Jellyfish Swimming Is Mixing the Oceans

eviltangerine writes "A new article from LiveScience suggests that marine creatures, such as the jellyfish, may contribute as much to ocean mixing as wind and tides. Wired is also covering the story and includes a video of the jellyfish in action. From the article, 'The mere act of swimming implies that some water travels with the swimmer,' said CalTech engineer Kakani Katija, co-author of the study in Nature Wednesday. 'Drift applies to all animals, to anything with a body.' No word yet on when the jellyfish blender is to debut."

Re:Huh?

[FlyingBishop]

At the very least, the organism contains water.

However, Sir Newton shouldn't have any problem with the statement. Obviously, some water must be pushed away from the swimmer, but so long as the total water pushed backward equals the sum of the mass of the swimmer plus the sum of the water carried with the swimmer.

Furthermore, once the Jellyfish is in motion, any water carried with it, like the Jellyfish, will want to continue in motion. The most low-energy state allows the water already in motion with the Jellyfish to continue moving, while water in front of the animal is pushed aside and around back.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then he must not understand fluid dynamics. When moving through a fluid, the fluid closest to the object moving moves very little or even not at all, implying that some gets dragged forward.

Of course, a bunch gets flung back as well, which is what I assume you meant.

Re:It's not CamelCase

[Anonymous Coward]

The Institute's Media Relations Department specifically requests that all press organizations should use either use "Caltech" or "California Institute of Technology," and that "CalTech" or "Cal Tech" is nonstandard. It isn't about proper use of English, it's just that it makes sense to use a single standardized abbreviation.

Incidentally, as an alumnus, I've noticed that several street signs located in the Pasadena area that point to Caltech are similarly incorrect. Not that I really care. That place took four years of my life from me, the professors don't care about the undergraduates, and the living quarters were ridiculously filthy, so it's not like I really give a rat's ass.

NPR has a solid commentary and some nice video

[ParticleGirl]

which is definitely worth checking out. [npr.org] Really amazing stuff!

The BBC [bbc.co.uk] story also has some interesting points about why jellyfish in particular are being looked at.