NC State researchers have used the mighty manta ray as a moving inspiration to design their fastest-yet swimming soft robot:
… Read the rest “Robot manta is faster than ever – and smooth.”“Two years ago, we demonstrated an aquatic soft robot that was
The Guardian has news from New Zealand, where marine biologists have just discovered a new species of isopod, and decided the publicize the little critter’s unique ecological needs… Read the rest “Cute crustacean named after a brewery (with a briny beer).”
These are brittle stars, photographed in the 1920s for the Records of the South Australia Museum. These specific ones are from “Dr. Verco’s collection in St. Vincent and Spencer… Read the rest “Science Art: Ophiactis tricolor: a, arboral view; b, oral view of holotype.”
Popular Science shares the story of a solo 17-year-old bottlenose dolphin, dubbed “Delle,” who has been spotted off the coast of Denmark for five years, far from any other … Read the rest “A lonely dolphin keeps shouting into the Baltic”
Science Daily reports on simple organisms called “comb jellies” (a.k.a. “ctenophores”) that have a weird way to overcome physical trauma. If two or more of … Read the rest “Two creatures can become one.”
Science Daily goes deep (well, a little deep) on sea robins, the fish known for having little legs they use to scurry across the ocean floor. Apparently those “legs” are actually… Read the rest “Fish legs taste the sea floor.”
These are illustrations from “Notes on Species of Sagitta Collected on a Voyage from England to Australia” by B.B. Gray, as published in The Proceedings of the Royal Society… Read the rest “Science Art: Sagitta atlantica and Sagitta equatoria, 1922.”
Scientific American listens in on beluga conversations, thanks to a new dictionary that itemizes the “words” formed by their squishy, shape-able forehead “melons”… Read the rest “White whales talk with their foreheads.”
SONG: “Great Big Love”. (available as .ogg here)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: Based on The Guardian, 28 Feb 2024, “Humpback sex photographed for first time – and both whales… Read the rest “SONG: Great Big Love”
The Guardian runs a science story about a milestone in marine biology – the first time humpback whales have ever been caught on camera in the act of mating. But it’s a story with… Read the rest “Humpback sex photographed for the first time – and it’s gay.”
PhysOrg has another delightful story about prehistoric invertebrates. This time, researchers have discovered a half-a-billion-year-old enormous predator worm from the icy reaches… Read the rest “Giant, ancient predator worms discovered in Arctic Greenland”
“The efforts made by oversober scientists to reduce such marvels to coldly reasonable origins have in a few specific cases been only too successful,” wrote George Gaylord… Read the rest “Science Art: Sea Sirens, by A.A. Jansson, 1930.”
Scientific Frontline waxes optimistic about Flinders University research into the youth-prolonging properties of washed-up Australian brown seaweed – specifically, as a source… Read the rest “Rejuvenating seaweed.”
I thought this was a nautilus, but it might be a moon snail. It’s a mollusk of some kind, with a gracefully curved shell and a complex, fleshy body, all rendered as simply as possible … Read the rest “Science Art: From Notes on Cephalopods from Northern California, 1967.”
Baby pictures, from The American lobster; a study of its habits and development, a Bureau of Fisheries document that I found here, at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
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