Together, with peer scientists from Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and the U.S., Dr. Ballard searches for the origin of life in the planets most unforgiving environment: the darkness and chill of waters thousands of feet beneath the surface. Here, on the slopes of the Mid-Ocean ridges that divide the earths tectonic plates, are formations called chimneys, where molten lava superheats the ocean, mixing in the nutrients and hardening magma that allows life to thrive against the odds.

Dr. Ballard takes-on the long-held belief that space colonies will save the earth, as argued by on-air Apollo 11 crewmember Buzz Aldrin. To do so, Dr. Ballard travels to Hawaii to meet with experimental open-water aqua farmers; to California, where fast moving personal underwater vehicle are being developed for future ocean colonies; and Texas and Alaska where oil platforms are being converted into sea colonies and new imaging technology is unlocking resources hidden on the ocean bottom.