They were absolutely floored. For the first time ever, scientists have recorded the birth of a seafloor in real time, way down in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a groundbreaking report in the journal Nature. “We did not dream of capturing such a massive event,” marine geophysicist Jean-Yves Royer of the French National Center of Scientific Research told ScienceAlert. A schematic of the observatory. J.-A. Olive (LG-ENS) & J.-Y. Royer (Geo-Ocean), OHA-GEODAMS/Bluesky The expert was referring to an ultra-secretive tectonic tango that occurs at depths where the sun doesn’t shine. At the certain ridges on the ocean floor, the rock plates comprising our planet’s crust collide, pushing old crust under. At other intersections, they come apart, prompting magma to burble forth and harden, for