“Nodules” is a 18-minute documentary that follows two marine scientists whose discoveries about bizarre deep-sea rocks collide with a new push to extract the rocks for profit. Deep-sea mining has not yet started anywhere in the world. But their research about the rocks — known as polymetallic nodules — contain warnings about the industry’s potential harms. One scientist, Jason Chaytor, re-discovers the world’s oldest deep-sea mining experiment and makes a remarkable observation. The other, Jeff Marlow, helps uncover "dark oxygen" — the ground-breaking research that suggests nodules may be producing oxygen in complete darkness. Will these findings reach the policymakers set to decide the fate of the deep sea? Filmed between 2024 and 2025 as President Donald Trump exerts new pressures, the film combines verité footage, interviews, and archival material to illuminate a growing face-off between science and capitalism on Earth’s final frontier.
