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Reknowned distance swimmer Diana Nyad {wiki} is almost 62 years old. But she is swimming today, off the coast of Cuba, heading to Key West. She entered the water just before Sunset last night. This time, instead of a shark cage, she will be surrounded by an electronic shark deterrent. The swim, if successful, is expected to take 60 hours. Link
CNN has an interactive map with which you can follow her progress. Link
Update: Nyad abandoned her attempt about halfway through. Link
From pumpkin carving to fine dining to a music festival, you’d be amazed just how much stuff can happen underwater when you get a few expert scuba divers together for a good time. Oddee has a collection of some of the wackiest underwater events to have ever been posted on the web.
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Forget swimming with the dolphins! Here’s the better (stranger) vacation idea: swimming with pigs!
Swimming with dolphins? You can go one better! Visit the paddling porcines in Big Major Cay and jump in for a dip if you’re brave enough. They won’t bite—well, as long as you don’t whisper "BLT" within earshot.
Read more strange vacation ideas from Oddee: Link
Why do blacks excel at running track and whites dominate in the swimming pool? Scientists discovered the secret to why some athletes are so good at their sports: it’s in their belly buttons!
What’s important is not whether an athlete has an innie or an outie but where his or her navel is in relation to the rest of the body, says the study published in the International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics.
The navel is the center of gravity of the body, and given two runners or swimmers of the same height, one black and one white, "what matters is not total height but the position of the belly-button, or center of gravity," Duke University professor Andre Bejan, the lead author of the study, told AFP.
"It so happens that in the architecture of the human body of West African-origin runners, the center of gravity is significantly higher than in runners of European origin," which puts them at an advantage in sprints on the track, he said.
Conversely, the position of the belly-buttons in white athletes mean that they have longer torso and thus are usually better swimmers: Link
Festo, has been shown here on Neatorama several times in the past and each time their robotics and bizarre creations blew our collective minds…our Neatorama Hivemind to be exact…but that’s a story for another time. 
In this video you’ll get to see creepy blue LED robotic penguins swimming about in a large pool. Also, you’ll see it’s more lighter cousin who probably is the envy of every penguin in being able to fly/float and much more in terms of various robotic creations. Really fascinating stuff!
More info here – Link
For older Neatorama Festo links:
Festo’s Upside-Down Hot Air Balloon
AquaJelly and AirJelly
Air Ray: The Blimp With Wings
Meet Aqua Ray
Festo Airic’s Robotic Arm
Floating Fish Blimp
