homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Dolphin creates underwater bubble and then plays with it

This dolphin just created a bubble ring (also called toroidal bubble) and started playing with it (I like how he eats it at the end). Surprisingly, many cetaceans such as beluga whales, dolphins and humpback whales, blow bubble rings, but only dolphins engage in such complex play behavior with it. They either puff a rapid burst […]

Mihai Andrei
November 30, 2015 @ 11:07 am

share Share

This dolphin just created a bubble ring (also called toroidal bubble) and started playing with it (I like how he eats it at the end). Surprisingly, many cetaceans such as beluga whales, dolphins and humpback whales, blow bubble rings, but only dolphins engage in such complex play behavior with it. They either puff a rapid burst of water, or a create a toroidal vortex with their flukes and inject a bubble into the helical vortex currents thus formed – as is the case here. Dolphins seem to enjoy this so much, it makes me think of a quote from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

share Share

Pee-back time: Anti-Pee Paint Splashes Back at Public Urination

When man piss in wind, wind piss back, a modern Confucius states. In this line, the city of Hamburg ingeniously sought to address its growing public urination problem in the city's busy party center by painting walls with hydrophobic paint. Next time an unsuspecting person wants to take a load off in Hamburg's St. Pauli neighborhood, he might be in for a surprise - it'll splash back at him.

CT-Scan of an unopened walnut is both beautiful and relaxing

A walnut's rugged shell conceals a labyrinth of chambers and partitions, revealed in mesmerizing detail through CT scanning.

The Surprising Sleep of Sperm Whales: Vertical Naps in the Ocean Deep

If you think it's tough to sleep on land, try sleeping in the sea.

The Pharaoh's Snake: A Chemical Reaction That Looks Like a Portal to Hell

Many chemical reactions are surprising, but this one is something else.

The stunning history of the Fukang Pallasite meteorite

In the year 2,000, a Chinese dealer purchased an unusual-looking rock weighing around a ton. He cleaned it off, removing 20 kilograms (44 lb) from it, and then took the rock (a gleaming mass of crystals and iron) to a Gem and Mineral Show in Tucson, Arizona. At the show, Dr. Dante Lauretta, a professor […]

Over 70% of science award finalists in the US are children of immigrants

Immigration pays off, especially if you're interested in science and math.

Gray wolves are making a comeback in California — but not everyone is happy

After becoming virtually extinct in California, wolves are making a comeback.

Not money, not fame: An 85-year-long study shows what makes us happiest

It's not money, it's not fame or glory. It's all about healthy relationships. Enjoy this masterful TED talk!

We only have one last chance to save the tigers

“A tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage and when he is exterminated – as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support – India will be the poorer by having lost the finest of her fauna.” So said Jim Corbett, a man whose fate was bound to that of the […]

Watch a Bao Bao the panda playing in the snow for the very first time

Well there's a lot of good science already this early in the year, but hey - let's relax a little bit and look at this big guy just having fun in the snow - this is footage of a giant panda seeing snow for the first time in his life.