Studying jellyfish is the key to better underwater crafts
Jellyfish and lamprey have been swimming in the same hypnotic way for millions of years. It has taken a Stanford-lead team of scientists to figure out how they do this so efficiently and the results show our assumptions have been way off this whole time. It turns out these ancient animals don't push against the water behind them to propel forwards but instead suck water towards themselves to maximize distance and exert as little energy as possible. Pockets of low pressure water form in the bends of the animal's body and when water rushes to these areas; it sucks them forward as a result.
The team was able to figure this out by getting the animals to swim in a tank filled with millions of hollow glass beads that were tracked by lasers. A visual representation was generated and the sucking-propulsion model became clear. To make sure their conclusions were accurate, the researchers used a control group of lamprey that could only flick the ends of their tails in a less efficient "kicking" motion. They found that the control group didn't move as quickly as those that slithered through the water. Scientists now hope that they can use this information to create boats and underwater crafts that will utilize this way of energy-saving propulsion. While they work on that, you can get lost in watching the hypnotic slither of the lamprey.
[Image credit: shutterstock]
