The first device that allowed man to descend underwater and observe the marine environment for an extended period was the diving bell. Named for their shape, these chambers began as open-ended metal-rimmed wooden barrels and have existed since...

A diving bell, also known as a wet bell, is a cable-suspended airtight chamber, open at the bottom like a moon pool structure, that is lowered underwater to operate as a base or a means of transport for a small number of divers. The pressure of the...

1 THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY [MOVIE] In this biopic from Julian Schnabel, the charismatic editor in chief of French Elle, Jean-Dominique Bauby, wakes after a stroke to find himself paralyzed. His movement limited to blinking, Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) painstakingly composes a...

SEXUAL intercourse, Philip Larkin famously wrote, was invented in 1963. In the same way, disease, dementia and death were invented in the 1990s. This is the decade when mortality climbed down off the religious and medical shelves, loosened its tie and made itself...

Last night, Mathieu Almaric was talking to The Daily Transom about starring in The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.“You don’t choose a film, the film chose me,” he said.The film that chose Mr. Almaric chronicles the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the vibrant, stylish editor...

Complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday:1. Best Picture: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."2. Actor: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet...