They picked up critters from as deep as 6km, and they did so using both typical trawling nets and a special box that was designed to scoop up a slab of ocean floor along with a slice of undisturbed water from immediately above it.

ECONOMIST: Biodiversity

Next head across the Brooklyn Bridge to stroll the deliciously breezy Brooklyn Heights Promenade, catch an outdoor Shakespeare performance in Brooklyn's vast green Prospect Park, and scoop up a butter pecan sundae at the waterfront Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory (1 Water St), housed in a 1920s fireboat house.

BBC: Summer in the city: New York

This week the team decided to use a scoop on the arm to dig up a sample of dirt and found it contained about 1 percent water ice, NASA researchers said.

CNN: Lander grabs Mars water, will see if it's life-supporting