This ship has been sitting off Sea Point for a couple of days.

It has an unusual structure and looks like a large building at night. I was curious so when I managed to see the name this morning I did some research.

According to Rigzone (there is a site for everything) it is a drillship on the way to explore possible deep sea oil fields off Angola.

A drillship is a bit like a very mobile oil rig. They are used for exploring deep sea oil fields because they can move around far faster than a normal oil rig.

Drillships use dynamic positioning systems to stay exactly stationary while drilling. Using a combination of GPS, wind and motion sensors and a sophisticated computer model the ship can stay absolutely stationary while drilling. Pretty cool stuff.

Most of us are (mostly) hairless. That is very unusual among mammals and pretty much unique among primates.

Why have humans evolved this trait? This New Scientist article outlines some of theories offered over the years.

We still don’t have a conclusive answer.

Theory 1: Avoiding the heat

As humans became savanna hunters body hair was shed to avoid overheating during long runs.

I have blogged before about theories suggesting that the human combination of hairlessness and profuse sweating allows for persistence hunting.

The problem:

Why has no other mammal adopted this strategy?

Many other mammals would benefit from better cooling systems and they all have fur – what is so different about us? Fur actually insulates against heat and the sun as well as keeping us warm in the cold.

Theory 2: Side-effect of big brains

This theory suggests that nakedness is a side effect of growing larger brains. It was noted that:

• Human brains grow very rapidly just before birth
• Humans retain characteristics of juvenile apes (flatter faces, bigger heads and eyes and naked skin).

The idea is that the stage just before birth has been protracted to allow the brain to grow even larger.

The problem:

If having hair were an advantage then we would just grow hair later in life. For example, we grow teeth even though we aren’t born with teeth.

Theory 3: No ticks here

Another theory is that we lost our hair in order to avoid ticks and other parasites.

The problem:

Why only us? If this were really an advantage other mammals would have evolved the same thing.

Theory 4: Aquatic ape

Humans are hairless and have a thin layer of fat under their skin. Sounds like whales and dolphins right?

The idea is that our evolutionary ancestors went through a stage evolving in aquatic environments. This could also help to describe why we walk upright.

The problems:

There are many problems with this theory (read about them on Wikipedia). For example, humans can’t hold their breath very well and are not efficient swimmers.

Most importantly, hairlessness is only an advantage in fully aquatic species like dolphins and whales. Even full time swimmers like otters and seals have thick fur and swim superbly. In short, the aquatic ape theory doesn’t work all that well…

Wired has this article about a 747 that has been converted for fighting fires. Sounds like a joke, but this is real.

A company spent $50 million converting a 747 into a fire fighting aircraft. It can drop 75,000 litres of flame retardant on fires. That compares very favorably with the 4,500 litres that the normal fire drop planes can carry.

Size isn’t the only innovation. Normal air drops on fires rely on gravity to expel the water for fire retardant. That means you get one drop and then have to go back for more.

This bad boy has a special pressurized system that allows for several drops. That helps when you’re carrying such a huge payload.

The major disadvantage of course is that this monster isn’t as nimble or flexible as the smaller aircraft and helicopters.