On Saturday night my roommate, Ingrid, and I were watching Planet Earth, a BBC documentary series on the “last frontiers of nature.” As we view footage of Iguassu Falls, a massive waterfall in Brazil, Ingrid blurts out, “If I could be anything, I would be a water molecule.”
She continues, “You could have all the sensations…the sensation of falling, of flying…”
As a sidenote, what I learned from watching Planet Earth was that I have a vast store of latent scientific knowledge. How did I know that the Amazon river dolphin is blind before the man with the British accent told me? I also knew that the giant salamander has poor eyesight…maybe I have a thing for blind animals.
3 comments:
If I could be anything, I would not want to be a blind animal. Unless said animal lives in complete darkness, then, who cares...
I was fascinated by your knowledge of the Amazon river dolphin and looked up more info, which completely contradicts you and the British man. I am puzzled. Is the Botu blind or a creature with great vision (except for down b/c of huge cheekbones, which is easily managed by swimming upside down)? Sciencey people of the blog, help me!
Matt, I too am concerned about providing false information. You're right--Wikipedia goes out of its way to state that the Amazon River Dolphin can see quite well. It looks like it's the Ganges and Indus River Dolphins that are (essentially) blind.
Did I get it wrong? Or did Planet Earth get it wrong? My pride hopes that I will be vindicated, but my concern for humanity (or at least the humanity that watches Planet Earth) hopes that Planet Earth got it right.
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