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The Kraken Lives!

massdistraction via Flickr Creative Commons

Last summer, a team of scientists and filmmakers from Japan’s National Museum and the Discovery Channel captured the first-ever video of a giant squid in its natural habitat off the coast of Japan. The team recently released a clip of the video, which has gone viral on Facebook.

As long as humans have navigated the seas, the idea that these fierce and slippery creatures are lurking just beneath us has evoked fascination and fear. Their elusiveness plays into our love of the chase, which probably explains why every development in the world of giant squid science is big news.

Wendy Williams is author of “Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid.” we spoke with her in 2011 when her book came out about what it was that inspired her particular devotion to the squid.

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