BBC: Jellyfish tend to congregate in large swarms called blooms, comprising hundreds to millions of organisms. Until recently no one knew exactly how they were able to form and maintain those blooms. Now researchers show that jellyfish can sense ocean currents, actively orient themselves, and swim against the current when necessary. Graeme Hays of Deakin University in Australia and colleagues tagged jellyfish with data loggers to measure their acceleration and orientation; the researchers also used floating sensors to monitor ocean currents. Because jellyfish blooms are proliferating and can disrupt human activities such as swimming and fishing, the researchers hope their findings will allow better predictions of bloom magnitude and movements. However, how the jellyfish know what direction to travel is still unknown.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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