"What a charred ancient tree can teach us about impermanence, deep time, and our place in the universe.
The tree had been on fire for over a week before anyone noticed. The Senator, one of the oldest Cypress trees in the world, was killed when a smoldering ignition from an errant lightning strike slowly transformed it into a towering chimney and fuel source in one. Or maybe it didn’t happen like that at all. Perhaps it was an errant cigarette, or a sinister match strategically placed in its hollow berth. The mystery endures, but the fact remains: on January 16, 2012 The Senator collapsed and died, engulfed in flames. It was 3,500 years old. . . . ."
I have been an admirer, and student of, nature all my life - well for at least as long as I can remember. And my finest teacher was 'baba', my grandmother. We had long walks in her large garden, around the neighor's pond, in the woods near our house and down by the river during my childhood in Slovakia. Nature was our classroom and the plants, animals, anphibians and insects were our subjects. But she never told me about a bug, the lesser water boatman, that was singing with his weenie. A little known fact that she obviously was not aware of.
"If you walk by a European river on a summer’s day, you might get to hear the animal kingdom’s champion vocalist. His song sounds like a train of chirps, and from a metre away, it’s as loud as whirring power tools. The din is all the more incredible because it is produced by an insect just two millimetres in length – the lesser water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi
Micronecta means “small swimmer” and it is aptly named. It’s among the smallest of the several hundred species of water boatmen that row across the bottom of ponds and streams with paddle-shaped legs. The males are the ones that sing, and they often do so in large choruses to attract the silent females. These songs are famously loud. Even though the insect lives underwater, you can hear its call from the riverbank, several metres away.
Now, Jérôme Sueur from the Natural History Museum in Paris has measured Micronecta’s song using underwater microphones. He found that it the small swimmer is a record-breaker. On average, it reaches 79 decibels, about the level of a ringing phone or a cocktail party. But at its peak, it reaches 105 decibels – more like a car horn, a power tool or a passing subway train.
There are animals that make far louder calls. The record goes to the sperm whale, which can create clicks of around 236 decibels underwater (equivalent to 170 decibels on land). Other animals, including elephants, hippos and dolphins can produce louder calls than Micronecta.
But pound for pound, there is no competition. All of these animals are very big, and it stands to reason that large objects can produce louder sounds – think about the difference between a concert amp and a set of headphones. The sperm whale, for example, grows up to 16 metres in length and weighs up to 14 tonnes. Micronecta, on the other hand, produces its phenomenal song with a body that’s no bigger than one of these letters. Sueur compared the ratio of call intensity to body size for 227 different animals, from whales to insects, and found that the water boatmen out-sang them all.
How does such a tiny insect make such a loud noise? It’s not clear. It seems to do so by rubbing its ribbed penis against ridges on its belly, playing its genitals like a miniature fiddler. But the “bow” here is just 50 micrometres long, and there are no obvious body parts to amplify the noise. . . . . . "
"The wing of a fruit fly, viewed against a white background, looks very ordinary. It is transparent, with no obvious colours except for some small brownish spots. But looks can be deceptive. If you put the wing in front of a black background, it suddenly explodes in a kaleidoscope of colour. Oranges, blues, greens, violets – virtually the entire rainbow dances across the wing, except for red.
A French scientist called Claude Charles Goureau first noticed these vivid hues back in 1843. Since then, they have languished in obscurity, “apparently unnoticed by contemporary biologists”. Whenever new species of wasps or flies are described, their discoverers almost never mention the coloured patterns of the wings. The visible pigments have even been described as “evolution in black and white”. It’s like walking through an art gallery with a blindfold.
Now, Ekaterina Shevtsova from Lund University has taken off the blind. By photographing several species against dark backgrounds, she has revealed a world of hidden colour, rivalling that of more obviously beautiful insects. “The claim that fly and wasp wing patterns are no match for the incredible diversity of colourful butterfly wing patterns is obsolete,” she says.
