Humpback Whales Are Blowing ‘Bubble Rings' at Boats. Are They Trying to Communicate?
Humpback whales are known for their extensive use of bubbles—from powerful, aggressive bursts that prove their prowess during courtship to the bubble-net 'curtains' they produce to round up prey in a spectacle that often draws tourists from around the world.
Now a new study published in Marine Mammal Science explores rare instances when humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) create dramatic, doughnut-shaped vortex bubbles that look like a rolling underwater smoke ring.
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Video credit: Simon Hilbourne, Molly Gaughan, Karime Nicholas
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and their colleagues at other institutions—including the SETI Institute, which is known for focusing on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) but is also interested in nonhuman intelligences on Earth—were looking for examples of whales' general bubble behavior when they uncovered a striking video taken by videographer Dan Knaub in 1988. In the footage, a humpback called 'Thorn' blows 19 bubble structures—including 11 rings—over a 10-minute period.
'We were just gobsmacked—like, 'What the hell is going on?'' says Fred Sharpe, a whale biologist at U.C. Davis. 'For a team that's interested in assisting astrobiologists parse unusual signals coming from deep space, it just fell real neatly into our paradigm.... It's so bizarre.'
Sharpe and his colleagues soon found more examples on social media and from other researchers. Study co-author Jodi Frediani, a wildlife photographer who is also at U.C. Davis, even noticed a telltale circle in a photograph a friend showed during a presentation about humpback whales. With this phenomenon on her mind, she says, 'I went, 'Gee, there's a bubble ring!''
For the study, the team recorded 12 events across the North and South Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans in which 11 individual humpbacks were seen blowing bubble rings. The researchers described 39 rings in total. 'It's not a lot in the world of whales but enough—and in multiple oceans,' Frediani says.
'It's a really fun paper,' says Syracuse University biologist Susan E. Parks, who studies bubble-net feeding in humpbacks and wasn't involved in the new study. 'It reads like a detective story that's trying to piece together information about something that's not widely studied and happens rarely.' Parks hasn't observed any bubble rings herself—as far as she knows, she says, 'I may have seen them before and never really thought anything of them.'
Despite compiling so many examples of the rings, Sharpe still doesn't know what to think about their purpose. 'My guess is that this is what it's going to feel like when we first make contact with aliens,' he says.
The researchers speculate that the behavior could be playful. One whale would blow a bubble ring and then swim through it or 'do a spy hop right through the middle of it,' Frediani says—when performing such a spy hop, the whale would peep its head vertically above the surface, right through the bubble ring. Or perhaps the animals' behavior could respresent curiosity toward humans: of the 12 recorded events, nine involved whales that approached the human observers more closely before they blew rings.
'We need the entire human brain trust's help deciphering this. It's almost like [the whales'] blowhole is a mouth, and the symbols coming out are bubbles, as opposed to sounds.' —Fred Sharpe University of California, Davis
Could the whales be trying to communicate with us? Sharpe doesn't rule this out as a possibility. He posits that the presence of humans seems to trigger bubble blowing and that humpbacks improve with practice. 'This may be a species-atypical signal that's crafted for people,' he says, 'whales reaching out to humans ... using their own parlance, their own form of communication.'
Parks thinks it's plausible that the animals are putting on a display for humans, but she adds that it's too soon to tell with such a small sample size. 'They'd want a lot more [observations] before they could say with certainty,' she says. Because most of the observations were made by people, this could skew the data, she notes, although there were 'two observations from planes, so we know [the whales] do produce them [bubble rings] when people aren't present, too.'
Now that more researchers know to look for these bubble rings, Parks says, reported sightings may greatly increase. With more data, Sharpe and his colleagues hope to figure out what the purpose of these swirling doughnuts of air is—and whether the rings could possibly contain information. 'We need the entire human brain trust's help deciphering this,' Sharpe says. 'It's almost like [the whales'] blowhole is a mouth, and the symbols coming out are bubbles, as opposed to sounds.'
Sharpe hopes footage from the study will help people feel connected with whales and make them want to protect the animals from human threats such as ship strikes, entanglement, noise and chemical pollution, habitat loss and disruption of the food web. He says that he also wants to find a way to let the whales 'know that they've been heard.' For him, trying to decipher potential messages and find a way to respond puts the team 'in the same place you would be if you were trying to communicate with aliens—and you got a message.'
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Scientific American
a day ago
- Scientific American
Humpback Whales Are Blowing ‘Bubble Rings' at Boats. Are They Trying to Communicate?
