40 Years Later: What Titanic's Rusty Grave Teaches Scientists

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The Titanic Four Decades After Discovery: What The Wreck Has Taught Us

Forty years after its discovery, the Titanic wreck continues to offer scientists rare insight into life and decay in one of Earth’s most extreme environments.

By Sara Tonks and Jennifer Gray • just now

Two children look at a projection showing images of the wreck of the Titanic on the seabed in the Titanic Belfast visitor centre in the "Titanic Quarter" in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 27, 2012.

( Photo by PETER MUHLY/AFP via Getty Images )

Forty years ago on Sept. 1, 1985, a joint expedition led by the United States and France found the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

The ship was finally discovered after it had spent an astonishing 73 years lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, ever s