Last summer Aquarius reef base--the world's only remaining underwater research habitat where scientists can live and work underwater for over a week at a time--conducted its final mission in the Florida Keys, after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cut its already meager funding from $3m to $0.

I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks diving down to the base last summer and got to see first hand how some experiments really require scientists to be stationed underwater. Some experiments can't be conducted yet by telepresence using robots because of lack of precision or resolution, nor can some experiments be set up during the limited dive time afforded by scuba.

But last week brought good news that Florida International University won a grant to keep Aquarius going. Sort of.