There really is only one place to be on 7th March – at Dunstaffnage and at the Open Day at the Marine Laboratory – or the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) as it’s properly called. SAMS is one of the major jewels in Argyll’s collection and its Open Day is an unrivalled opportunity to get in there, find out about the things they do and the places they go to to do them.

Most of what you find out you’ll never have imagined was going on, or that the engine driving it all is here in Argyll – on our doorstep.

Here’s a taster of the experiences and adventures waiting for visitors on the day.

• Arctic Adventure – try on clothing worn by the SAMS scientists in the Arctic – meet these scientists  – see the sampling gear – and watch timetabled screenings of the BBC Newsnight Arctic programme about the SAMS Arctic cruise with images from the Arctic
• Name SAMS’ new Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV)
• Have a look at SAMS’ new Seaglider – with no propeller, it glides down through the ocean to deths of up to 1,000 metres
• See inside the Minuglay Reef - one of the oldest and least explored coral reef habitats on earth

Go on board our research vessel (RV) Calanus and view the multibeam sonar

• Visit the Culture Collection for Algae & Protozoa – which holds over 3000 cultures
• Learn how to collect seawater and see what’s in there when you get it under the microscopes – you will be surprised
• Be a sub-sea trekker: ‘It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it’ – observe real marine ‘aliens’ close-up
• See a display of cold-water corals
• Check out ‘what’s happening in Loch Fyne’ – could be news to locals
• Explore the range of SAMS’ landers – Chamber lander, Ultra-deep transecting lander (things will continously move on this one) and the Eddy lander. Landers are devices built to study the chemical processes going on in what’s called ‘the near bottom layer’ of the ocean. SAMS’ landers fo regular sessions in Argyll’s Loch Creran. (Young people wll be allowed to release a lander – pushing the release button on the deck unit sending a signal to the lander to drop the weigth.
• Use a VHF finder to track a lost lander – it can happen
• Complete a multiple-choice quiz on landers – and win a prize

And there’ll posters, slideshows and short films of things related to lander deployments and measurements; display of different types of sensors and instuments (planar optode module, microelectrodes) including showing the tip (10microns) of a microelectrode in a microscope…

As we said – there is only one place to be on 7th March. Be there. The For Argyll fim unit will be there – trouble is we’ll have to work.

This fabulous event is supported by Sharing Science.

And here’s a conundrum For Argyll resolved – with a little help.

The SAMS inshore research ship, the RV Calanus is the second boat of that name. We wondered why it was called that, researched Calanus and discovered he was a sage of Alexander the Great who became ill with pneumonia in Persia and, rather than become a burden to others, cbose to die on a ceremonial pyre. Interesting story but we couldn’t immediately see any link to a marine science research ship.

SAMS then told us that the ship – their second Calanus – is named after a type of zooplankton, the Calanus Copepod. Copepods are tiny – 1-2millimetres long and they have these long outstretched antenna. But they don’t kill themselves, which was our first thought.

The Marine Biology Association in Devon has come up with one hint from a book written by two scientists, SM Marshall and AP Orr, at the Marine Station in Millport on Cumbrae. The suggestion is that the shape of this copepod, with its antennae held outstretched in this aesthetically balanced fashion, looked like a Yoga position. Calanus, the classical sage, was a Jain, an Indian ascetic religion whose followers may have practised this form of  physical health.

So there you are. That’s what we spend our time doing. As we’ve said before, we need to get out more.

From the top, the photographs are of: SAMS scientists on their first Arctic voyage in 2008; a wreck image from SAMS multibeam sonar; curious visitors at SAMS 2008 Open Day; a Calanus Copepod. The top three were supplied to For Argyll by SAMS and are reproduced here by permission. The bottom photograph – of a Calanus Copepod, is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.