Surfer’s ears – and what can be done about them [new study]

“External auditory exostoses, also known as surfer’s ear, are benign tumours of the external auditory canal. They form primarily as a result of environmental factors, including recurrent exposure to cold water (below 19°C) or cold air, with a prevalence in surfers ranging from 38% to 73.5%. The prevalence and severity of exostoses are dependent on […]

Which seals have the stiffest whiskers?

Pinnipeds (for example seals) tend to have vibrissae (i.e. whiskers) of varying flexurality (stiffness), arranged in a mystacial (moustache-like) format. Warranting an experimental investigation: “This is the first comparative study on the mechanical properties of pinniped mystacial vibrissae.” – explain a team of researchers from Texas A&M university and West Chester University, US. The investigators […]

Alexander Semenov and Alexander Semenov, and their works

One Alexander Semenov makes beautiful photographs of worms deep in the ocean. The other Alexander Senenov invents spectacular devices, one of which is a method to use the waste products produced by the crew of a battle tank, stuffing those waste products into explosive shells that the tank fires at an enemy. See if you […]

Boobies at Sea, with Cameras and Comrades

Today’s Boobies-at-Sea Study-of-the-Day is: “Social Interactions of Juvenile Brown Boobies at Sea as Observed with Animal-Borne Video Cameras,” Ken Yoda, Miku Murakoshi, Kota Tsutsui, Hiroyoshi Kohno, PLoS ONE 6(5): e19602. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019602. (Thanks to investigator Robin Abrahams for alerting us to it.) The authors, include video, some of which you can watch (or, depending on how […]