UNDERWATER
Some people say we're the unusual creatures at the bottom of a sea of air.
I didn't know people kept Octopuses as pets (scroll down to first comment) or that they might provide a model for robotic arms. They are undeniably the smartest invertebrates being able to solve difficult mazes and distinguish between various objects (they have very high degree of tactile inteligence).
This was also interesting: young dolphins make toy air rings and play with them.
Megastructures are measured in 1,000s of kilometers (1,000 KM = 1 Megameter). The only megastructure on earth (built by creatures) is the Great Barrier Reef which is around 2,000 kilometers long (1,200 miles). No single human settlement compares with its magnitude.
Angler fish are scary.
A little tidbit I learned from my ecology class: the oldest living being on earth is a creosote bush in Arizona. Carbon dating puts its inception around 18,000 years ago. This is around the end of the last ice age. (The bush has been there as long as the desert.)
1 comment:
Hey Helmers,
A few months ago, in Wired magazine, an entire article was dedicated to the emerging technology in open ocean fish farming. Someday I'd like to be a part of the aquaculture industry, so you mention fish and I get all stoked. Anyway, discussed in this article was a huge, travelling fish farm, a sort of pen, which grows and transports fish via ocean currents to where the fish will be eventually sold. Totally amazing.
Check it out:
http://www.wired.com/wired/
archive/12.05/fish.html
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