We are happy as a clam to deliver our next installment of the Friday Smorgasbord. Every wonder what the origins of the idiom actually are? Seems it has been in use by sailors and shellfish gatherers from the mid-1600s in…
Science
Friday Smorgasbord: Reef smells, dogs, camo and drones
It has been far too long between posting our last Friday Smorgasbord and since summer is nearly over and we are all back to the normal grind, it made sense to dust off the typewriter and craft a new smorgasbord…
Reef Generation St. Martins aims to crowdfund artificial reef
The Reef Generation St. Martins project is an Indiegogo crowdfunding project whose aim is to build an artificial coral reef off the coast of St. Martin’s Grand Case to grow coral for reef restoration and develop educational programs. This project will be unique…
Mission Blue now available to stream on Netflix
Mission Blue is an important new movie that stresses the critical need to begin conserving the oceans the way that we protect the land. The Netflix original film is partly a biopic about the life of esteemed ocean scientist Sylvia…
Florida reefs get Google Maps love
Google Maps took its Street View below the sea a few years back mapping the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and now the technology is coming to Florida’s reefs as US scientists are learning to use specialized fisheye lenses underwater in…
Biting back, scientist who owes his career to Shark Week takes aim at programming
David Shiffman owes his career to Discovery Channel’s Shark Week having caught the bug after being captivated by the first Shark Week over 25 years ago. Shiffman is now a PhD candidate at the University of Miami studying shark ecology and…
Finding Neo: Oceansphere is the Matrix for fish
Fisheries are under a lot of stress and strain and this company’s Matrix-like approach might just be the answer by creating automated fish farms in the open ocean. The Oceansphere, from Hawaii Oceanic Technology (HOT), is a huge spherical fish farm…
Awesome fish cannon shoots salmon safely over dams
One company is using fish cannons to safely get migrating fish through man-made obstacles. Salmon are curious creatures going from the saltwater ocean to travel hundreds of miles up freshwater rivers and streams to return to where they were born…
Mythbusters blows up an aquarium “for science”
If you have an “exploding aquarium” accident, it’s usually very bad news for the owner of the aquarium, and the animals living inside it. On another note, many of us have “legacy” aquarium gear including old tank which are barely…
These toroidal bubbles are simply amazing
Although this video of toroidal bubbles has been around for quite a few years, it still is just as captivating now as it was back in 2010. What are toroidal bubbles? Also known as toroidal vortices, a toroidal vortex is a region…