Shevtsova found that different species have their own unique patterns of swirls, spots and stripes, all shining with resplendent colour. The insects probably use their wings as billboards to communicate with one another and to distinguish between different species. Insect scientists can use the patterns for the same purpose, separating species that otherwise look identical.
Shevtsova has also worked out how the patterns are created. They are “structural colours”. They exist not because of any pigment, but because of the wing’s microscopic structures. When light hits the wing, most of it passes straight through but 20% bounces back. Some reflects off the top layer, and the rest reflects off the bottom layer after passing through the thin membrane.
The two reflected beams reinforce one another to produce a strong vivid colour. The hue that you see depends on how thick the wing is at a given point. By varying the thickness of the membrane, the insect can reflect a rainbow from its wings. This phenomenon, known as “thin film interference”, also produces the colourful patterns of oil on water. . . . . "
Since encountering my first fractal image nearly 15 years ago I have been obsessed with this means of examing a previously unknown world. And have utilized a number of fractial software programs over the years. No more than a week ago I encountered a new program that renders fractal images in 3 D.
Mysteriously beautiful fractals are shaking up the world of mathematics and deepening our understanding of nature.
You may not know it, but fractals, like the air you breathe, are all around you. Their irregular, repeating shapes are found in cloud formations and tree limbs, in stalks of broccoli and craggy mountain ranges, even in the rhythm of the human heart. In this film, NOVA takes viewers on a fascinating quest with a group of maverick mathematicians determined to decipher the rules that govern fractal geometry.
For centuries, fractal-like irregular shapes were considered beyond the boundaries of mathematical understanding. Now, mathematicians have finally begun mapping this uncharted territory. Their remarkable findings are deepening our understanding of nature and stimulating a new wave of scientific, medical, and artistic innovation stretching from the ecology of the rain forest to fashion design. The Nova documentary highlights a host of filmmakers, fashion designers, physicians, and researchers who are using fractal geometry to innovate and inspire.
"Cold weather blanketing much of eastern and central Europe has killed more than 50 people in the last five days.
Emergency services authorities in Ukraine said Tuesday that 30 people died, mostly the homeless, as a result of the cold in recent days. Authorities say another 500 people were treated at hospitals for frostbite and other cold-related injuries. Emergency workers have provided hundreds of heated tents and have given food to those vulnerable to the cold temperatures, which reached lows of minus 23 Celsius.
Meanwhile, officials in Poland reported five new deaths Tuesday, bringing the death toll there to 15, as overnight temperatures dipped to minus 30 Celsius in parts of the country.
In Romania, the Health Ministry says two people died due to the cold temperatures, raising the death toll to eight since the cold spell began last week".
Most Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists won't touch it, yet many coffee aficionados can't go a day without it. I belong to the latter group. When I lived in a high mountain valley in Mexico I used to buy my coffee beans from a local grower, always on the day that they were roasted. They were still warm and aromatic when they arrived in my kitchen. Now that I live in Thailand, a friend sends me monthly parcels of a delicious coffee grown and harvested in Vietnam, and which satisfies my taste buds more than the locally grown Thai coffee.
And in case you were wondering, September 29th is recognized as National Coffee Day in the U.S.
"Sultan Murad IV, a ruler of the Ottoman Empire [12th century], would not have been a fan of Starbucks. Under his rule, the consumption of coffee was a capital offense.
Though Murad IV banned tobacco, alcohol and coffee, some say he consumed all three and his death was the result of alcohol poisoning. The sultan was so intent on eradicating coffee that he would disguise himself as a commoner and stalk the streets of Istanbul with a hundred-pound broadsword. Unfortunate coffee drinkers were decapitated as they sipped.
Murad IV's successor was more lenient. The punishment for a first offense was a light cudgeling. Caught with coffee a second time, the perpetrator was sewn into a leather bag and tossed in the river. ...."
Common cranes have been hand-reared to fly alongside a microlight to capture these images.
