archiemcphee: From the Department of Awesome Animal Anatomy comes this post by astronomy-to-zoology about Woodpecker Tongues. “The woodpecker’s tongue can extend 2/3 its body length. Its tongue is covered in sticky saliva and barbs all over with an ear (a hearing mechanism) at the end of it. So it can listen to its prey. It detects sound. The tongue is so long that it fits its tongue in its head by wrapping around its brain and around its eye sockets. It can move its head/beak up to 15-16 times per second as it strikes a tree. This is incredibly fast. It creates immense forces, 250 more times than astronauts are subjected to. It is 1,000 G’s. The woodpecker has cartilage around the brain that keeps it from shattering.” That’s one impressive tongue. Learning is awesome!
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archiemcphee:

From the Department of Awesome Animal Anatomy comes this post by astronomy-to-zoology about Woodpecker Tongues.

“The woodpecker’s tongue can extend 2/3 its body length. Its tongue is covered in sticky saliva and barbs all over with an ear (a hearing mechanism) at the end of it. So it can listen to its prey. It detects sound. The tongue is so long that it fits its tongue in its head by wrapping around its brain and around its eye sockets. It can move its head/beak up to 15-16 times per second as it strikes a tree. This is incredibly fast. It creates immense forces, 250 more times than astronauts are subjected to. It is 1,000 G’s. The woodpecker has cartilage around the brain that keeps it from shattering.”

That’s one impressive tongue.

Learning is awesome!

Source: astronomy-to-zoology

astronomy-to-zoology:

Family  Monoscutidae 

Monoscutidae is a genus of harvestmen found in Australia, New Zealand and surrounding islands. There are currently 32 species described that range in size from 3mm to 10mm. One subfamily that stands out is Megalopsalidinae, because the males of this group have enormous chelicerae that almost look like the claws of their crustacean brethren. Monoscutidaen harvestmen also range in color from black and brown and often have bright orange,white and gold highlights.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Arthropoda-Arachnida-Oplilones-Eupnoi-Phalangioidea-Monoscrutidae

Source,Source

*PSA: oplilones (daddy long legs) are not spiders nor are they extremely poisonous.  

(via comicauthors)

Source: astronomy-to-zoology

archiemcphee:

From the Department of Awesome Natural Wonders comes the Lake Hillier, the mysteriously bright pink lake found on Middle Island in Western Australia that looks like it’s made of Strawberry Nestle Quik or Pepto-Bismol. No one knows for sure why the lake sports such an unusual colour.

According to Wikipedia: The reason for the lake’s colour is still under investigation. A possible explanation according to some scientists involves the low nutrient concentrations and different types of bacteria and algae. The pink colouration could also be from a sea salt and nahcolite (sodium bicarbonate) deposit reaction or red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts.

Photos by Jean Paul Ferrero/Ardea/Caters News (via Exposing the Truth), JWB @ Panoramio.com, Ralph Roberts on Google+, and lookcaitlin.

[via Twisted Sifter]

7knotwind:

farewell-kingdom:

Leaf cut out illustrations by Nature’s Art - Natural leaf carving is actual manual cutting and removal of a leaf’s surface to produce an art work on a leaf. The process of carving is performed by artists using tools to carefully remove the surface without cutting or removing the veins. 

Crazy

(via fuckyeahartandscience)

Source: farewell-kingdom

Underwater Photos That Mimic the Look of Baroque Paintings

Hawaii-based photographer Christy Lee Rogers specializes in creating dreamlike photos of people underwater. Her project Reckless Unbound shows people swirling around one another while wearing colorful outfits. The photos are reminiscent of the paintings of old Baroque masters, who would often paint people floating around in heavenly realms.

Rogers creates her photos in swimming pools at night. The scenes are illuminated with bright off-camera lights, and the shoots often last two to four hours each.

You can see more of her work over on her website.

(via exploratorium)

Source: christyrogers.com

ianbrooks:

Glass-Blown Spaceships by Rik Allen

It’s not exactly futuristic technology, nor do I think these vessels would survive the ravages of space, but Rik’s spaceship sculptures are made from steel, blown glass and certainly look capable of traversing the 1950’s spaceways. The intricate retro industrial detail is definitely worthy of true rocket science though, especially the tiny, expertly positioned chairs Rik places inside them… because you know your ass would definitely get tired of haphazardly floating around in zero-G eventually. My love for these burns with the fiery hot passion of one million asploding suns, so I included a few more extreeeeeeeme closeup shots below:

Artist: Website (via: Super Punch)

(via fuckyeahartandscience)

