Fish

When you're checking the freshness of a piece of fish that you plan on eating, you want results right away. That's where a new microneedle-based sensor comes in, as it delivers a yay or nay in less than two minutes.

The water leaving your washing machine may soon be a lot more eco-friendly, thanks to the anchovy. A filter inspired by the tiny fish could remove microplastics from the outgoing water, keeping them from entering local waterways.

Oceanic manta rays make extreme dives of more than 1,200 meters – three-quarters of a mile – but it's not to feed. Instead, the mantas are calibrating their own kind of Google Maps as soon as they find themselves out beyond the continental shelf.

A study examining nearly 1,500 river sites in the US between 1980 and 2022 has shown that river heatwaves are happening up to four times faster than air heatwaves and lasting nearly twice as long. The finding has major implications for aquatic life.

The Remora fish has an oval slatted disc on its head which it uses like a suction cup to stick to sharks. It's inspired a capsule-sized platform that can stick to surfaces when submerged in liquids, including your digestive tract.

Back in 2014, we heard about a so-called "salmon cannon" that safely shot spawning fish up over river-blocking obstacles such as dams. Its successor has since entered use, recently allowing herring to bypass a spillway for the first time in 80 years.

If you're releasing a robot into the aquatic environment with no intention of retrieving it, that bot had better be biodegradable. Swiss scientists have gone a step better, with a li'l robot that can be consumed by fish when its job is done.

A benzodiazepine seeping into waterways is causing young Atlantic salmon to behave strangely, with fish in the wild migrating more rapidly and taking more risks on their journey from river to ocean. It even seems to be messing up their social lives.

You may not think of fish as being noisy, but they can actually be a pretty vocal bunch. A new AI system is able to quickly identify specific fish calls within general reef noise, allowing scientists to better track local populations.

Methylmercury is an extremely toxic compound, and unfortunately it's often present in the fish that we eat. Scientists are now developing a method of removing it from the environment, utilizing engineered fish and flies that take up the compound and neutralize it.

Stressed fish tend to become unhealthy fish, so it's very important that fish farm operators spot stress as early as possible. A new AI-based system could help them do so, by monitoring the rate at which each fish breathes.

Among the important scientific discoveries made every year are some that reveal that the world is way weirder than we give it credit for. From bizarre biological quirks that cause demonic hallucinations, to sci-fi scenarios like brains piloting robots and full head transplants, here are the weirdest science stories of 2024.