Earthflight uses many different filming techniques to create the experience of flying with birds as they reveal some of the greatest natural and man-made monuments of the planet.
"At long last, Fruitachampsa lives. Sort of. This strange crocodyliform has been extinct for around 150 million years. But, after three decades of waiting, this short-snouted croc has finally been officially named.
The new paper that describes Fruitachampsa callisoni calls the animal “A new shartegosuchid crocodyliform from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of western Colorado.” That’s “new” in a relative sense. Between 1975 and 1979, George Callison and James Clark discovered remains from multiple individuals of this croc near Grand Junction, Colorado. This animal was not like the alligators, caimans, gharials, and crocodiles we know today. (In technical terms, all those living lineages are crocodylians – a remaining portion of the larger and more varied group called Crocodyliformes to which Fruitachampsa also belonged.) Informally referred to as the “Fruita Form” in publications for years, this roughly three-foot-long archosaur had slender legs, a short skull, and rows of flat teeth with wrinkled, horizontal cusps socketed behind a small set of pointed teeth at the front of the jaws. As Jurassic expert John Foster dubbed the animal in his book Jurassic West, Fruitachampsa was “the house cat of the Morrison Formation.”
. . .But how did Fruitachampsa make a living? This Jurassic croc clearly was not an aquatic ambush predator. Fruitachampsa was a relatively slender animal adapted for a life on the land, but the more precise details of what it ate and how it behaved are unknown. Especially perplexing are those flat-topped teeth which Fruitachampsa shares with other shartegosuchids – what kind of food could such a tooth be suited to? Lizards, mammals, and even baby dinosaurs might have been suitable prey, but no one knows for sure. Hopefully, now that Fruitachampsa has a name, paleontologists can begin studying the natural history of the Jurassic’s housecat croc."
A note and photo from David Clulow in Venezuela that he has finally had a true yellow Adenium to flower. Felicitaciones and congratulations David, it is absolutely beautiful.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Adeniums [Desert Rose], they are a floriferous African plant that in the past has been limited to flowers in the color range of reds, pinks, and whites with few deep purplish reds. They do quite well here in the tropical clmate of Thailand.
"On 28th August 2010 I received some seeds from Mr Ko which included 12 labelled 'Yellow Earth'. These were sown on paper and 9 germinated. It was obvious from an early age that 2 of the seedlings would be albas, or more technically correct concolors as their stems were without pigment and were jade green coloured. When these two seedlings were reasonably big the tops were cut off on 11 April 2011 and five grafts each were made. Fortunately all of the grafts took and the first one started to flower this morning. . . . The brown mark on the petal is just insect damage. Here is another view to show the leaves, they look to me to be rather narrow and "V" shaped possibly indicating A. swazicum and A. crispum in the background of the breeding. "
"This is Mr. Ko's photo of 'Yellow Earth', possibly my seedling flower will flatten out as it gets a little older."
"These images may appear to be traditional Chinese prints, including the beautiful calligraphy and stamp work that decorates such classic works… but in fact, they are all photographs. The serenely peaceful craft of Don Hong-Oai, a Chinese born artist who immigrated twice and never left behind the stunning aesthetic of his homeland.
Don Hong-Oai was born in Canton, China in 1929. The youngest of an astounding 24 siblings, his parents passed away when he was just 7 years old and soon he was sent to live within the Chinese community in Saigon, Vietnam. He would spend most of his life there doing odd jobs until he became a student at the Vietnam National Art University. He remained in the country throughout the Vietnam War, but when conflict broke out between the Peoples Republic of China and Vietnam in 1979 he fled to the San Francisco.
Now 50 years old and speaking no english, Hong-Oai was able to procure a small dark-room in the city and continue his photographic work, returning to China every few years to make new negatives. It wasn’t until the last few years of his life that his work was discovered by the public and became popular with collectors worldwide. The artistic master passed away in 2004, leaving a legacy of beautifully meditative art, the result of a life-long persistence and passion for beauty. You can see more of his prints on flickr."
