Deep-sea images reveal colorful life off Indonesia

Scientistsusing cutting-edge technology to explore waters off Indonesia were wowed bycolorful and diverse images of marine life on the ocean floor - includingplate-sized sea spiders and flower-like sponges that appear to be carnivorous.

They predicted Thursday that as many as 40 new plant and animal species mayhave been discovered during the three-week expedition that ended Aug. 14.

More than 100 hours of video and 100,000 photographs, captured using a roboticvehicle with high-definition cameras, were piped to shore in real-time bysatellite and high-speed Internet.

Indonesian kitchen: Nutmeg in your pot

Whohas never heard of nutmeg?

Merchants and adventurers sailing from the western hemisphere and seekingfortunes in the East once considered this spice one of the top commodities nextto cloves.

But where does nutmeg actually come from? According to history books, theregion of Maluku and the small island of Banda are places where the nutmegtrade began in times gone by.

People in the region regard the nutmeg tree and its fruit as one of the mostbeautiful and useful plants around. On opening the fruit, we can see thenet-shaped fuli (mace), which has a blazing deep red-orange color. This notonly serves as a flavor enhancer but can also be used as a very attractivedecoration for dark-colored dishes such as semur (stew), which is usuallyprepared with the addition of sweet soy sauce.