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Influencers from All Over the World in Jeddah

Five influencers from different countries around the world in Beit Salloum in Jeddah’s al-Balad district, Asharq Al-Awsat
Five influencers from different countries around the world in Beit Salloum in Jeddah’s al-Balad district, Asharq Al-Awsat
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Influencers from All Over the World in Jeddah

Five influencers from different countries around the world in Beit Salloum in Jeddah’s al-Balad district, Asharq Al-Awsat
Five influencers from different countries around the world in Beit Salloum in Jeddah’s al-Balad district, Asharq Al-Awsat

Coinciding with the launch of the Red Sea International Film Festival activities in Jeddah, five new media influencers from around the world arrived in the city for an experience that gave them a new and different dimension for Saudi Arabia.

Asharq Al-Awsat accompanied the five on a special tour of Jeddah’s historic al-Balad district, registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

From the ancient Beit Salloum in the center of the historic district, a travel blogger from Ohio, California, Eric Stone, owner of the “Travel Babbo” website, expressed his happiness in visiting Jeddah for the first time.

Stone said he was very eager to get to know Saudi Arabia more to convey his experience to people and why they should visit Saudi Arabia. According to the travel expert, the historical city of Jeddah is beautiful and fascinating.

Stone believes that holding the Red Sea International Film Festival in its first edition in Jeddah “is a great opportunity to introduce Jeddah to the world.”

“We are happy that our presence here coincides with the establishment of the great festival,” noted stone.

He also referred to the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which was held in Jeddah last week, considering it another opportunity to highlight Saudi Arabia on the world scene with full force.

Asharq Al-Awsat then spoke to Medellin, a travel blogger from Germany, who revealed that her visit to Saudi Arabia came after her friend visited the kingdom a week ago.

“I met a friend who visited Saudi Arabia last week and told me that it is beautiful and different from what it was in the past and that it has attractive nature scenes and many special places, so I was excited to come here and see it for myself,” said Medellin who was sporting a traditional dress of the residents of old Jeddah.

In turn, Triti, an Instagram influencer from Malaysia, pointed out that the city of Jeddah is stunning.

“The city of Jeddah is charming, and I am enjoying my time here, and we still have a lot to discover,” Triti told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Muwatantha Bladely, a Malaysian Instagram influencer and actress, expressed her happiness to be present during the Red Sea International Film Festival events.

“Holding festivals of this size for the first time in Saudi Arabia is amazing,” noted Bladely.

From Italy, Roberto Rosa, an Instagram influencer, noted that this was his second visit to Saudi Arabia.

“Historic Jeddah has changed completely within three years. It has become ready to receive tourists from around the world, especially since it is registered on the World Heritage List,” he said with a smile.

Rosa asserted that holding international festivals and events such as Formula1 and the Red Sea International Film Festival is an “opportunity to tell the world about the beauty of Saudi Arabia and Jeddah in particular and the cultural and historical treasures they contain.”

For his part, travel guide Samir Qumuzani revealed that the city of Jeddah had received dozens of artists, celebrities, and film industry enthusiasts recently. This had a significant impact on the city of Jeddah, especially al-Balad.

“Celebrities from all over the world are enjoying this place and learning about its history, heritage, and originality, as they attend the various events that are held in this city that never sleeps and convey their experiences and observations to the world,” said Qumuzani.

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Animals Found Living Underground Near Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents

Giant tubeworms on the seafloor surface at 2,500 meters water depth at the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active ridge located where two tectonic plates meet on the floor of the Pacific Ocean in this undated photograph.CC BY-NC-SA Schmidt Ocean Institute/Handout via REUTERS
Giant tubeworms on the seafloor surface at 2,500 meters water depth at the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active ridge located where two tectonic plates meet on the floor of the Pacific Ocean in this undated photograph.CC BY-NC-SA Schmidt Ocean Institute/Handout via REUTERS
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Animals Found Living Underground Near Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents

Giant tubeworms on the seafloor surface at 2,500 meters water depth at the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active ridge located where two tectonic plates meet on the floor of the Pacific Ocean in this undated photograph.CC BY-NC-SA Schmidt Ocean Institute/Handout via REUTERS
Giant tubeworms on the seafloor surface at 2,500 meters water depth at the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active ridge located where two tectonic plates meet on the floor of the Pacific Ocean in this undated photograph.CC BY-NC-SA Schmidt Ocean Institute/Handout via REUTERS

A deep-diving robot that chiseled into the rocky Pacific seabed at a spot where two of the immense plates comprising Earth's outer shell meet has unearthed a previously unknown realm of animal life thriving underground near hydrothermal vents.

Giant tubeworms - the world's heftiest worms - and other marine invertebrates such as snails and bristle worms were found using the remotely operated underwater vehicle SuBastian. They were living inside cavities within the Earth's crust at an ocean-floor site where the Pacific is 1.56 miles (2,515 meters) deep. All the species were previously known to have lived near such vents, but never underground, Reuters reported.

"We discovered vent animal life in the cavities of the ocean's crust. We now know that the unique hydrothermal vent ecosystem extends into the ocean's crust," said marine biologist Sabine Gollner of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, one of the leaders of the study published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

"To our knowledge, it is the first time that animal life has been discovered in the ocean crust," Gollner added.

The exploration was conducted at the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active ridge on the floor of the southeastern Pacific, running approximately parallel to South America's west coast. Earth's rigid outer part is divided into colossal plates that move gradually over time in a process called plate tectonics. The East Pacific Rise is located where two such plates are gradually spreading apart.

This area contains many hydrothermal vents, fissures in the seafloor situated where seawater and magma beneath the Earth's crust come together. Magma refers to molten rock that is underground, while lava refers to molten rock that reaches the surface, including the seafloor. New seafloor forms in places where magma is forced upward toward the surface at a mid-ocean ridge and cools to form volcanic rock.

The hydrothermal vents spew into the cold sea the super-heated and chemical-rich water that nourishes microorganisms.

"The warm venting fluids are rich in energy - for example, sulfide - that can be used by microbes, which form the basis of the food-chain," Gollner said.

Life flourishes around the vents - including giant tubeworms reaching lengths of 10 feet (3 meters), mussels, crabs, shrimp, fish and other organisms beautifully adapted to this extreme environment. The giant tubeworms do not eat as other animals do. Instead, bacteria residing in their body in a sack-like organ turn sulfur from the water into energy for the animal.

The researchers deployed SuBastian from the Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel Falkortoo to the vent site deep below. The robot was equipped with arms that wielded a chisel that the researchers used to dig into the crust and uncover warm and fluid-filled cavities where the tubeworms, bristle worms and snails were spotted.

"We used a chisel to break the rock. We dug about 20 cm (8 inches). The lava plates were about 10 cm (4 inches) thick. The cavities below the lava plates were about 10 cm in height," Gollner said.

Larvae from these animals may invade these subseafloor habitats, the researchers said, in an example of connectivity between the seafloor and underground ecosystems.

"It changed our view on connectedness in the ocean," Gollner said of discovering the subsurface lair.