One of the biggest problems in marine biology? It’s a very basic one. How do you study ocean life?

Well, some of the ocean’s most delicate creatures– you have brittle coral, miniature squid, squishy jellyfish. They can’t survive the journey to the lab for further study. So marine scientists are looking to bring the lab to them.

Why is it so difficult to study things like jellyfish?

I feel a little bit like Q in James Bond working with the Harvard micro robotics lab where I tell them a scenario. And I particularly chose jellyfish just because they’re so difficult. And when working with this lab, I like to give them just incredible challenges.

So this animal that almost falls apart in the hand, asking them, can you develop me a soft robot, an ultra gentle robot, that can help me study this animal and not hurt it?

Yeah, the idea is essentially to– one of the real goals is just to not stress out the animal and to not hurt it. And we try to use tandem as many things as we can on the same dive. So it’s like– it’s been a real stepwise process.

I’m Ira Flatow. This is Science Friday in WNYC Studios. I’m talking with David Gruber, professor of biology at Baruch College at City University of New York about his way of gently catching jellyfish.