Humpback whales are known for their extensive use of bubbles—from powerful, aggressive bursts that prove their prowess during courtship to the bubble-net 'curtains' they produce to round up prey in a spectacle that often draws tourists from around the world. Now a new study published in Marine Mammal Science explores rare instances when humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) create dramatic, doughnut-shaped vortex bubbles that look like a rolling underwater smoke ring. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Video credit: Simon Hilbourne, Molly Gaughan, Karime Nicholas Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and their colleagues at other institutions—including the SETI Institute, which is known for focusing on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) but is also interested in nonhuman intelligences on Earth—were looking for examples of whales' general bubble behavior when they uncovered a striking video taken by videographer Dan Knaub in 1988. In the footage, a humpback called 'Thorn' blows 19 bubble structures—including 11 rings—over a 10-minute period. 'We were just gobsmacked—like, 'What the hell is going on?'' says Fred Sharpe, a whale biologist at U.C. Davis. 'For a team that's interested in assisting astrobiologists parse unusual signals coming from deep space, it just fell real neatly into our paradigm.... It's so bizarre.' Sharpe and his colleagues soon found more examples on social media and from other researchers. Study co-author Jodi Frediani, a wildlife photographer who is also at U.C. Davis, even noticed a telltale circle in a photograph a friend showed during a presentation about humpback whales. With this phenomenon on her mind, she says, 'I went, 'Gee, there's a bubble ring!'' For the study, the team recorded 12 events across the North and South Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans in which 11 individual humpbacks were seen blowing bubble rings. The researchers described 39 rings in total. 'It's not a lot in the world of whales but enough—and in multiple oceans,' Frediani says. 'It's a really fun paper,' says Syracuse University biologist Susan E. Parks, who studies bubble-net feeding in humpbacks and wasn't involved in the new study. 'It reads like a detective story that's trying to piece together information about something that's not widely studied and happens rarely.' Parks hasn't observed any bubble rings herself—as far as she knows, she says, 'I may have seen them before and never really thought anything of them.' Despite compiling so many examples of the rings, Sharpe still doesn't know what to think about their purpose. 'My guess is that this is what it's going to feel like when we first make contact with aliens,' he says. The researchers speculate that the behavior could be playful. One whale would blow a bubble ring and then swim through it or 'do a spy hop right through the middle of it,' Frediani says—when performing such a spy hop, the whale would peep its head vertically above the surface, right through the bubble ring. Or perhaps the animals' behavior could respresent curiosity toward humans: of the 12 recorded events, nine involved whales that approached the human observers more closely before they blew rings. 'We need the entire human brain trust's help deciphering this. It's almost like [the whales'] blowhole is a mouth, and the symbols coming out are bubbles, as opposed to sounds.' —Fred Sharpe University of California, Davis Could the whales be trying to communicate with us? Sharpe doesn't rule this out as a possibility. He posits that the presence of humans seems to trigger bubble blowing and that humpbacks improve with practice. 'This may be a species-atypical signal that's crafted for people,' he says, 'whales reaching out to humans ... using their own parlance, their own form of communication.' Parks thinks it's plausible that the animals are putting on a display for humans, but she adds that it's too soon to tell with such a small sample size. 'They'd want a lot more [observations] before they could say with certainty,' she says. Because most of the observations were made by people, this could skew the data, she notes, although there were 'two observations from planes, so we know [the whales] do produce them [bubble rings] when people aren't present, too.' Now that more researchers know to look for these bubble rings, Parks says, reported sightings may greatly increase. With more data, Sharpe and his colleagues hope to figure out what the purpose of these swirling doughnuts of air is—and whether the rings could possibly contain information. 'We need the entire human brain trust's help deciphering this,' Sharpe says. 'It's almost like [the whales'] blowhole is a mouth, and the symbols coming out are bubbles, as opposed to sounds.' Sharpe hopes footage from the study will help people feel connected with whales and make them want to protect the animals from human threats such as ship strikes, entanglement, noise and chemical pollution, habitat loss and disruption of the food web. He says that he also wants to find a way to let the whales 'know that they've been heard.' For him, trying to decipher potential messages and find a way to respond puts the team 'in the same place you would be if you were trying to communicate with aliens—and you got a message.'