Source: ianbrooks

the-star-stuff: The Greatest Mysteries of the Planets Mercury Mercury is notoriously difficult to study, thanks to its proximity to the scorching hot and blindingly bright sun. Thus, mysteries abound. For example, Mercury has a giant core — perhaps because its outer, lighter layers got brushed off by planetary collisions long ago, but scientists aren’t sure. It also has a magnetic field and an atmosphere, both of unknown origin. In fact, the little planet leaks a steady stream of atmospheric particles, suggesting its atmosphere is somehow constantly regenerated.  Venus Planetary scientists are still working out the details of how a once-earthlike Venus gradually morphed into the hellishly hot planet shrouded in a thick blanket of toxic gases we see today. But a bigger mystery regarding Earth’s “evil twin” is why the planet’s atmosphere swirls around it 60 times faster than the sphere spins itself; and speaking of Venus’ spin, no one knows why it goes counter-clockwise unlike all the other inner planets, such that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.  Earth You might think we’d have nailed down the major bullet points about our home planet’s structure and formation, but in fact, big zingers remain. We don’t know, for example, how all this water got here, and we’re uncertain about the nature of Earth’s core, which, strangely, transmits seismic waves faster in one direction than the other. Our beloved satellite has big bogglers, too. While most scientists think the moon formed from a chunk of Earth that got knocked off during an ancient impact, the theory has a hole: the theoretical impactor, dubbed Theia, should have left a residue with distinctive characteristics, but it has not been detected.  Mars The Red Planet, now frigid, barren and seemingly deserted, spent its first 500 million or billion years as warm, wet and geologically dynamic. Scientists don’t know why it changed so drastically for the worse. They also wonder whether a more vibrant Mars once harbored life, and if it did, whether any bacteria-like Martian organisms managed to adapt to the harsher environs that took over, and are still eking out an existence there.  Jupiter Like a carefully dyed Easter egg, Jupiter is girded by lighter-hued bands called zones and darker bands called belts. But are these stripes merely surface features overlaying a uniform inner ball of gas, or are the zones and belts actually the tops of concentric cylinders that make up the planet? Whole stripes have been known to disappear without a trace; one vanished in May 2010 that was twice as wide as Earth; why? Other surface decors, such as the swirling vortex known as the Great Red Spot, are equally as mysterious: What power source drives their turbulent motion? Saturn For four centuries, astronomers have contemplated Saturn’s eye-popping rings, but none of their attempts to explain the beautiful features have ever seemed quite right. The rings could have formed from the icy remnants of a bygone moon, or from a passing comet torn to shreds by the planet’s gravity; they could be relatively young at just a few hundred million years old, or they might date back to the birth of Saturn more than four billion years ago. We just don’t know. We’re also yet to nail down the dynamics of giant storms and jet streams on the ringed planet’s surface, as well as the dynamics of its rotation. Uranus Planets are expected to radiate heat leftover inside them from their fiery formation process, but puzzlingly, Uranus radiates little or no heat into space. Perhaps the seventh planet’s heat got unleashed during some cosmic smash-up in the distant past. (That collision could also have caused the planet’s strange sideways spin.) Or, maybe Uranus somehow self-insulates, keeping all its heat trapped inside. Neptune Astronomers had expected Neptune to be a weatherless, featureless world in deep freeze. Instead, Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989 — the only close look we’ve ever gotten of this 3-billion-mile-away planet — revealed a turbulent atmosphere with lighter cloud ripples and raging storms. Surprisingly, the fastest winds ever recorded in the solar system whirl on Neptune, up around 1,300 miles (about 2,100 kilometers) per hour. Driving this activity appears to be Neptune’s internal heat, but as the farthest planet from the sun (farthest, that is, ever since the more-distant Pluto was kicked off the planet list in 2006), why does it hold so much heat?
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the-star-stuff:

The Greatest Mysteries of the Planets

Mercury

Mercury is notoriously difficult to study, thanks to its proximity to the scorching hot and blindingly bright sun. Thus, mysteries abound. For example, Mercury has a giant core — perhaps because its outer, lighter layers got brushed off by planetary collisions long ago, but scientists aren’t sure. It also has a magnetic field and an atmosphere, both of unknown origin. In fact, the little planet leaks a steady stream of atmospheric particles, suggesting its atmosphere is somehow constantly regenerated. 

Venus

Planetary scientists are still working out the details of how a once-earthlike Venus gradually morphed into the hellishly hot planet shrouded in a thick blanket of toxic gases we see today. But a bigger mystery regarding Earth’s “evil twin” is why the planet’s atmosphere swirls around it 60 times faster than the sphere spins itself; and speaking of Venus’ spin, no one knows why it goes counter-clockwise unlike all the other inner planets, such that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. 

Earth

You might think we’d have nailed down the major bullet points about our home planet’s structure and formation, but in fact, big zingers remain. We don’t know, for example, how all this water got here, and we’re uncertain about the nature of Earth’s core, which, strangely, transmits seismic waves faster in one direction than the other. Our beloved satellite has big bogglers, too. While most scientists think the moon formed from a chunk of Earth that got knocked off during an ancient impact, the theory has a hole: the theoretical impactor, dubbed Theia, should have left a residue with distinctive characteristics, but it has not been detected. 

Mars

The Red Planet, now frigid, barren and seemingly deserted, spent its first 500 million or billion years as warm, wet and geologically dynamic. Scientists don’t know why it changed so drastically for the worse. They also wonder whether a more vibrant Mars once harbored life, and if it did, whether any bacteria-like Martian organisms managed to adapt to the harsher environs that took over, and are still eking out an existence there. 

