dolphins | Southern Fried Science

Getting your kids started in conservation technology: a quick guide for parents who have no idea where to begin.

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Andrew Thaler

Southern Fried Science has been a bit dormant for the last year, so first, a re-introduction:

I’m Andrew Thaler, I’m an ocean scientist, and I make weird tech things.

Ten years ago I inherited an old mechanical tide gauge from a lab cleanout. For some bizarre reason, I thought: what if, instead of tracking the rising and falling tides in the Beaufort Inlet, it tracked the waxing and waning of conversations about sea level rise on Twitter. And thus, the Sea Leveler was born.

Meet Sea Leveler: the open source water level gauge that wants you to talk about #sealevelrise

In a lot of ways, the Sea Leveler was the precursor of things to come. It was exhaustively documented and released as an open-source project on GitHub. It merged the digital with the physical, creating an object that allowed you to connect an online conversation to the real-world environment through repurposed technology. It was weird. And it was fun.

The Sea Leveler itself was passed on to a good friend and champion of ocean outreach, but its legacy lives on in the plethora of projects to follow: Drown Your Town, Dolphin Vision, the reStepper, Turtle Borg, and, of course, the OpenCTD.

“We’re in the midst of a sea change in who has access to the core tools of marine scientific research,” Weekly Salvage: November 11, 2019

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Andrew Thaler

Transcript available below.

LarvaBots, turning the tide on captive dolphins, horror fish from the deep sea, ARA San Juan found, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: November 19, 2018.

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Congratulations to Dr. Hal Holmes of Conservation X Labs for earning a Moore Foundation Inventor Fellowship for his DNA Barcode Project.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Reef RangerBot becomes ‘LarvalBot’ to spread coral babies.

LarvalBot gently squirts the coral larvae onto damaged reef areas. Credit: QUT Media

Turn of the tide: Seeing dolphins differently by National Aquarium Director John Racanelli.

We Robot, a horrible hagfish massacre, deep, delicious sandwiches, fish slime harvests, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: September 10, 2018.

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (a call to action)

The pending U.S. destruction of Pagan and Tinian islands.

The U.S. is turning a significant portion of Micronesia into live fire and bombing ranges to train Marines. It has plans to completely take over one island for this purpose and has control of two-thirds of another island.

If people in the U.S. mainland understood the military’s plan for Micronesia they might be alarmed. But this is really happening to U.S. citizens living in America’s territories.

(source)

We Robot 2019: sign up for one of the best conferences I’ve ever participated in!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

‘Slime eel’ massacre caused by Washington man’s boat accident, lawsuit says.

The Levee (news from LUMCON)

Floodwaters are plaguing a lab where scientists study … coastal flooding.

LUMCON’s DeFelice Marine Center, flooded, as seen from a dormitory balcony. (Photo: Courtesy of LUMCON)

Gregarious gars, surprising crocs, mustachioed monkeys, ocean wilderness, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 30, 2018

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Logo for Monday Morning Salvage.

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Completely shameless Patreon Plug! Today marks the 1-year anniversary of our Jaunty Ocean Critter Stickers campaign. We’re going to continue making new red-capped sticker until the end of the year, then the theme will change! Sign up now if you want to support Southern Fried Science and get a very Gregarious Gar!

A gar wearing a red cap.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Did you see marine biologist Melissa Cristina Márquez on Shark Week this week? Read more about her experience here: Marine Biologist Melissa Cristina Márquez Was Bitten and Dragged by a Crocodile…and Lived to Tell Her Story. And, of course, follow her on Twitter.

Marine biologist Melissa Cristina Márquez

The Gam (conversations from the ocean-podcasting world)

I swung by the Speak Up for the Blue Podcast to celebrate their 500th episode with a reflection on 10 years of online ocean outreach.

I built a head-mounted LiDAR array that lets you see the world like a dolphin via vibrations sent through your jaw.

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

I’m Andrew Thaler and I build weird things.

Last month, while traveling to Kuching for Make for the Planet Borneo, I had an idea for the next strange ocean education project: what if we could use bone-conducting headphones to “see” the world like a dolphin might through echolocation?