Health Line
2 days ago
- Health Line
Cannabis Use May Double Risk of Death From Cardiovascular Disease, Study Finds
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The editorial authors say the warnings are particularly important because the recent widespread legalization of the drug may have convinced many people that cannabis use is safe. 'Frequent cannabis use has increased in several countries, and many users believe that it is a safe and natural way to relieve pain or stress. In contrast, a growing body of evidence links cannabis use to significant harms throughout life, including cardiovascular health of adults,' wrote Stanton Glantz, PhD, an emeritus professor at the University of California San Francisco, and Lynn Silver, MD, a professor in UCSF's Department of Epidemiology and a program director at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA. 'Specifically, cannabis should be treated like tobacco: not criminalized but discouraged, with protection of bystanders from secondhand exposure,' the editorial authors added. Robert Page II, PharmD, a professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and the Department of Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, noted the analysis relied on observational studies, but said the message is clear. 'This meta-analysis validates current large observation studies that cannabis should be considered a potential risk factor for premature development of ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease), said Page, who was chair of an American Heart Association writing group that authored a 2020 report on cannabis, medical cannabis, and heart health. Page wasn't involved in the present study. 'If we ignore these signals, we are destined to repeat the fatal history of cigarette smoking, which took years to finally realize its devastating effects on cardiovascular health and mortality,' he told Healthline. 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Nonetheless, their analysis comes less than a month after another study concluded that chronic use of cannabis is associated with a higher risk of endothelial dysfunction, a type of non-obstructive coronary artery disease in which there are no heart artery blockages but the large blood vessels on the heart's surface constrict instead of dilating. In addition, another analysis from earlier this year reported that cannabis users were six times more likely to have a heart attack than non-users. A 2024 study concluded that people who use cannabis to treat chronic pain had a higher risk of atrial fibrillation and other forms of heart arrhythmia. The researchers in the new analysis say their findings are particularly important because the use of cannabis has soared in recent years. They also note that the potency of the drug has increased. There was no delineation in the analysis, however, on the risks of smoking cannabis compared to ingesting it. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in California, said both methods may present health risks. Chen wasn't involved in the study. 'It is thought that ingesting THC increases systolic absorption of the chemical when compared to smoking THC and thus results in greater adverse effects,' he told Healthline. 'However, cannabis smoke comes with a separate set of health concerns, as the smoke contains many carcinogens and mutagens similar to tobacco smoke.' Ziva Cooper, the director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said the frequency someone uses cannabis, as well as the dosage, are also important factors. Cooper was likewise not involved in the study. She noted that new research is starting to show there are mental health risks to frequent cannabis use. One of those is cannabis use disorder, a condition that is estimated to affect 30% of people who use the substance. 'There are new risks that are emerging that weren't even on the radar,' Cooper told Healthline. She added cannabis can also impair people's ability to drive as well as impair their cognitive abilities. 'These are things that can affect a person's everyday life,' Cooper said. Defending cannabis use Paul Armentano, the deputy director of NORML, a non-profit that advocates for the responsible use of cannabis, acknowledges there are studies that report health risks associated with cannabis use. Armentano wasn't involved in the study. However, he told Healthline there are others who conclude there is no risk or even a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease from cannabis use. These include a 2023 study, a 2020 study, and a 2023 meta-analysis. 'In short, while tobacco smoke exposure's role in cardiovascular disease is well established, the potential role of cannabis smoke is not,' Armentano said. 'Nonetheless, persons wishing to mitigate their intake of cannabis smoke can do so via the use of herbal vaporizers, which heat cannabinoids to the point of activation but below the point of combustion.' Armentano cited studies in 2006 and 2007 that reported no health effects from vaporization. Some research has reported on some overall health benefits derived from cannabis use. A 2023 study concluded that medical cannabis can improve the quality of life for some people with chronic pain. Other research has reported that cannabis can be helpful to people with depression, social anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are also indications that cannabis products can help ease the side effects of cancer treatments. Talking with your doctor about cannabis In their editorial, Glantz and Silver encourage medical professionals to become leaders in cannabis education. 'There is an important role for public health and public policy in addressing the risks identified [in the new analysis],' they wrote. 'While the trend toward legalization is established, that does not mean that the risks of cannabis use should be minimized or its use encouraged.' Page said he takes cannabis use into consideration when assessing his patients' cardiovascular health. 'While many of the current cardiovascular risk calculators do not include smoking cannabis into their algorithms, I do include it (just like smoking cigarettes) when assessing patients' cardiovascular risk and consider it just as powerful a risk factor as smoking cigarettes,' he said. Page added that people should be informed about the many potential health issues of cannabis use before deciding whether to use it. 'Know the risks and talk to your primary care provider before considering any use, medical or recreational. Many younger adults feel invincible and have the belief that 'This will not happen to me' or 'I could never develop cannabis use disorder.' However, it does and can occur,' he said. 'For older adults, I caution them regarding potential drug-drug interactions as both THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] and CBD [cannabidiol] can have effects on a large majority of medications, both pharmacokinetically and pharmacodynamically,' Page added. Chen agrees that patients need to educate themselves about cannabis before trying it. 'Any form of cannabis use does involve some risk to your health. Everyone must decide for themselves how much risk they want to expose themselves to,' said Chen. 'I would advise people to avoid smoking cannabis, as the smoke can directly harm the lungs. Also, patients with known pre-existing cardiovascular disease or with cardiovascular risk factors should consider avoiding cannabis use in general, given the potential harm to heart health,' he added. Cooper noted that cannabis has 500 different chemical components, so its effects can vary greatly from person to person.
Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Epoch Times
Cannabis, Smoked or Eaten, Linked to Tobacco-Like Blood Vessel Harm
Long-term marijuana smoking and THC edible use may harm the blood vessels as much as tobacco, a new study suggests. The research indicates that cannabis users might face an increased risk of heart disease, even if they are otherwise healthy. Both smoking and eating cannabis caused the blood vessel linings to not work as effectively, even in otherwise healthy adults who never used tobacco, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found. 'The blood vessels don't seem to care whether the smoke is from tobacco or cannabis,' study author Matthew L. Springer, professor of medicine at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF, told The Epoch Times. The research shows cannabis users had blood vessel function 'very similar' to tobacco smokers in previous studies, he noted. Different Methods, Same Damage For the estimated 17.7 million Americans who use marijuana in some form every day, according to The
