Oceans Full of Design

Some look like miniature spaceships. Some look like tiny jewel boxes. Others look like miniature versions of shrimp. They constitute most of the biomass on the planet, regulate earth's carbon and oxygen, and provide food for fish, birds, and blue whales -- the largest animals to ever grace the earth. What are they? Collectively, we call them "plankton," a word meaning drifters. Such a catch-all term hardly does justice to their incredible diversity and importance to us all. A few recent pape...