Category: Nature
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The Right Ratio to Engineer a Swim
The knifefish doesn’t swim the way a trout or tuna does, waving its tail fin back and forth. Its propulsion comes from one long fin on its belly, and when it swims, the fin, not the body, undulates. A continuous wave passes along the fin, and watching it can be mesmerizing. This method of swimming,…
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California swimming pools spared from new drought restrictions
Council instead voted to increase drought emergency from stage two to three
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Rio official jumps into polluted waters to prove they’re OK for Olympics
There are big plans for Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay for the 2016 Summer Olympics, where the sailing events will take place. But with a year and a half until the games, criticism is falling on planners and authorities for not taking the necessary steps to clean up the notoriously polluted bay. Few observers have hope…
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Accountant almost killed by fish-thieving sea lion
One moment the US fishing enthusiast was posing triumphantly with his prized catch — the next, a hungry sea lion was dragging him underwater to what he feared would be his certain death. Dan Carlin had reeled in a number of yellowtails from his nine-metre boat in waters off San Diego, California, when his wife…
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How 22 diverse ocean creatures ended up using the same swim stroke
According to new research, many marine animals may have independently learned to optimize their swim strokes in the same way. A tiny cuttlefish and a huge stingray don’t look like they have much in common. Genetically and morphologically, they don’t. But even though their bodies are totally different shapes, it seems that both follow the…
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1 Million Fish
William Mitchell takes an enchanting dive into an infinite sea of Silversides in Grand Cayman.
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Gowanus Canal swimmer is ‘feeling healthy’ after jumping in polluted waterway
A day after he braved the filthy waters of the Gowanus Canal, Christopher Swain said he was feeling as good as new. “I’m feeling healthy and happy,†Swain, 47, said Thursday. “No problems at all.†Swain swam a portion of the polluted Brooklyn waterway Wednesday to highlight the need to clean it. The environmental activist cut short…
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330-pound stingray swims up to free diver, nibbles his head
Documentary filmmaker and diver Johnny Debnam, 29, was snorkeling with friends two weeks ago when the friendly giant of the deep came in for a closer look. “We were snorkeling in about 4 meters of water. We were filming the big stingrays and I was freediving down to the bottom,†Debnam said. “This particular ray…
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Underwater robot meets sperm whale 2000 ft down in the Mexican Gulf
Don’t call it Ishmael; the remotely operated underwater vehicle is named Hercules. Used by the Nautilus Live expedition to explore the depths of the sea, Hercules is one of a pair of robots live-streaming the depths of the ocean. Yesterday, south of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico and at a depth of almost 2000…