Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online
We’re getting a huge surge in pageviews from reddit, stumble, and neatorama today. If you’re new here check out some of our classic Southern Fried Science Posts: How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel. The Cove, Dolphins, and Mercury Ethical Debate: Captive … Read More “Welcome stumblers, reddit-ers, and neatorama readers” »
At first glance, the question posed in the title seems silly. Both cod and sandbar sharks are fish, therefore they must be more similar to each other than either are to bowhead whales (which are mammals). However, a recent conservation genetics paper has demonstrated that one aspect of a sandbar shark’s life history is more similar to that of bowhead whales: both sandbar sharks and bowhead whales have an effective size that is very similar to their census size.
Read More “Are sandbar sharks more like bowhead whales or cod?” »
We’d all been staring at the weather forecast in disbelief for the last couple of days. We had plenty of warning it was coming, but even in the midst of a storm, I don’t believe it’s happening. Why? Because it’s sunny out. However, there are gale force winds outside causing 12-14 foot swells and rocking the boat every which way.
Today marks the official halfway point for our year long adventure traveling the world with Charles Darwin. his first 3 months are summarized here – 365 days of Darwin: the first 3 months. Charlie has had an exciting 3 months, traveling across the country, diving into the Deep Sea Lab, and even testing out his green thumb in the garden. He kicked off these three months with a celebration of Mardi Gras:
This Sunday on NPR I heard the following paraphrased comment: “The ROV pilots have never had to deal with anything like this before, no one has trained for the kinds of maneuvers needed to close to well.” I’ve known many ROV pilots. They are all incredibly skilled, know how to handle their robots, and generally have many years of experience working in industrial settings.
But commercial ROV work tends to be monotonous. Many pilots I know spend the vast majority of their time inspecting pipelines and oil rigs, flying over long tracks of seafloor with little to no variation, looking for any signs of damage. When their skills are put to the test, it’s often the same repetitive motion, over and over. Even training simulations to prepare them for catastrophes cannot predict the infinite variations that could occur as an oil-rig collapses. It’s impossible to train for everything.
Until you throw a biologist into the mix.
Read More “Unguided deep-sea research is essential for national and global security” »
.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been busy with final exams and the start of my field season. Fortunately, many of the other shark bloggers have written about the important topics I’ve missed. RTSea and Underwater Thrills both have written about how the Gulf oil spill can affect whale sharks, which are filter feeders who … Read More “Monday morning blogaerobics: shark news roundup and a message from Antarctica” »
Charlie celebrates half a year of Darwin-escapades by watching the hops grow.
Charlie studies the unfinished fantail of the mysterious Project S.
