The first two collections explored physical mysteries and phenomena where physics meets wonder. This final collection examines life itself—organisms doing things that seem to violate the possible.
These are events where biology reveals capabilities that challenge everything we thought we knew about living things.
June 2012: Underwater Crop Circles—The Pufferfish Artist
Location: Ocean floor off the coast of Japan (Amami Ōshima)
The Discovery:
Divers discovered intricate circular patterns on the sandy ocean floor at depths of 10-25 meters. The patterns were geometric, symmetrical, and beautiful—roughly 2 meters in diameter with radiating ridges and valleys.
The Pattern:
- Perfect circles
- Radiating ridges (24-30 ridges per circle)
- Central mound
- Decorated with shell fragments and coral pieces
- Mathematical precision in spacing and symmetry
Initial Reaction:
“Who’s making these? How? Why?”
Theories:
- Underwater volcanic vents creating patterns
- Ocean currents producing geometric erosion
- Human art installation
- Unknown geological process
Status: SOLVED (2013)
The Answer:
A single male pufferfish, about 12 centimeters long, creates these 2-meter masterpieces over 7-9 days.
How It Was Discovered:
Divers set up time-lapse cameras. They captured footage of a white-spotted pufferfish working continuously, using nothing but its fins.
The Process:
- Male pufferfish selects location on sandy bottom
- Uses his fins to create central circle by swimming in rotations
- Creates radial ridges by flapping fins in precise patterns, carving valleys and peaks
- Decorates the pattern by collecting shell fragments and coral pieces in his mouth and placing them carefully
- Fine-tunes the geometry over several days, adjusting ridge spacing for perfect symmetry
- Maintains the structure by continuously repairing damage
Purpose:
Mating display.
Females visit the circles. If impressed by the geometry and decoration, they’ll mate with the builder.
More impressive: The ridges aren’t just decorative. They redirect ocean currents to create a calmer central zone where eggs will be safer from being scattered.
The male doesn’t just create art. He engineers a safer nursery through hydrodynamic manipulation.
Why It’s Remarkable:
A 12-centimeter fish with a brain the size of a grain of rice:
- Understands geometry
- Creates symmetrical patterns
- Uses tools (shell fragments as decorations)
- Engineers current flow
- Works continuously for a week
- Achieves mathematical precision
This was unknown to science until 2012. The pufferfish had been doing this for millions of years, and we had no idea.
The Lesson:
Unknown animal behaviors of stunning complexity can exist right under our noses—literally underwater right where we dive—and remain completely unknown to science for centuries.
April 2007: Synchronized Fireflies of the Smokies
Location: Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
The Event (Annual):
For two weeks each June, thousands of fireflies (Photinus carolinus) flash in perfect synchronization across entire hillsides.
What You See:
Imagine standing in a dark forest. Suddenly, thousands of fireflies flash on simultaneously. Total darkness. Six seconds later, they all flash again. Darkness. Flash. Darkness. Flash.
Entire hillsides pulsing with light in perfect unison.
Why It’s Strange:
Fireflies don’t have leaders. They don’t have central coordination. Each firefly is an independent organism making its own decision about when to flash.
Yet somehow, thousands achieve perfect synchronization.
How?
Status: PARTIALLY SOLVED
What We Know:
1. Self-Organization Through Phase Coupling:
Each firefly has an internal oscillator (like a biological clock) that controls flash timing.
When a firefly sees neighbors flashing, it adjusts its own rhythm to match.
The Mathematics:
This is described by the Kuramoto model—a mathematical framework for studying synchronization in coupled oscillators.
Simplified:
- Each firefly has a preferred flash frequency
- Each firefly adjusts timing slightly based on when neighbors flash
- Through many interactions, the population converges on synchronized rhythm
2. It’s Emergent Behavior:
No individual firefly “knows” about the group synchronization. Each only responds to immediate neighbors.
The group synchronization emerges from local interactions.
