Sharks!

My good friend Mr. Dylan McKeever recently posted a comment regarding SHARKS. Now, as any real child will tell you, sharks can smell a drop of blood from miles away (you'll be able to spot the nerds--they'll say that sharks can detect "one part per million"). Sharks possess nature's most deadly nostrils, but it gets better. Just like our ears can detect the general location of a sound source, i.e. you turn your head when you hear your name called from over there, sharks' "nares" (noses) can do the same. They have STEREO smell!

Let's consider stereoscopic sensing for a second. We can see in 3D because of our brain's understanding of the differences between the two images received from our two eyes. We hear in stereo because our ears are spaced six or so inches apart and rotated away from each other, which leads to slightly different sounds entering each ear. Now let's pretend I just received a new boombox for Christmas. If I place the two speakers right next to each other, the sound all seems to come from one place, and all the instruments seem squashed together, packed into a narrow corridor of sound. But if I space them twenty feet apart from each other, it sounds like the band is spread out really wide! It's easy to tell where each instrument is coming from within the stereo "image." NOW, lets apply this concept to our favorite swim team mascot, the Hammerhead Shark. What at first seems like merely a good aesthetic decision becomes a hell of a tool. Because the nares are spread to the tips of the hammer (up to a meter wide), they create a more pronounced image of the smell, and they are able to track their prey with great accuracy. Don't you wish you could smell in stereo?!

ACTIVITY: Hammerhead Kids
"Smell in Stereo!"

materials:
bike helmet
wooden dowel, 1 meter long
aquarium filter tubing ~1.5 meters
electrical tape

1. Attach wooden dowel to bike helmet using electrical tape

2. Cut aquarium tubing in half, attach the end of each half to the ends of the dowel, tape thoroughly

3. Insert free ends of tubing into nostrils.

4. Explore your new world!