Discovery
Dark Breath

And they claim that there's more information to add to what was published in Andrew's study. We actually have access to all the data that was collected during those offshore campaigns. And the paper that was presented in Nature Geoscience omits a lot of information that actually undermines the dark auction theory.

Discovery
Dark Breath

That's Michael Clark, environmental manager for The Metals Company, a Canadian deep sea mining operation. The Metals Company has a permit to explore and do research in the Clarion-Clipperton zone. In the future they want to mine there. When Andrew Sweetman made his dark oxygen discovery in 2021, he was working for Michael and The Metals Company.

Discovery
Dark Breath

And it was. But even more than the sheer surprise of the finding, there's another element of this story, a bit of context that made the stakes even higher. Because the site that Andrew was investigating is special. It's called the Clarion Clipperton Zone, a huge expanse of seafloor between Hawaii and Mexico that's littered with small black potato-sized lumps that formed naturally over millions of years. And they contain metals. Andrew thinks the apparent production of dark oxygen could have something to do with these lumps.