Pink filamentous bacterial mat with Peinaleopolynoe orphanae scale worm, located at a depth of 2.2 miles (3656 meters). Photo: Schmidt Ocean Institute About those worms—they’re what’s known as ...

Deep sea explorers want you to break out the "jazz hands" for this creature. On Nov. 4, the Schmidt Ocean Institute posted a video of one of its recent finds on Instagram. The nonprofit is dedicated ...

Rembrandt painted with it. This worm survives on it. Say hello to orpiment. By Laura Baisas Published Aug 26, 2025 2:00 PM EDT Get the Popular Science daily ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Paralvinella hessleri accumulates microscopic particles of arsenic on its outer skin, which reacts with sulfide to form a ...

Orpiment is a bright golden pigment adored by Renaissance painters. It also happens to be deeply toxic. Despite its toxicity, the substance is key to the survival of a particularly hardy species of ...

A bright-yellow worm that lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a brilliant but toxic mineral used by artists from antiquity until the nineteenth century.

To blunt the toxic arsenic in the waters where it lives, a deep-sea worm combines it with another chemical to produce a less toxic compound. By Jack Tamisiea Arsenic is a toxic metal, and exposure to ...

Worms that inhabit hydrothermal vents combine environmental arsenic and sulfide to form a nontoxic mineral to survive in a harsh environment. Unlike this vibrant worm, most other deep-sea denizens ...

A robotic explorer filmed the deep-sea worm as part of Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition of the Chile Margin Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2013. Her ...

A bright-yellow worm that lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a brilliant but toxic mineral used by artists from antiquity until the nineteenth century.