The author wearing a head mounted LiDAR array, looking very pensive.

Spoilers: You can. Photo by A. Freitag.

Bone-conducting headphones use speakers or tiny motors to send vibrations directly into the bone of you skull. This works surprisingly well for listening to music or amplifying voices without obstructing the ear. The first time you try it, it’s an odd experience. Though you hear the sound just fine, it doesn’t feel like it’s coming through your ears. Bone conduction has been used for a while now in hearing aids as well as military- and industrial-grade communications systems, but the tech has recently cropped up in sports headphones for people who want to listen to music and podcasts on a run without tuning out the rest of the world. Rather than anchoring to the skull, the sports headphones sit just in front of the ear, where your lower jaw meets your skull.

This is not entirely unlike how dolphins (and at least 65 species of toothed whales) detect sound. Read More

Valuing the deep sea, send @mcmsharksxx to Antarctica, deep-sea mining takes a dive, explore Kiribati, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 9, 2018

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Melissa Márquez is fundraising to participate in a women-in-science leadership retreat that culminates in a 2.5 week trip to Antarctica. Help her out! Or back her Patreon!
The scandal-plagued, utterly ineffective, Scott Pruitt is out, just days after an American patriot told him exactly how she felt about him in a restaurant. Good.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Investing in indigenous communities is most efficient way to protect forests, report finds. This should surprise no one but it often does.
Explore the deep waters around Kiribati with OpenExplorer!

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Virtual Reality Preserves Disappearing Land: Coastal communities are capturing their cultures and landscapes in virtual reality before sea level rise steals them for good.
Where Did the Oil Go In the Gulf of Mexico? a storymap.

Shrinking Islands, shrieking dolphins, little hobbit shrimp, boat knives, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 18, 2018

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

We owe the next generation a better world than we’re giving them. Call your representatives. Demand they stop separating children from their parents at the border. The ACLU has a script to use.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Dispatch from Tangier, the Sinking Island in the Chesapeake.

A combination of storm-driven erosion and sea-level rise, which are both increasing as climate change advances, may soon swallow the island entirely.Photograph by Gordon Campbell / At Altitude Gallery

A normal call.

The call of a dolphin that would rather not get eaten.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Our Speak Up for the Blue rundown continues!

Two new writers, the net that never stops killing, how not to launch a boat, the Blackfish Effect, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 28, 2018

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Muster (updates from the blog)

Southern Fried Science has a fresh, new, mobile friendly look! Let us know what you think in the comments.
We welcomed two new writers in as many months! Please give a huge welcome to Angelo Villagomez and Rachel Pendergrass. Check out their first articles:
- The ‘Pluto Moment’ for Marine Protected Areas.
- Defining Your Audience (Or How To Plan The Worst Birthday Ever).
Spotted in the Chesapeake: We met a friendly Northern Water Snake swimming around the Bay this weekend. Northern Water Snakes are common and completely harmless. If you see one, just say “Hi” and let them be.

Photo by author

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this summer, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper. If you’ve done so, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

A Single Discarded Fishing Net Can Keep Killing for Centuries.

“One old gill net found wedged between rocks off the coast of the San Juan Islands reportedly sat atop a pile of marine bird and mammal bones that was three feet deep.”

source.

This Woods Hole robot submarine found a 300-year-old Spanish galleon that may contain billions in treasure.

WHOI

It’s been far, far too long since we had a really good boat launch fail. Don’t worry, the crane operator bailed out before the flip and is fine.

Bone-eating Jabba worms, the world’s deepest plastic bag, new shipwrecks, climate change art, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 14, 2018.

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this May, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper. If you’ve done so, please leave a link to it in the comments.
How to save the high seas: As the United Nations prepares a historic treaty to protect the oceans, scientists highlight what’s needed for success.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

No commentary needed: Eyeless, Mouthless, Bone-Eating Worm Named After Jabba the Hutt.

Osedax worms growing on the vertebrae of a dead whale.
Photo: 2006 MBARI

Every ocean, every dive, every time, trash: Plastic Bag Found at the Bottom of World’s Deepest Ocean Trench.