Whalesong is structured like a language.
Astrobiology reports on a cross-disciplinary study that has found that the song of humpback whales has the same distinct mathematical structure as a human language: […]
marine biology
Robot manta is faster than ever – and smooth.
NC State researchers have used the mighty manta ray as a moving inspiration to design their fastest-yet swimming soft robot: “Two years ago, we demonstrated […]
Cute crustacean named after a brewery (with a briny beer).
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 […]
Science Art: Ophiactis tricolor: a, arboral view; b, oral view of holotype.
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 […]
A lonely dolphin keeps shouting into the Baltic
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, […]
Two creatures can become one.
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 […]
Fish legs taste the sea floor.
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 […]
Science Art: Sagitta atlantica and Sagitta equatoria, 1922.
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 […]
White whales talk with their foreheads.
Scientific American listens in on beluga conversations, thanks to a new dictionary that itemizes the “words” formed by their squishy, shape-able forehead “melons” to let […]
SONG: Great Big Love
SONG: “Great Big Love”. (available as .ogg here) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on The Guardian, 28 Feb 2024, “Humpback sex photographed for first time – […]
Humpback sex photographed for the first time – and it’s gay.
The Guardian runs a science story about a milestone in marine biology – the first time humpback whales have ever been caught on camera in […]
Giant, ancient predator worms discovered in Arctic Greenland
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 of Northern Greenland: […]
Science Art: Sea Sirens, by A.A. Jansson, 1930.
“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 […]
Rejuvenating seaweed.
Scientific Frontline waxes optimistic about Flinders University research into the youth-prolonging properties of washed-up Australian brown seaweed – specifically, as a source of collagens that […]
Science Art: From Notes on Cephalopods from Northern California, 1967.
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 […]