Think of it like: Mexican wave in a stadium. No central coordinator. Each person just stands when neighbors stand. Yet the wave propagates perfectly.
What We Don’t Fully Understand:
1. Why Synchronize at All?
Competing Hypotheses:
Signal Amplification:
- Synchronized flashing creates a brighter, more visible signal
- Females can detect males from greater distance
- Group synchrony benefits all males
Problem: Why would males help competitors attract females?
Predator Saturation:
- All-at-once flashing overwhelms visual predators
- Predators can’t track individual fireflies in synchronized mass
Problem: Predators in the area don’t seem responsive to flashing at all.
Female Preference:
- Females prefer males who can synchronize
- Demonstrates ability to pay attention to neighbors
- Shows “social intelligence”
Problem: We don’t have strong evidence females prefer synchronized displays.
2. How Do They Start?
Early in the evening, fireflies flash randomly. Over 20-30 minutes, synchronization emerges.
How does the system “choose” which rhythm to synchronize to?
It’s not always the fastest flasher or the slowest. Sometimes the synchronized rhythm is between individual preferred rates.
Current models suggest it’s a negotiation—a collective computation where the population finds an average that most individuals can match.
3. What Limits It?
Only certain species synchronize. Photinus carolinus does. Most firefly species don’t.
Why?
The difference appears to be in the refractory period—the time after flashing when the firefly can’t flash again.
Synchronizing species have short refractory periods, allowing rapid adjustment.
But this doesn’t fully explain why most species never evolved this capability.
Comparable Phenomena:
- Crickets chirping in unison
- Pendulum clocks on the same wall synchronizing
- Heart pacemaker cells synchronizing
- Neurons firing in sync (brain rhythms)
Synchronization appears to be a fundamental property of coupled oscillators, whether mechanical, biological, or neurological.
The Lesson:
Complex coordination can emerge from simple rules followed by individuals with no awareness of the group pattern they’re creating.
September 2009: The Sailing Stones Reconsidered—Life Edition
Location: Dry lakebeds worldwide (particularly studied in California and Australia)
The Event:
Wait—didn’t we already cover sailing stones in Part 2?
Yes. But here’s the twist.
October 2019: New Research
While investigating ice-pushed sailing stones, researchers discovered something unexpected:
Some trails showed characteristics inconsistent with ice movement:
- Trails appearing in summer (no ice)
- Trails appearing in locations that never freeze
- Movement patterns requiring turns sharper than ice-pushing allows
- Trails with biological material along the path
The Investigation:
Research teams in Australia studying salt lake “sailing stones” discovered biological mechanisms creating similar phenomena.
Mechanism 1: Microbial Mats
In some dry lakebeds, photosynthetic bacteria form gelatinous mats.
During rain:
- Mats absorb water and expand
- Expansion creates pressure under rocks
- Rocks are pushed/lifted slightly
- Wind can move them more easily (reduced friction)
- As mat dries, it records the trail
The mat creates a biological lubricant that allows smaller winds to move larger rocks.
Mechanism 2: Cyanobacterial Gas Production
Some cyanobacteria produce gas bubbles when water covers them.
Process:
- Rain covers the dried bacterial mats
- Bacteria activate and produce gas (oxygen and nitrogen)
- Gas bubbles form under rocks
- Rocks float slightly on bubble cushion
- Minimal wind can move rocks
- When bubbles pop, rocks settle in new location
Mechanism 3: Biofilm Buoyancy
Some bacteria create biofilms that reduce surface tension of water.
When thin layers of water cover the lakebed, biofilms create a frictionless layer where rocks can hydroplane on microscopic water cushions.
Status: PARTIALLY SOLVED (Geological + Biological)
The Truth:
Sailing stones have multiple explanations:
- Death Valley: Primarily ice sheets (as solved in Part 2)
- Australian salt lakes: Primarily microbial mats
- Other locations: Combination of ice, wind, biofilms, and geological factors
Why It Matters:
Life isn’t just passively present in these environments. Microscopic organisms are geological engineers, facilitating rock movement through biological processes.
