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Dhaka, 15 April 2025 – To cap off its celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day and Philippine National Women’s Month, personnel of the Philippine Embassy in Bangladesh enthusiastically...
“Feeling Blue”
How often do you hear people talking about feeling blue or have the blues? An entire genre of music comes from this phrase.
Who knew that came from the world of sailing?
See-the-sea.org explains the popular phrase comes from a custom that was practiced when a ship lost its captain during a voyage. The ship would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her hull when she returned to port.
Corals wear sunscreen
Warmer oceans, more acidic waters, pollution and human interference are threatening marine life across the globe, scientists say.
Coral reefs contain some of the most delicate ocean residents. Yet coral has a way to naturally protect itself: "sunscreen." Over millions of years, corals in Australia's Great Barrier Reef developed protective barriers that help them survive in the sun, according to a statement by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Scientists are already working to mimic the corals' natural sun protection. CSIRO scientists have worked with skin care company Larissa Bright Australia to create UVA/UVB sunscreen filters inspired by the corals' sunscreen code, the CSIRO statement noted.
A rubber duck accident helped researchers understand ocean currents
We’re used to any kind of “spills” in the ocean having disastrous effects, but this one proved to be something of a happy accident.
In 1992, a crate of bath toys on its way from China to the United States broke, spilling thousands of rubber ducks and other floating toys into the Pacific.
Oceanographers seized the opportunity to learn more about the movements of the ocean. Perfectly named oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer headed up the research efforts, asking beachgoers all over the world to report sightings of the duckies and their floating friends. The ducks traveled far and wide, ending up everywhere from Europe to Alaska to Hawaii and continuing to be spotted well into the 2000s.
The fleet of toys became affectionately known as “the Friendly Floatees.”
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