It has been a while since we’ve had a Friday smorgasbord post and we figured with summer coming up, what better way to kickoff the first Friday in June than with a fun mixed post. First off is a new undersea hotel being planned for Dubai. The country is no stranger to unique and luxurious architecture and the Water Discus Hotel is looked to take that feel beneath the sea. Designed by Poland’s Deep Ocean Technology, the hotel will have 21 two-person rooms with large windows that will be as deep as 10 meters below the surface. The hotel will be surrounded by a coral reef, have an underwater diving center (complete with lessons), plus the hotel can also rotate. A large disc-shaped structure above the water will have a spa, garden, and upper-terrace swimming pool.
[via BusinessWeek]
Coral die-off from microscopic pathogens has been a global concern and researchers have begun using high-speed video to learn about the behavior of the deadly bacteria to hopefully learn how to manage coral disease. Melissa Garren, a marine microbiologist at MIT, has been using the video to discover that bacteria in a common coral disease are using chemical cues from the coral’s mucous excretions to target and kill the coral. In the video, Garren watched as bacteria sped across the water at a staggeringly fast 100 body lengths per second targeting the coral mucous. Next up, hopefully discovering why the microbes attack in the first place.
[via WIRED]
Need a way to get to your underwater hotel? Guinness Brewery is celebrating its 250th anniversary and they commissioned a Scandinavian marketing agency with creating a unique way to celebrate — with a deep sea bar hosted in a submarine. Sure there is room for plenty of dive bar jokes in here, but the stylish submarine allows you and the other patrons sip on the iconic beverage while cruising along in the Baltic Sea.
[via Guyism]
We like to consider ourselves and all ages show and for all our reefing parents out there that want to have their children’s first interactions with sealife something other than “Finding Nemo,” there’s an app for that. The $3.99 iPad app titled “Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef” is an interactive story with ocean life. Teach your lil frags a bit about reading, science and math with this fun app. There are three ways to interact with the story — read to me, read to myself, and sing to me! The story takes you on a journey of ocean animal babies through the numbers one through ten where you can interact with each one on each page. Tapping the animals or wiggling the iPad puts them in motion. A nice touch is an informational section to learn about each ocean animal in the app. Each animal has a real-life photograph and has a little explanation about that animal and their species.
[via iheartthisapp]