The Lesson:
When we solve a mystery, we should still ask: “Is this the only mechanism? Are there biological factors we’re missing?”
Life finds a way—often invisible to the naked eye.
December 2016: Zombie Cicadas
Location: Eastern United States
The Event:
Periodical cicadas infected by fungus (Massospora cicadina) become “zombies”—losing their abdomens but continuing to fly, mate, and spread spores while technically dead.
What Happens:
Stage 1: Infection
- Cicada nymphs underground for 13 or 17 years
- When they emerge, some are infected with fungal spores (from previous cycle)
- Fungus activates
Stage 2: Zombie Conversion
- Fungus grows inside cicada
- Cicada’s abdomen literally falls off, replaced by fungal plug full of spores
- Cicada loses genitals, digestive system, most of abdomen
Stage 3: Behavioral Manipulation
- Cicada continues flying (despite missing significant body parts)
- Male cicadas infected with fungus perform female mating signals
- Attracts other males
- When males attempt to mate, they contact fungal spores
- Infection spreads
Stage 4: Continued Activity
- Infected cicadas don’t seem to notice they’re dying
- Keep flying for days
- Spread spores continuously
- Eventually fungus consumes entire body
Why It’s Horrifying:
The fungus contains psychoactive compounds:
- Cathinone (similar to amphetamines)
- Psilocybin (the compound in magic mushrooms)
Hypothesis: The fungus chemically manipulates the cicada’s brain to:
- Ignore body damage
- Continue mating behaviors
- Remain hyperactive
- Feel no pain
It’s literally drugging the cicada into spreading the infection.
Why Male Cicadas Signal Like Females:
The fungus reprograms mating behavior to maximize spore transmission.
Females don’t move around much after mating. Males do.
By making infected males signal like females, the fungus:
- Attracts more males (who keep flying and spreading)
- Increases transmission rate
- Exploits cicada mating drive to serve fungal reproduction
Status: SOLVED (But Still Terrifying)
We understand the mechanism. We’ve identified the compounds. We’ve documented the behavioral manipulation.
But it’s still deeply unsettling that:
- A fungus can chemically reprogram animal behavior
- The manipulation is this sophisticated
- The cicada continues complex behaviors while functionally dead
- The fungus uses psychoactive drugs naturally
Comparable Phenomena:
Ophiocordyceps (Zombie Ant Fungus):
- Infects ants
- Manipulates them to climb vegetation
- Ant bites leaf and dies in optimal position for fungal spore dispersal
Toxoplasma gondii:
- Infects rodents
- Makes them sexually attracted to cat urine
- Gets eaten by cats (where parasite reproduces)
Hairworms:
- Infect crickets/grasshoppers
- Make them jump into water (where worm reproduces)
- Host drowns
The Pattern:
Parasites frequently manipulate host behavior with stunning precision.
The Unsettling Question:
If fungi and parasites can chemically manipulate insect and rodent brains…what about us?
2020 Research Suggests:
Toxoplasma gondii (which infects ~30% of humans worldwide) may influence human behavior:
- Altered risk-taking
- Changed personality traits
- Potential links to certain psychiatric conditions
The research is controversial and ongoing, but the possibility that microorganisms are subtly influencing human cognition is both fascinating and disturbing.
The Lesson:
Individual organisms aren’t always in control of their own behavior. Other life forms can hijack neural systems for their own reproduction.
August 2015: The Immortal Jellyfish
Location: Worldwide (originally Mediterranean, now global)
The Species: Turritopsis dohrnii
The Capability:
This jellyfish can reverse its aging process and return to a juvenile state after reaching sexual maturity.
