Is space the next frontier or is it the ocean? Scientists to debate at Dalhousie University

Is space the next frontier or is it the ocean?

Great minds will come together Monday night at Dalhousie University to discuss the issue.

An audience of 1,000 is expected as Team Ocean and Team Space face off during the debate.

Despite describing himself as a space nerd, Dalhousie marine ecologist Dr. Boris Worm will represent Team Ocean along with Mark Abbott, president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and German marine biologist Antje Boetius.

He said the trio will face stiff competition in their Team Space counterparts.

“Kathryn Sullivan is a Dal alum who has been to space three times on a space shuttle mission and she was the first American woman to walk in space,” Worm explained. “We have Joshua Kutryk who is with the Canadian Space Agency training to be an astronaut just now and then Christian Marois from University of Victoria who is an astronomer.”

Worm said there's better mapping of the surface of Mars than there is of the bottom of the ocean.

“The last few years there's been a resurgence of interest in the ocean and ocean exploration and I think this is partly because we are realizing, while space is incredibly cool, we need the ocean to survive,” Worm told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show. “It's closer to home in some ways, but we just don't know that much about it.”

He added, we have yet to find life in space, but we're discovering new species in our oceans all the time.

The event is a part of StemFEST and will be moderated by author, speaker and TV science broadcaster Jay Ingram of Daily Planet fame.

Those who can't make it in person can watch online starting at 7 p.m.