On the platform, researchers push pieces of fish down a pipe that goes right to the bottom of the water.

BBC: Sea lion test to probe declines

As a prelude to permanently shutting down the well, crews are trying to withdraw drill pipe hanging below the bottom of the blowout preventer and remove it from the well, so they can then remove the capping stack that's kept oil from leaking since July 15 and replace the old blowout preventer with a new one.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

After World War II Lowe's became known hundreds of miles around for rock-bottom prices on nails, copper pipe and lumber by the railcar-load.

FORBES: Merchant Princes

Criticism of the disaster has sprung in part from decisions made over the design of the BP well, which used a single pipe, known as a "long string", that ran from the sea floor to the bottom of the well.

BBC: Oil spill: BP 'did not sacrifice safety to save money'