Wikipedia, you’ve done it again.

I randomly found the “unsolved problems in physics” page on Wiki tonight, and after multiple clicks to multiple other pages, I came across this one on sonoluminescence. Firstly, “it was too difficult to analyze the effect in early experiments because of the complex environment of a large number of short-lived bubbles” is probably one of the best sentences ever.  Secondly, as I read further down the page, this whole phenomenon sounded somewhat familiar to me, but I didn’t know why.

Then I got to the near bottom of the article where they talk about the pistol shrimp, who naturally produce a type of sonoluminescence as a way to kill prey. I read their page and realized that I’d either read or seen or heard something about these shrimp at some point before, but I couldn’t remember when. But I do remember the death bubble.

Yeah, turns out these little guys pretty much sonic boom their prey to death. Check it out here:

I freely admit the “OH SNAP” comment from a viewer had me laughing.

The fact that a creature can do something so cool is proof that nature’s pretty badass.

Also, I dare you to show this screen capture to anyone and see if they can guess what the hell’s going down:

And for those of you wondering: yes, it is possible to get from “Sonoluminescence” to the “Pornography” page in six clicks (Sonoluminescence -> Viscosity -> Mistletoe -> Kiss -> Herpes -> Oral Sex -> Pornography)

Today’s song: Blue Bench by Sasuke