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A strange geometric fossil hides in  the sedimentary rocks of the Alps.   It's built of interconnected, hardened  tubes that weave together into honeycomb   shapes. They spread and radiate into  larger hexagons of different sizes,   from those only a little bigger than a quarter,  to some that are over 10 centimeters across. The pattern looks almost like the bottom  of a precisely woven basket, or a trimmed   down net - which is probably why this fossil is  named Paleodictyon, which means "ancient net." The raised surfaces and regular, repeating  geometry are so intriguing that even   Leonardo DaVinci found them worth studying,  drawing them in one of his many notebooks. These fossils are found exclusively in the sort of   fine-grained rocks that were once mud  on the bottom of an ancient seafloor.   But while we know where they're from,  their maker has remained… a real puzzle. Are they burrows? Traces of an ancient  feeding strategy? Or maybe some sort of…   hexagon-shaped organism whose  body was preserved in mud? That's how odd they are - we  don't even know if this is   actually a trace fossil or the organism itself. What’s weirder is that we’ve now found  modern specimens at the bottom of our oceans,   chilling out over 3000 meters under  the sea near hydrothermal vents….   and we still don't quite know what they are. But DNA samples and specimens pulled up  to the surface have at least given us   some new ideas about what might be behind  the modern mystery of this ancient fossil. In 1976 scientists were exploring the  deep oceans of the mid-Atlantic ridge,   dragging a camera through the  water looking for the unexpected. You might know these explorations for their  weird ghostly crabs and black smokers,   but that's not all that's  at the bottom of the sea. Researchers also found thousands of  hexagon-shaped grids of regularly-spaced,   very small holes. They looked like someone was  giving an allergy test to the bottom of the ocean. The research team initially described them  as an "invertebrate of uncertain identity,"   and it wasn't for another few years  that the hexagon spacing of the holes   was connected to the hexagon fossil Paleodictyon. That link was eventually confirmed with the help  of an innovative piece of scientific equipment:   a squirt gun. Usually these deep sea vehicles have with little  water pumps meant for collecting specimens.   But some enterprising scientists  modified that pump into a tiny jet,   which the vehicle carried down to the ocean floor. Then, they attached the jet to a big  mechanical arm and basically sprayed   the area with holes until all the loose,  soft mud flew off, revealing the hardened,   hexagonal tubes we see in fossilized Paleodictyon. Squirt guns for science! As a result, we now know that Paleodictyon is not  only still alive, but that it is /everywhere/.  Since the 1970s we've found modern specimens  in every ocean other than the Arctic!   In some places, they pepper the ocean floor. And at the same time as we've been finding modern   specimens,...