Whale's-Eye View
Whale's-Eye View Inside the Search and Destroy Theater, visitors to Giants of the Deep are treated to a virtual first-cetacean view of what it's like to be a sperm whale hunting for giant squid. The...
View ArticleWhaling
Whaling Unavoidable in any exhibition on the history on whales is whaling, which emerged in industrial form in the 1600s and continued for several centuries of almost indiscriminate slaughter. Oil...
View ArticleStrange Tooth
Strange Tooth Whales fall into two groups: those with teeth and those with mouths lined by baleen, or hair-like bristles that filter crustaceans and plankton from seawater. Baleen is actually an...
View ArticleA Very Big Heart
A Very Big Heart The largest animal on Earth also has the largest heart. A blue whale heart like the one modeled here is nearly the size of a small car, weighs more than half a ton and is responsible...
View ArticleFrom Land to Water
From Land to Water A series of fossils illustrates how whales evolved from land- to water-dwelling creatures. The process started about 60 million years ago on the shores of what is now Pakistan and...
View ArticleCousin to the Whales
Cousin to the Whales On the tree of life, whales dwell on a limb also occupied by pigs, giraffes camels and other hoofed members of the order Artiodactyla. Of the artiodactyls, hippopotamuses are the...
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A Very Big Carnivore
A Very Big Carnivore Though Andrewsarchus is known only from one specimen, "based on skull anatomy, we can figure out where it fits on the mammalian family tree, and based on its position in relation...
View ArticleThe First Whale
The First Whale Officially considered the first whale, wolf-sized Pakicetus lived about 45 million years ago in a river delta in what's now Pakistan. In many ways it was still accustomed to living on...
View ArticleBecoming Whale
Becoming Whale The aquatic trajectory that started 45 million years ago in Pakicetus was realized a few million years later in the sleek, almost otter-like Kutchicetus, adapted for a life spent almost...
View ArticleMar 20, 2013
The Supernova and the Galaxy About 35 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Eridanus (The River), lies the spiral galaxy NGC 1637. Back in 1999 the serene appearance of this galaxy...
View ArticleCockroach Robot
Cockroach-Controlled Robot Though probably not the best video to watch over lunch, the cockroach controlling a robot seen here is pretty fascinating. Created by artist Garnet Hertz of UC Irvine, the...
View ArticleCyborg Fly
Fruit Fly Steers Robot Swiss scientists have created what they call the Cyborg Fly. In this scheme, a fly is glued to a tether and placed in front of a mini movie screen. The screen plays a movie, and...
View ArticleSilkmoth Cruiser
Unless an asteroid or deadly pandemic wipes us out first, the force we are most afraid will rob us of our place as rulers of Earth is robots. The warnings range from sarcastic to nervous to dead...
View ArticleRatCar
RatCar At the University of Tokyo in Japan, scientists are creating strange hybrids between beast and machine. Seen here is one such animal, known as RatCar. Intended to be a first step toward helping...
View ArticleRobot Driving Ducks
Robot Driving Ducks Oh how the tables have turned: All this time animals have been driving robots, but here is a case of a robot driving the animals instead. Specifically, a small Roomba-esque machine...
View ArticleMonkey Minds Robot
Monkey Controls Robotic Arm In a lab at Duke University, a neuroscientist is training monkeys to control robots with their minds. The monkeys can control computer cursors, virtual arms, real robotic...
View ArticleMap of Matter from Planck
A map of matter between Earth and the edge of the universe, made with Planck data. Image: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech
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