Jupiter

Like a carefully dyed Easter egg, Jupiter is girded by lighter-hued bands called zones and darker bands called belts. But are these stripes merely surface features overlaying a uniform inner ball of gas, or are the zones and belts actually the tops of concentric cylinders that make up the planet? Whole stripes have been known to disappear without a trace; one vanished in May 2010 that was twice as wide as Earth; why? Other surface decors, such as the swirling vortex known as the Great Red Spot, are equally as mysterious: What power source drives their turbulent motion?

Saturn

For four centuries, astronomers have contemplated Saturn’s eye-popping rings, but none of their attempts to explain the beautiful features have ever seemed quite right. The rings could have formed from the icy remnants of a bygone moon, or from a passing comet torn to shreds by the planet’s gravity; they could be relatively young at just a few hundred million years old, or they might date back to the birth of Saturn more than four billion years ago. We just don’t know. We’re also yet to nail down the dynamics of giant storms and jet streams on the ringed planet’s surface, as well as the dynamics of its rotation.

Uranus

Planets are expected to radiate heat leftover inside them from their fiery formation process, but puzzlingly, Uranus radiates little or no heat into space. Perhaps the seventh planet’s heat got unleashed during some cosmic smash-up in the distant past. (That collision could also have caused the planet’s strange sideways spin.) Or, maybe Uranus somehow self-insulates, keeping all its heat trapped inside.

Neptune

Astronomers had expected Neptune to be a weatherless, featureless world in deep freeze. Instead, Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989 — the only close look we’ve ever gotten of this 3-billion-mile-away planet — revealed a turbulent atmosphere with lighter cloud ripples and raging storms. Surprisingly, the fastest winds ever recorded in the solar system whirl on Neptune, up around 1,300 miles (about 2,100 kilometers) per hour. Driving this activity appears to be Neptune’s internal heat, but as the farthest planet from the sun (farthest, that is, ever since the more-distant Pluto was kicked off the planet list in 2006), why does it hold so much heat?

(via funismajin)

Source: lifeslittlemysteries.com

archiemcphee: Nope, this is not a movie monster. If you’ve watched the indescribably awesome BBC nature documentary series Life, then you might recognize this awesome little brute. And if you haven’t (which you really should), then allow us to introduce a fish with one of the best names we’ve ever heard: the Sarcastic Fringehead.  “The Sarcastic Fringehead is a ferocious fish which has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behaviour. They can be up to 30 centimetres (12 in) wide and are mostly scaleless with great pectoral fins and reduced pelvic fins. With highly compressed bodies, some may be so widened as to appear eel-like. They tend to hide inside shells or crevices. After the female spawns under a rock or in clam burrows the male guards the eggs. They are found in the Pacific, off the coast of North America, from San Francisco, California, to central Baja California and their depth range is from 3 to 73 metres (9.8 to 240 ft).” You can watch a clip from the Life episode that features the Sarcasting Fringehead here. That gaping maw is already impressive in the photo above, but seeing these fish in action really something else. Besides, as far as we’re concerned, listening to a little narration by Sir David Attenborough each day is good medicine. So here’s a dose. More information about these awesome fish can be found here. [via TYWKIWDBI]
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archiemcphee:

Nope, this is not a movie monster. If you’ve watched the indescribably awesome BBC nature documentary series Life, then you might recognize this awesome little brute. And if you haven’t (which you really should), then allow us to introduce a fish with one of the best names we’ve ever heard: the Sarcastic Fringehead. 

“The Sarcastic Fringehead is a ferocious fish which has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behaviour. They can be up to 30 centimetres (12 in) wide and are mostly scaleless with great pectoral fins and reduced pelvic fins. With highly compressed bodies, some may be so widened as to appear eel-like. They tend to hide inside shells or crevices. After the female spawns under a rock or in clam burrows the male guards the eggs. They are found in the Pacific, off the coast of North America, from San Francisco, California, to central Baja California and their depth range is from 3 to 73 metres (9.8 to 240 ft).”

You can watch a clip from the Life episode that features the Sarcasting Fringehead here. That gaping maw is already impressive in the photo above, but seeing these fish in action really something else. Besides, as far as we’re concerned, listening to a little narration by Sir David Attenborough each day is good medicine. So here’s a dose.

More information about these awesome fish can be found here.

[via TYWKIWDBI]

archiemcphee:

This awesome creature (yes, this really is a living thing, not a piece of candy or glass) is a Jewel Caterpillar (Acraga coa) spotted by naturalist and photographer Gerardo Aizpuru near Cancun, Mexico. No word if it tastes like a gummi worm, but we’ll let you take the first bite. Here’s Gerardo’s own description:

“Photo take in a mangrove area , found this Stoning translucent caterpillar lay on a Red Mangrove tree leaf this morning early. Just can believe there is some species like this around the world. looks like made of glass whit small red mushroom inside every pic. about 3 cm long.”

The bottom image, as you might’ve surmised, shows the bright and impressively furry moth that this wicked little caterpillar eventually becomes. Transforming from one sort of awesome creature into another different, but still entirely awesome, creature? We’re seriously impressed.

(This last photo was taken by David Brownell.)

[via Geekologie]