Shutterstock.com 

Humpback whale

Whenever a whale surfaces, it exhales a huge breath from its blowhole. This creates a spray of seawater and bacteria—a mixture sometimes called “whale snot.” Researchers at Ocean Alliance in Massachusetts have built a drone to help scientists collect this spray. They call it the SnotBot!

As it flies through a whale’s spray, the SnotBot collects snot droplets. Studying the snot can tell scientists about the whale’s health.