Wayne Parry

Rutgers University is launching what it hopes will be the first robot to sail around the world underwater.

The five-year mission aims to gather reams of new data about Earth's oceans, and their effects on weather patterns and the Earth's climate.

Assuming it doesn't get eaten by a giant shark or attacked by a giant squid, and if it can avoid being struck by passing ships or entangled in rogue fishing nets, the device, called Redwing, could greatly increase humanity's understanding of the ocean and the planet as a whole, improving our ability to predict severe weather.

"We have more platforms in space than we do in the ocean," said Oscar Schofield, a biological oceanographer with Rutgers and one of two lead scientists on the project. "The ocean regulates our weather and our

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