Are mermaids real?

Well, not quite – but it’s true that about 80 per cent of our ocean floor remains unexplored and uncharted. Discovering what our ocean depths look like and what life might be found there is just as ch

WONDERS OF THE OCEAN

In mid-June 1892, several hundred Orcadians tried and happily failed to kill a mermaid. The story behind this extraordinary episode (see FT368:54-55) is quickly told. A strange marine creature had, fo

Summer 1975 was a glorious time to be young on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. “We had the beaches to ourselves – nobody else wanted to go in the water, not even a lot of people who’d l

Some of the strangest science stories from around the world.

Simon Smith reflects on the recent news that mackerel stocks are in deep trouble, as yet another species is brought to the brink of collapse by greed and incompetent management by politicians