Goo, Globsters & Garbage

The U.S. coastguard is investigating a mysterious blob of goo off the Arctic Coast.

According to news reports, it is probably a "naturally occurring and organic phenomenon or marine organism" and not an oil product or hazardous substance. Jelly fish were found tangled in it the pitch black, hairy goo, which is hypothesised to be an algal bloom not observed in recent history.

Reading this reminded me about the many globsters that have been found throughout history, which are now known to be the corpses of marine megafauna. Arg, There be sea monsters! (collosal squids and giant jellyfish etc. )

It also brought to mind the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (and the other marginally smaller ones, yes, it was old news before it was on Oprah :p) and the very many other critical findings about the shocking status of Earth's oceans (all Homo sapiens raise your hands to take accountability).

"Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, scientists, environmentalists, ocean lovers, sailors, and sports enthusiasts who have come together with a common purpose. To study the North Pacific Gyre and the marine debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture the debris and to study the possible retrieval and processing techniques that could be potentially employed to detoxify and recycle these materials into diesel fuel."

So, space exploration isn't occuring as rapidly as speculative fiction envisioned. So, we might perhaps need to extend the life and life carrying capacity of this planet just a little bit longer. ahem.

Invasion of the Jellyfish?

In 1995, when the first major reports of crop circles enchanted the imaginations of conspiracy nuts and casuist theorists, I was young and impressionable enough to want to believe. The X-Files might have had an influence on me too.

But now we know it's groups of talented hoaxers who have more to fear from an irate farmer none to pleased about the damage of his crops, than the Men in Black discovering their existence as aliens in our midst. This bunch artistically represented a threat far more scientifically valid than the recent end of the Mayan world symbol (in 2012 according dubious calculations based on the Mayan calender) . Yup, it's the invasion of the jellyfish!

The giant Nomura jellyfish (images below), found off the coast of Japan, is hypothesised to be caused by overfishing (not enough competition for food to keep jellyfish numbers/growth in check with fewer predators too). They are a bane to fishermen, wreaking havoc with nets and ruining catches, to such an extent that methods to kill these jellyfish are in development. But, it's not all bad news for the Asian market, since the Chinese have been exploiting the resource for centuries and jellyfishing is a multimillion dollar industry. Traditional processing methods use salt (NaCl) and alum to reduce the water content, decrease the pH, and firm the texture and the processed jellyfish have a unique crunchy and crispy texture. There's place in the Western health food trend market for these low carb jellyfishy delicacies, since studies prompted by invasions of other species off US (the cannonball jellyfish invasions) and UK coastlines reveal health benefits.

I mean, with all the research showing that we are rapidly depleting the oceans as a result of years of unchecked overfishing, you may soon be munching on a jellyfish sammich in lieu of a tuna one!