Museum of Science @museumofscience

Have you ever seen an Orca hit a fish so hard it explodes? 🫍 Scientists recently observed this behavior from groups of orcas in the Gulf of California where they repeatedly ram sunfish until the impact broke them apart. This is an important indicator of "social learning," where animals copy one another through observation. Orcas have exhibited behavior like this before, when they were seen disabling sailboats in groups. The current hypotheses for why they are doing this include teaching young orcas to hunt, or just playing around!

What happens if you try to blow a piece of paper further into a vase? 🏺💨 @GWolf_Science puts it to the test, even bringing in a compressor for extra force, but the paper won't go in. The reason comes down to air pressure: blowing into the vase raises the pressure inside, and with the paper blocking its only exit, that pressure pushes back and forces the paper right back out.

@OCEARCH @JaneGoodallInst Meet the shark that started it all for @OCEARCH here: youtube.com/watch?v=1UY__W… The Jane Goodall Institute does not endorse handling or close proximity to chimpanzees and other wildlife. This archival footage represents a historical context.

Meet Goodall, the shark making waves in Atlantic Canada. 🦈 @OCEARCH named this large female shark in honor of the late @JaneGoodallInst after she passed. Goodall was tagged during a collaborative trip with the Tan Cook Field station up in the Atlantic near Canada. Chris Fischer, founder of OCEARCH notes her movements have already defied expectations, sliding into Nova Scotia instead of heading offshore like fellow shark Lydia did back in 2013. Scientists are now wondering whether Goodall will migrate south with the other sharks this fall, or head offshore to warmer waters to finish gestating.

Could stem cells grown in space unlock new treatments for ALS, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, and stroke? 🧫 These preflight images show immunostained stem cells and a brain organoid immunostained for neural-specific markers, laboratory techniques used to detect specific proteins and antigens in biological samples. Both are part of Stellar Stem Cells Mission 3, an investigation aiming to grow stem cell clusters, known as organoids, aboard the International Space Station to support cell-based therapies, disease modeling, and drug testing platforms. Image Source: Cedars-Sinai

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References: De Paggi, S. B. J., Wallace, R., Fontaneto, D., & Marinone, M. C. (2020). Phylum Rotifera. Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates, 145-200. . Hickman, C. P., Roberts, L. S., Larson, A., Ober, W. C., & Garrison, C. (2015). Animal diversity. WC Brown. 183. . Wallace, R. L., & Snell, T. W. (2010). Rotifera. In Ecology and classification of North American freshwater invertebrates (pp. 173-235). Academic Press.

‼️RARE FOOTAGE ALTERT‼️ Our friend Chloe Savard, also known as tardibabe on Instagram found little pooping rotifers, some of the smallest animals on our planet! With over 2000 different species described, rotifers can be found all over the world mostly in freshwater habitats like ponds and lakes but also in marine environments (that’s where I found these ones!), lichens, soils, sewages, permafrost and even inside or outside other animals. Although a few rotifer species are parasitic, the majority are free-living and either swim amongst plankton, crawl within sediments, attach themselves to submerged aquatic plants or live inside a secreted, gelatinous tube. These tiny invertebrates form an extremely diverse group that developed many different morphologies and locomotion strategies as a way to adapt to various environmental pressures, including predation. The ciliated head of rotifers, called corona, is used for both locomotion and gathering food particles. This corona creates a vortex that draws food into the mouth, through the ciliated pharynx where it is then ground up by the mastax which consists of complex jaws and muscles before entering the stomach. Their diet mainly consists of organic detritus, bacteria, algae, worms, small ciliates, and other protozoans. Even though these primitive creatures do not possess either a circulatory or respiratory system, they do have a brain, eyes, a complete digestive tract as well as a muscular, excretory and reproductive system. Some muscles are visible all along the body, like strings pulling on different internal components.

Artemis III is getting closer and training for the mission is ramping up! 🧑‍🚀 At @NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, exploration geologists and Artemis science officers Trevor Graff and Angela Garcia suited up for a lunar training run in the 40-foot-deep pool, testing Artemis geology tools and deploying a mock lunar payload under lighting built to mimic the Moon's south pole. The session marked a first for the program: two geologists trained underwater together for lunar geology, helping shape the training astronauts will use on future Moon landings. Credit: NASA

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🎟 Get tickets: bit.ly/3QzCc9L Join us August 13 for a night where science speaks in verse. Curated and hosted by Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, the evening explores the deep intersection of art, inquiry, and the human condition.

@jorgeanastacios @OCEARCH It's why shark scientists tend to estimate the especially large sharks as being older!

Do sharks ever stop growing? 🦈 Dr. Bob Hueter, Senior Science Advisor at @OCEARCH, explains that most sharks continue growing throughout their lives, adding a little more size with every passing year. That's why sharks like Contender, one of the largest male white sharks ever tagged by OCEARCH in the western North Atlantic, can reach incredible sizes. When he was tagged, Contender was already estimated to be over 30 years old and could still have decades of life ahead of him.

@juanjos33258235 @OCEARCH Absolutely! Lobsters also do not have a defined upper bound..they grow until it is too taxing for them to molt their shells.

@AlexDainis See more from Alex Dainis here: youtube.com/watch?v=ARKTXX…

You can build a toilet paper launcher out of items in your bathroom! 🧻 @AlexDainis shows us how everyday items can demonstrate real air pressure science. It all comes down to Bernoulli's Principle: the faster air moves, the less pressure it exerts. Aim a hairdryer over the top of a toilet paper roll and watch the paper launch, all thanks to the pressure difference between the fast air above and the slower air below.

@OCEARCH Want to learn more about sharks like Contender and Mary Lee? Learn with us and @OCEARCH here: youtube.com/watch?v=1UY__W…

🎟 Get tickets: bit.ly/444fXvH Join us August 12 for Fandom is a Science, a moderated conversation and audience exchange with Ariana Godov & Elizabeth "Betty" Cayouette, exploring what happens in our brains when stories move us, and how fan communities shape identity and creativity.

Do you know about LHS 1140b? 🌏 Learn about a rocky planet with an atmosphere like ours, along with how astrophysicists found it and what this teaches us about our own planet on SubStack: …cingoutbymuseumofscience.substack.com/p/space-news-d…

What could radar help us see in Antarctica? 🇦🇶 @NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) took this astonishingly hummingbird-like satellite photo of the mountain Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja to find out! Taken by radar instruments aboard the satellite NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), this radar image captures the mountaintop and the flowing glaciers, as well as the stress-borne crevasses ringing the mountain, in stunning detail which would be invisible through traditional optical photography. Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This spider can jump 38 times its body length! 🕷️ Quinten Geldhof, also known as Microhobbyist, shows a jumping spider under the microscope and explains why they are one of nature's most impressive hunters. These tiny arachnids can leap up to 38 times their body length, have the best eyesight of any spider, and use silk like a bungee cord instead of spinning webs to catch prey. When it's time to rest, they even weave tiny silk hammocks to keep themselves safe.

@spenser222 As a quick and dirty explanation, GPS uses signals from at least four different satellites to calculate your position!

🔬 What's one everyday object that you wish you understood the science behind?