seafood

Whether they're tossed with Old Bay and served in a sandwich, fried at Great NY Noodle Town, or sauteed as a base for pasta, soft shell crabs always come out delicious. Unfortunately, this delicacy is only available a few times a year. But hopefully not for long.

With over 70 percent of the world's natural fisheries taxed beyond the point of replenishment, the demand for farmed fish will only rise in the coming years. Unfortunately, the cramped conditions and shallow locations of most existing fish farms result in low yields and sickly, parasite-ridden fish.

That's where Cliff Goudey, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Offshore Aquaculture Engineering Center, comes in. He has attached robotic motors to a giant fish cage, allowing it to travel around the sea, rather than stay tethered in shallow water.

Even though a jellyfish is 90 percent water, it moves at about 40 mph. Jellyfish use their bell -- the top portion, above the tentacles -- to create a jet that propels them through water. Now, scientists at the Chonnam National University in the Republic of Korea have built a robot that mimics the movement. The robot, using an electro-active polymer artificial muscle, retracts and expands its skirt, exerting a minimal voltage and propelling the jellybot faster than you can swim.

Great white whales. Schools of fish so thick they slowed boats. Sea monsters that could swallow a sailor whole. The last one may still be the stuff of lore, but scientists are using a curious series of census tools to gather evidence of an ocean that, as recently as decades ago, fairly teemed with marine life, far bigger and more plentiful that what's found in today's oceans.

SciKu, PopSci.com's recently refined art form, is back with a satisfyingly disgusting contribution from Bjorn.