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Sharks Can Live for Centuries and Smell in Stereo

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In the icy depths of the North Atlantic, one species of shark holds a title few creatures on Earth can rival. The Greenland shark is not only massive—reaching lengths of up to 24 feet—but also ancient. Literally. Scientists have discovered that these deep-sea dwellers can live for over 400 years, with one individual estimated to have been born around 1620. That means it was swimming through Arctic waters before the invention of the telescope and well before the founding of most modern nations. These sharks age incredibly slowly, growing only about half an inch per year, and don’t even reach sexual maturity until around 150 years old. But their slow-motion lives aren’t their only fascinating trait. All sharks, including Greenland sharks, have a superpower you’ve probably never heard of: they smell in stereo. Just as humans use two ears to locate the direction of sound, sharks use two nostrils—called nares—to detect where a scent is coming from. Because each nostril picks up scent molecules at slightly different times and intensities, their brains can process the delay and determine which direction the smell is drifting from. This means that even in dark or murky waters, where visibility is almost zero, a shark can zero in on prey from miles away using nothing but its sense of smell. It’s like a built-in scent radar—nature’s version of sonar, but for your nose. So, the next time you picture a shark, think beyond the sharp teeth and terrifying movie scenes. Think about a 400-year-old creature gliding silently through the depths, using stereo-smell to find food in the pitch black. Now that’s wild science.

The Rubber Duck Armada That Floated Around the World

It sounds like the setup for a children’s story, but it really happened—and it’s one of the quirkiest tales in oceanography. In January 1992, a shipping container accidentally fell off a cargo ship during a storm in the Pacific Ocean. What spilled out wasn’t oil or industrial goods—but nearly 29,000 plastic bath toys. These weren’t just rubber ducks, either—they were part of a “bathtime pals” set that included yellow ducks, blue turtles, green frogs, and red beavers. Manufactured in China and bound for the U.S., the toys were now cast adrift in the vast ocean. As these so-called “Friendly Floatees” began to spread across the globe, beachcombers and scientists alike took notice. Over the years, the toys washed ashore in places as far-flung as Hawaii, Alaska, South America, Scotland, and even inside the Arctic Circle, sometimes thousands of miles from where they began. Some were found years later, bleached by sun and salt, but still intact—a testament to the durability of plastic. But this was more than just a novelty. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer and his colleagues realized that the spill presented a rare, real-time experiment for tracking ocean currents. The floating toys became accidental scientific instruments, helping researchers better understand how currents move, how long debris can circulate, and how interconnected the world’s oceans truly are. Their movements helped refine models of ocean drift and even contributed to our understanding of how pollutants like plastic travel across the seas. Today, over 30 years later, sightings of these wayward toys still pop up from time to time. They’ve become collector’s items, symbols of both the reach of ocean currents and the long life of plastic waste. And while their origin was accidental, the impact of these bobbing little travelers was anything but trivial. Who knew a lost shipment of rubber ducks could make waves in the world of science?  

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Written by Guy Baroan 
posted on May 01 2025
By: Guy Baroan