Everyone dreams of being a scientist, but few understand just what that profession entails. Well, among other things, you could be a whale snot drone pilot.

Sylke Rohrlach from Sydney [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Marine biologists have come up with a very clever approach. Whales surface to exhale, sending a spray of air, water, snot, and bacteria high in the air from their blowholes. Researchers used to use long poles to try and capture this “blow” (the technical name for the stuff that comes out of a blowhole). But this is obviously a difficult process.

Instead, some bright spark proposed that a drone could be piloted through the spray, capturing all the mucus and data at one fell swoop. Brilliant. You can see a video of this process in action below.

• Blowhole
• Extensive Core Microbiome in Drone-Captured Whale Blow Supports a Framework for Health Monitoring

Categories: Animals Sciences

The Generalist

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and am curious about most things.