World’s Oldest Fossilized Brain Discovered A 525-million-year-old fossil of an extinct worm-like animal known as the Cardiodictyon catenulum was first discovered in China in 1984, but only recently have scientists found that the barely half-an-inch animal has a brain. Using a technique called “chromatic filtering,” scientists were able to reveal the animal’s nervous system and brain in an unsegmented head. Not only is this finding …
The Nanomia bijug is a gelatinous marine animal related to jellyfish that uses a dozen or more independent jets to swim. This design enables two swimming styles: one that syncs all of the jets up for increased speed and another that powers jets individually to save energy. The dual-swimming capabilities—which are exclusive to the Nanomia‘s siphonophores taxa as well as barrel-shaped salps—could inform and improve underwater …
1. Chocolate-Covered Jellyfish, a Recipe to Reduce Their Soaring Population A common problem across the Mediterranean, Japan and Sweden, soaring jellyfish populations are wreaking havoc on local businesses and infrastructure—from clogging up pipes at a power plant to making swimming impossible to overwhelming the fishing industry. Among the many ideas to mitigate the problem, a company called GoJelly is proposing several options: “an array of …
