These amazing images of animals in the womb were compiled by scientists using ultrasound scans and computer graphics.

This is the Costa Rican variable harlequin toad (Atelopus varius), also known as the clown frog (in spite of the fact that it is a true toad). They once ranged from Costa Rica to Panama, but are now listed as critically endangered and reduced to a single population in Costa Rica. The variable harlequin toads conspicuous colouring serves as a warning to predators of the toads toxicity.

The kakapo is a strange little flightless bird native to New Zealand. Sadly there are now only 126 kakapo left in conservation areas, where they eat a range of plants. But researchers who have been studying ancient poo samples have recently found that around 900 years ago kakapo ate a lot of pollen from a root parasite known as Hades flower. The two no longer exist in the same place and Hades flower is also rare, which begs the question - were the birds responsible for pollinating it?

Further research needs to be done, but it is an interesting conservation link. ...

Scientists at University of St Andrews in Scotland and the Institute of Scientific Instruments (ISI) in the Czech Republic have designed a minute but completely functional tractor beam.

Reminiscent of Star Trek, they use a beam of light to draw objects towards the light source on a microscopic level.

Only about 100 cases are documented around the world. The true human tail upon birth is caused by a lack of cell destruction of the distal end of the embryonic tail.


According to some experts, the true human tail is not really a tail at all. It is thought to be linked to spina bifida or a hiccup in the natural human development process. While others thing that it is due to mutation of the genes that produce cellular destruction of the tail component

As it is well known that it is derived from the most distal remnant of the embryonic tail. It contains adipose and connective tissue, central bundles of striated muscle, blood vessels, and nerves and is covered by skin while it lacks Bone, cartilage, notochord, and spinal cord. The true tail aris ...

Octopus reproduction is fairly uniform across species. When a female is ready to mate, she releases a chemical into the water that attracts males. They follow this chemical to the female, where they will often fight one another for the right to mate with the female. Sometimes the female will mate with more than one male. The same chemical that attracts the males stops the males from eating the female - cannibalism is common amongst octopodes.

Once it has been decided who will be mating, the male transfers packages of sperm called \"spermatophores\" to the female using his third right arm (which typically has no suckers). The female stores these, and then builds a den. She then seals the entrance. Once this is complete, she lays the eggs and ...

Meet the goliath frog! This beast is the largest extant anuran on Earth.


They can grow up to 33 cm (13 inches) from snout to vent, and can weigh up to 3.2 kg. They have a fairly small habitat range, mainly in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and sadly their numbers are dwindling due to habitat destruction. They are also hunted for both consumption and for the pet trade.

The Yellow Pages use no virgin paper in the production of their directories, but to produce and deliver 540 million a year requires immense amounts of water and uses immense amounts of energy and fuel. If you need the Yellow Pages, keep it! But if you are among the 70% polled who say they never even open them, opt out. It is just a waste not to.

This photograph of a great white shark following a kayak is probably one of the most iconic and popular shark images of all time. Every time it pops up, it unsurprisingly garners a lot of accusations of being fake, or edited.

Check out this amazing image of am urodid moth cocoon. According to entomologist and Amazon explorer Phil Torres, It has a really beautiful woven lattice structure that hangs about a foot below a leaf on a thin silk string.

This is an unusual structure because the pupa, resting inside the cocoon, seems fairly exposed to the elements. The hanging likely helps to prevent predation from ants, and the bright orange color may serve as an aposematic signal to predators to prevent it from getting eaten. The tube part at the bottom is the 'escape hatch' from which it eventually will exit as an adult moth. There is not a lot of research that has been done on the evolutionary origin structure - this is one of the many mysteries of the Amazon you can c ...

We asks ourselves this a lot, so do stem cells!

Bulletproof glass manufacturer 3M Security Glass placed this advertisement at a bus stop. There's apparently $3 million in cash inside there, behind their bulletproof glass. If you can break it, it's yours.


Here's how bulletproof glass works...

At first glance, bullet-resistant glass looks identical to an ordinary pane of glass, but that's where the similarities end. An ordinary piece of glass shatters when struck by a single bullet. Bullet resistant glass is designed to withstand one or several rounds of bullets depending on the thickness of the glass and the weapon being fired at it. So, what gives bullet-resistant glass the ability to stop bullets?

Different manufacturers make different variations of bullet-resistant glass, but it is basic ...

This guy brings new meaning to the phrase “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”


The Venezuela Pebble Toad is a strange creature. It is typically found in mountainous regions, with many slopes and inclines. The toad is only about the size of a fingertip. As such, it is vulnerable to attacks from even a spider, like a tarantula.

The Pebble Toad has an ingenious defence mechanism. When faced with a danger, it tucks its limbs and head under its body and tenses its muscles. Forming a ball shape, it begins to roll down whatever slope it happens to be on. This allows it to evade whatever predator may be pursuing it. Since they are so tiny and their muscles are so rigid, they take no damage from the bouncing and rolling.

The Pebble Toad was featured in t ...

A student in my class once asked, do fish ever get thirsty? I was 15 at the time, and I remember my science teacher struggling to answer the question.

Here's the best possible answer I can give you -- it all depends whether the fish is a saltwater fish or a freshwater fish.



Notice how the fresh water fish actually obtains H2O via the food it consumes, not through drinking. Whereas the saltwater fish actually drinks the water can hence has highly concentrated urine. ...

A new study from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) estimates that our galaxy contains at least 100 billion planets. The team made their estimate while analysing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 - planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.

According to scientists at The Keck Institute for Space Studies in California, NASA is seriously considering capturing an asteroid to put in a high orbit around the moon. If the idea is implemented, we could be looking at a manned mission to "capture" an asteroid in the 2020s. This idea is thought to tie in with the Obama administration's enthusiasm for sending a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid. If NASA were able to capture an object and lock it into an orbit around the moon, it could be safely used as a practise mission without the need for astronauts to move beyond the range of a rescue mission. ...

This is the regal ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus regalis), a subspecies of ringneck snake endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Unlike other subspecies of ringneck snakes, the regal ringneck is almost exclusively ophiophagous, meaning that it has a diet that consists almost entirely of other snakes.

They have a weak venom that serves to immobilize their small prey, but is harmless to humans.

Many of us around the world will enjoy a firework display tonight (or have already); but what are the mechanisms behind the magnificent spectacle?



The story behind fireworks begins about 2000 years ago in China. Alchemists at the time were in search for an elixir which made them immortal. Obviously, they did not find this- what they did find however was a substance consisting of potassium nitrate, charcoal and suphur; or gunpowder,as we know it. The evolution of fireworks from gunpowder took another 1000 years until a monk named Li Tian realised that if you placed gunpowder into a bamboo tube and ignited it, an impressive explosion on sound and light ensued. Fireworks were born!

The gunpowder is responsible for the trajectory of the firework, ...