The Process:
Normal jellyfish lifecycle:
- Egg hatches into larva (planula)
- Larva settles and becomes polyp
- Polyp buds off medusae (swimming jellyfish)
- Medusa reaches sexual maturity
- Reproduces
- Dies
Turritopsis dohrnii lifecycle:
- Egg → larva → polyp → medusa (same as normal)
- Medusa reaches sexual maturity
- Reproduces
- Instead of dying, sinks to ocean floor
- Reabsorbs tentacles and bell
- Becomes polyp again
- Buds off new medusae
- Repeat indefinitely
Status: SOLVED (Mechanism Understood, Implications Unclear)
How It Works (Cellular Transdifferentiation):
The jellyfish’s cells undergo transdifferentiation—transforming from one specialized cell type to another.
Example:
- Muscle cells transform into nerve cells
- Nerve cells transform into digestive cells
- Reproductive cells transform into stem cells
This normally doesn’t happen in nature. Cells specialize and stay specialized.
Turritopsis breaks this rule completely.
Why It’s Remarkable:
This is biological immortality.
In theory, a single Turritopsis could live forever, cycling between medusa and polyp states indefinitely.
Practical Limitations:
Despite biological immortality, most Turritopsis die from:
- Predation
- Disease
- Environmental stress
But if conditions are perfect: They don’t age. They don’t die of old age. They can reset their biological clock.
2020 Genetic Analysis:
Research identified genes responsible for transdifferentiation:
- Enhanced DNA repair mechanisms
- Cell reprogramming genes
- Silencing of genes that normally prevent cell transformation
The Question:
Why don’t other species have this capability?
Jellyfish are simple. They have fewer cell types. Transdifferentiation is easier with simpler body plans.
But theoretically, with the right genetic changes, more complex organisms could potentially reverse aging.
Medical Implications:
Research into Turritopsis is helping scientists understand:
- Cellular reprogramming (relevant to stem cell research)
- Aging reversal mechanisms
- Cancer (which is essentially cells that won’t die—similar mechanisms, opposite outcome)
The Disturbing Thought:
Turritopsis is spreading globally through ship ballast water.
We now have a potentially immortal species distributed worldwide, with populations that could theoretically grow indefinitely.
They’re still small (4-5 mm). They’re not invasive threats.
But it’s philosophically strange that we share the planet with organisms that have solved biological immortality while we haven’t.
The Lesson:
Aging and death aren’t inevitable biological processes. They’re features that evolution usually selects for. But some species have found the “off” switch.
January 2018: The Baffling Case of Bee Communication Precision
Location: Worldwide (honeybee colonies)
The Phenomenon:
Honeybees communicate the exact location of food sources up to 6 kilometers away using a dance, with precision accurate to within meters.
The Waggle Dance (Discovered 1940s, Mechanism Still Not Fully Understood):
When a forager bee finds food, she returns to the hive and performs a figure-eight dance on the vertical honeycomb.
The Information Encoded:
1. Distance:
- Duration of waggle portion encodes distance
- Longer waggle = farther food source
- Bees can communicate distances from meters to kilometers
2. Direction:
- Angle of waggle relative to vertical encodes angle to food source relative to sun
- Example: Waggling 40° right of vertical = “fly 40° right of where the sun is”
3. Quality:
- Enthusiasm of dance encodes food quality
- Better food = more vigorous dancing
The Impossible Part:
How do bees measure distance?
Initial Theory (1990s): Energy expenditure
- Bees somehow measure how much energy they used flying
- Problem: Doesn’t account for wind, hills, obstacles
Current Theory (2000s): Optic Flow
- Bees measure how fast visual scenery passes by
- Integrate optic flow over time to calculate distance
- Experiments: Bees flying through tunnels with visual patterns communicate different distances based on pattern speed, not actual flight distance
But Here’s The Problem:
Optic flow integration requires:
- Continuous calculation during flight
- Memory storage
- Integration of time and visual speed
- Compensation for speed variations
In a brain smaller than a grain of rice.
