A scientific mission to explore the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean has brought an unexpected discovery to Argentine researchers. At a depth of 2640 meters, a submarine's cameras have captured a nearly intact VHS videotape, with a starfish stuck to it. The mission was carried out by Argentina's National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), in collaboration with the University of Buenos Aires and the Schmidt Ocean Institute, with the aim of studying the deep ecosystems of the Atlantic.

The footage of the old facility surprised scientists, as the VHS tapes are mostly from the 1980s and 1990s and were not expected to be found in such a remote and extreme environment.

“It’s very strange and it’s completely intact. It’s unbelievable. This shows the durability of plastic: years go by and it remains intact,” said one of the researchers during the live broadcast of the expedition. According to the scientists, although the tape does not appear to have been there for many decades, the fact that it has remained almost unchanged shows that human remains can reach even the deepest areas of the oceans.

Experts stress that this is not an isolated case. Dr. Melissa Fernandez Severini from the Argentine Institute of Oceanography stated that waste such as plastic bags, containers, fishing nets, ropes and other materials related to human activity are often found in underwater canyons.

Although the VHS tape does not represent a particular scientific value as an object, researchers consider it a powerful symbol of the human impact on the planet and of the extraordinary durability of plastic, which continues to remain in nature even in the most inaccessible depths of the oceans.