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Why Do Whales Breathe Air?

It’s a fair question. Most multicellular life on Earth requires oxygen to sustain metabolism, and those organisms get it from the fluids around them. (Yes, even plants.) But while organisms that breathe water but live on land are few and far between, aquatic and semiaquatic air-breathers are abundant. Many frogs, salamanders, crocodilians, caiman lizards, sea snakes, turtles, penguins, loons, grebes, and multiple lineages of marine mammals make their homes, temporarily or permanently, in water while breathing air—giving them the strange distinction of being able to drown in their preferred habitat. Given that most animals, including most vertebrates, breathe water, and that the physiology required to get oxygen from water is so simple that even some air-breathers have versions of it, why do so many of these animals keep breathing air? What do they get out of all this drowning risk?

This question has two answers, which get to the heart of biological evolution and the physical chemistry of water.

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Art and Science: What Is a Tattoo?

Few subjects have their relationships portrayed as wrongly as science and art. Popular culture presents art and science as natural opposites, one the domain of emotion and the other of hard math, with nothing to say to each other.

We here at Talk Science to Me disagree completely. Art and science are the most natural partners since gravy and cheese curds. (Ask your favourite Canadian if you don’t get it.) Getting people to understand difficult topics requires more than mathematical formulas and dense, precise prose. Art brings to science an understanding of what affects people, what connects ideas in a helpful way, and how to arrange the pieces of a story to make sure that the person receiving it comes away with the desired message. Conversely, science is also necessary for creating art. Science has studied how narrative structures create effective or ineffective stories, how visual composition affects the impression made by photos and paintings, and numerous other details about how art works. More than that, art depends critically on science to understand the materials of which it is made. Materials science explains how textiles interact when bonded together, which inks mix with or overlay which other inks in an artwork, and how to safely store and handle old books to keep them from disintegrating. Far from being opposites, art and science are in endless conversation, and nowhere is this more evident than in the art of tattooing.

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What Gender Is a Coconut?

Sometimes seemingly nonsense questions have interesting answers. Few plants are as emblematic of the tropics as the coconut palm, Cocos nucifera. This tree can be found on just about every postcard depicting a tropical beach, anywhere in the world, and for good reason. Coconuts are improbably suited to human cultivation in places where few other… Read More »What Gender Is a Coconut?

We Won’t Do Your Homework But We Will Tell You About The Martian Lichens

We at Talk Science to Me receive a fair bit of email through our contact page, most of it inquiring about our services and often leading to fruitful client-provider relationships. Every now and then, though, someone tries to get us to talk science to them a little less honestly. Today, we endeavour to provide an answer.… Read More »We Won’t Do Your Homework But We Will Tell You About The Martian Lichens

Gaslighting Isn’t Just Psychological Abuse, It’s A Sociological Phenomenon

In 1944, Ingrid Bergman starred in a film directed by George Cukor about an opera singer who inadvertently marries her aunt’s murderer. You might’ve never heard of this movie, or the 1940 British film (and 1938 play) it’s based on. Nonetheless, it’s almost certainly influenced conversations you’ve had, as people around you describe partners, friends,… Read More »Gaslighting Isn’t Just Psychological Abuse, It’s A Sociological Phenomenon

Reflecting Self

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Selfies. Definitely notorious in the digital world. Who hasn’t wrinkled up their nose in disgust at a friend’s shameless self-promotion or puckered up a duck face for the camera? Or maybe selfies power your voyage of exploration for personal acceptance, understanding and confidence. Universally reviled, or defended as an act of self-expression. A moment of attention-grabbing… Read More »Reflecting Self

Fear of Brave New Worlds, or Uninspired Headline Writing?

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Summer 2016 marked the 85th anniversary of novelist Aldous Huxley completing his manuscript for Brave New World. The widely read novel, a dystopia of happiness-led oppression (in contrast to the fear-controlled populace in Orwell’s 1984), anticipates global adoption of advances in science and technology such as subliminal learning and reproductive medicine. Published in 1932, the book is still a… Read More »Fear of Brave New Worlds, or Uninspired Headline Writing?