Hamilton was a software engineer before the position was even existed—in fact, she's the one who coined the term. She was one of the first people who distinguished software engineering as a legitimate field worthy of respect.

In the 1960s, she led the team that developed the in-flight software for the Apollo missions. Her team's hand-written software played a critical role in landing the astronauts of Apollo 11 on the moon, one of the first times a computer was trusted with the real-time execution of a mission-critical task.

We asked our community whether or not the partial shutdown of the federal government, which has stretched into its second month, was having an impact on their research. One of our members is a former USDA researcher and helped illustrate the consequences of the shutdown on the government's scientific research. They asked to remain anonymous, citing limits on unauthorized statements imposed on scientists by the administration.

When it comes to agriculture research conducted by the USDA, they told us how a shutdown means the living things are not getting regular care. Plant research is often seasonal and so certain experiments need to be done at set seasonal times. If the few personnel allowed on station aren't capable of watering everything. Plants and insect colonies which aren't cared for could die. As a result, year-long projects could be irreparably lost.

Last month the scientific exploration ship Nautilus has discovered the largest deep-sea octopus nursery, with over 1,000 octopus. 

"We went down the eastern flank of this small hill, and that's when - boom - we just started seeing pockets of dozens here, dozens there, dozens everywhere," King told National Geographic.

It's wonderful to hear the un-self-conscious enthusiasm of these researchers as they discover the nursery.

Follow along with the Nautilus on Twitter and their ship's ongoing livestream.