How Do Bees Encode Sun Position on a Vertical Surface?
The sun is in the sky. The dance is on a vertical honeycomb in darkness.
Bees translate:
- Horizontal angle to sun → Angle relative to gravity on vertical surface
This requires:
- Sun position memory
- Gravity sensing
- Coordinate system transformation
- All while in the dark inside the hive
How Do Bees Compensate for Sun Movement?
The sun moves across the sky. If a dance takes 10 minutes, the sun’s position changes.
Bees adjust the angle of their dance in real-time to account for the sun’s movement.
This requires:
- Internal clock
- Calculation of sun’s arc rate
- Continuous angle adjustment
- All while dancing
How Do Bees Dance in Darkness?
The hive is pitch black. The dancing bee can’t see. The watching bees can’t see.
Yet they extract precise spatial information.
Mechanism (Discovered 2014):
- Dancing bee produces vibrations (sound) that encodes the same information
- Watching bees detect vibrations through antennae
- Vibration frequency, duration, and pattern communicate distance and direction
- Multiple sensory channels redundantly encode the same information
Status: MOSTLY SOLVED (But Computational Requirements Still Puzzling)
We understand what bees communicate and how they transmit information (dance + vibration).
What’s still mysterious is how a nervous system with ~1 million neurons (humans have ~86 billion) performs:
- Optic flow integration
- Coordinate transformation
- Time compensation
- Multi-modal signal generation
- All in real-time
The Computational Mystery:
The brain’s computational capacity required for these tasks seems to exceed what should be possible with the bee’s neural hardware.
Current Research Directions:
1. Efficient Neural Coding:
- Bee brains might use extremely efficient algorithms
- Minimal neural circuits doing maximum computation
- Implications for AI: Learning from bee neural architecture
2. Distributed Computation:
- Maybe individual bees don’t do all the calculation
- Colony collectively computes
- Information distributed across many individuals
3. Quantum Effects (Speculative):
- Some researchers propose quantum coherence in microtubules
- Could provide computational boost
- Highly controversial, not widely accepted
The Lesson:
Brain size doesn’t necessarily correlate with computational capability. Small brains performing complex calculations challenge our assumptions about what’s required for sophisticated information processing.
July 2021: The Periodic Mass Strandings
Location: Global coastlines (most famously New Zealand, Scotland, Cape Cod)
The Event:
Dozens to hundreds of whales and dolphins beach themselves simultaneously, often dying despite rescue efforts.
Historical Record:
Mass strandings documented for centuries. Aristotle wrote about them in 350 BCE.
Frequency:
Roughly 2,000 individual cetaceans strand annually worldwide. Most are single animals, but mass events (10+ animals) occur several times per year.
Status: PARTIALLY SOLVED, MAJOR MYSTERIES REMAIN
What We Know (Contributing Factors):
1. Echolocation Failure in Shallow/Complex Bathymetry:
- Whales navigate using echolocation
- Gently sloping beaches absorb sound instead of reflecting it
- Whales may not detect the shoreline until too late
- Complex underwater topography confuses sonar
Evidence: Strandings correlate with certain beach types (gently sloping sand)
2. Following Sick/Injured Leaders:
- Social species follow pod leaders
- If leader is sick/disoriented, whole pod follows
- Strong social bonds prevent healthy individuals from leaving
Evidence: Strandings often include one sick/injured individual and many healthy followers
3. Human-Made Sonar Interference:
- Military sonar and seismic surveys
- May damage cetacean hearing or navigation
- Coincides with some mass stranding events
Evidence: Several mass strandings occurred during/after naval exercises
4. Geomagnetic Anomalies:
- Whales may use Earth’s magnetic field for navigation
- Magnetic anomalies (variations in magnetic field strength) near certain coasts
- May confuse whale navigation systems
Evidence: Statistical correlation between stranding locations and magnetic anomalies
What We Don’t Know (The Deep Mystery):
Why don’t they just swim back out?
Even after rescue teams refloat stranded whales, many immediately re-strand themselves.
Possible Explanations:
Illness/Disorientation:
- Inner ear problems (affects balance and orientation)
- Toxins (harmful algal blooms)
- Disease (viral/bacterial infections affecting brain)
Solar Storms:
- Geomagnetic disturbances from solar activity
- May disrupt magnetic navigation
- Some strandings correlate with solar storm timing
Prey Following:
- Whales chase prey into shallow water
- Get trapped by tides
- Problem: Doesn’t explain why they don’t leave when tide returns
Suicide Hypothesis (Controversial and Unlikely):
- Some researchers proposed intentional behavior
- No strong evidence
- Anthropomorphizing complex biological phenomena
The 2020 New Zealand Event (Most Puzzling Recent Case):
September 2020: ~470 pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit, New Zealand.
Characteristics:
- Largest stranding in decades
- No naval exercises in the area
- No unusual solar activity
- No obvious sick individuals
- Repeated re-stranding despite rescue efforts
Autopsies showed: No consistent pathology. Most whales were healthy before stranding.
The Question: What caused hundreds of healthy whales to swim onto a beach and refuse to leave?
Current Leading Theory (2023):
Multi-factor perfect storm:
- Geomagnetic anomaly at Farewell Spit (known stranding hotspot)
- Unusual prey distribution (may have drawn whales close to shore)
- Tidal timing (low tide trapped them)
- Social cohesion (once some stranded, others followed)
But this doesn’t fully explain the persistence—why they didn’t leave when they could.
The Lesson:
Some animal behaviors may not have a single cause. Complex behaviors emerge from multiple interacting factors, and sometimes the specific combination that triggers a mass event is unique and unrepeatable.
What Part 3 Teaches Us About Life
These biological mysteries reveal deeper truths:
1. Intelligence Doesn’t Require Large Brains
Pufferfish create geometric art. Bees perform advanced calculus. Small brains accomplish seemingly impossible computational tasks.
2. Individuality Is Sometimes an Illusion
Zombie cicadas are controlled by fungi. Fireflies synchronize into collective patterns. Whale pods move as units. The individual organism isn’t always in control.
3. Evolution Finds Solutions We Haven’t Imagined
Biological immortality exists (jellyfish). Cells can transform into different cell types (transdifferentiation). Organisms can be chemically reprogrammed.
4. Life Engineers Its Environment
Bacteria move rocks. Pufferfish manipulate currents. Organisms are geological and physical forces.
5. Communication Can Be More Sophisticated Than We Realize
Bee dances encode vector mathematics. Firefly flashes synchronize through emergent computation. Animal communication systems may be more information-rich than we’ve recognized.
6. We’re Still Discovering Basic Animal Behaviors
The pufferfish circles were unknown until 2012. We share the planet with organisms doing extraordinary things we haven’t noticed yet.
7. Death Isn’t Always Inevitable
One jellyfish species has solved biological immortality. Aging can be reversed. The mechanisms are understood but not yet applicable to complex organisms.
The Final Mystery
Across all three parts, one pattern emerges:
Nature is vastly more complex than our models predict.
We understand gravity, quantum mechanics, relativity. We’ve mapped the genome, sent probes to distant planets, created artificial intelligence.
Yet a 12-centimeter fish creates geometric patterns we can’t fully explain. Butterflies navigate using inherited maps we can’t decode. Lights appear in valleys despite 40 years of instrumentation.
The universe isn’t hiding these mysteries from us.
They’re happening in plain sight—in our oceans, our forests, our skies.
We’re just beginning to ask the right questions.
And nature is patiently waiting for us to figure out the answers.
What mysteries fascinate you most? The mathematical fish, the synchronized fireflies, the immortal jellyfish, or the whales that beach themselves for reasons we can’t fathom? Nature’s most profound lessons are written in phenomena we’re only beginning to read.