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Colorful trees
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These are rainbow eucalyptus trees ( Eucalyptus deglupta) and they hail from the Philippine Islands. The trees get their name from the striking colours observed on their trunks and limbs. Although it may look like someone took a paintbrush to them, these colours are entirely natural. Unlike most trees, the rainbow eucalyptus does not have a thick, cork-like layer of bark on its trunk. The bark is smooth and as it grows it 'exfoliates' layers of spent tissue. This exfoliation technique occurs at different stages and in different zones of the tree. Once a layer is shed, a new fresh green bark is exposed. As this new bark ages, we can see the tissue change colour to dark green followed by a bluish colour, then to purple and pink-orange and then f ...
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4069 |
savio |
10 years ago |
A parrot with a wicked hairstyle
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This is a Palm Cockatoo, also know as the Goliath Cockatoo. Palms are distinguished by their size, huge beak (second only to the Hyacinth Macaw among psittacines and largest proportionate to size), solid black feather coloration, large open crest, bare red cheeks, and red and black tongue. You have to see their tongues to believe the coloration. It's amazing. Palm Cockatoos are severely threatened. They are CITES Appendix I birds and are protected in Australia. As a testament to their rarity, typical prices in the U.S. for Aterrimus Palms are around $8000 and Goliaths around $14,000. Perhaps contributing to their rarity is the fact that, according to both Low and Forshaw, they lay only one egg per clutch. ...
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5917 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Here's what low levels of melanin leads to
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This is a rare baby Golden Brushtail Possum that was born at Wild Life Sydney last year. Golden Brushtail Possums are one of Australia’s largest tree-dwelling marsupials but they're rarely seen in the wild, being found mostly in small pockets of Tasmania. Their unique appearance is the result of low levels of melanin in their skin.
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3678 |
savio |
10 years ago |
An animal we'll never see again
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Australia's iconic Tasmanian Tiger was hunted to extinction in the 1930s - but it may have already been doomed by an extremely small gene pool, according to a new study that stresses the fragility of isolated species.
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3805 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Ever seen a potoo?
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Potoos are a small New World family of solitary and nocturnal birds. Most are so poorly known they seem more fiction than substance, their gruff or wailing cries ghostly delusions of the dim nocturnal world they inhabit.
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2736 |
savio |
10 years ago |
We are the stars, we are the universe
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I'd like to share this mind-opening video. Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his answer. By far, one of the best...
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4507 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
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24637 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Humans and Earth - the battle
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When you turn on your TV, it is the definition of ironic to watch the news channels for information about planet mass destruction. Whilst when you step outside your door, it is quite alarming and obvious that our earth is suffering. When every person around you, from toddlers to elderly, own some for of technology, with no means of recycling old items. When students, each with their own copies of pages. When potable water has not yet reached the most needy of nations. When human greed is apparent with every innovative idea claiming to "revolutionize "a domain brought up to make a quick buck. Drilling, mining, industrialization, politics, scavenging for resources, suffocating our environment... This may all seem negative, but coming from a ...
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2762 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Bees up-close
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Barry from Bee Movie has taught us that without bees, we won't survive. These pollinators may terrify us when they are swarming around out at the park, but they are more terrifying if they were not around. What is happening to our bees with domestication? What have we lost? What are we trying to restore? The answers to these questions are in this video. Check it out
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2648 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Our ancestors never really noticed the color blue
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Our perception has heavily depended on how well we can accurately describe our surroundings. And this description relies on our language. Our ancestors apparently were not capable of perceiving the color blue. If they did, they were not capable of noticing it, simply because there was no term in language for blue. The first civilization to document and affirm the color blue was the Ancient Egyptian Civilization. In fact, the Ancient Egyptians were the only ancestors that were able to produce blue dyes! Moreover, philologists have compared Hindu, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and many more languages only to find no mention of the color blue. However, just because the term for blue did not exist, does not mean our ancestors did not perceive blue. T ...
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2848 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
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6843 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Curvy trees
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This is a remote forest in Western Poland, where 400 pine trees have grown with a curvature in their trunk structure and it turns out that no one really knows exactly what caused it. There are, however, a few theories: 1) The main theory seems to suggest that this is the result of human interference. It is believed that this is a tree farm and the trees were forced to grow horizontally in their youth to make a carpenters life easier. The curved shape can be induced by laying a heavy object over a young tree stem. Phototropism will cause the stem beyond the heavy object to grow toward the sky, while the growing stem beneath and behind the heavy object will develop what is called morphogenetic compression wood - which ultimately makes the curv ...
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3283 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
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3872 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
To kill or not to krill?
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Without krill, most of the marine animals in Antarctica would disappear. So what are they?Krill are crustaceans, each about 5 cm long. In addition to their diet of phytoplankton, they have the ability to scrape ice-algae from the underside of ice formations. In turn, they are on the menu for hungry squid, penguins, seals and whales. In short, krill form an integral part of the Antarctic ecosystem. Together, krill would number in the billions, yet their numbers are decreasing. Why? One reason may be the melting and loss of ice formation due to increased global temperatures. Another reason is humans' greed. Krill oil, high in omega-3 fatty acids, is packaged as health medication to maintain healthy cholesterol. How many krill are worth the lif ...
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3025 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
What happens to plastic waste?
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In 1937, a scientist named Carothers died at the young age of 41, desolated that he had not made his mark in the scientific world. His invention, Nylon, was to become one of the most commonly used plastics in the world. Nylon is used in toothbrushes, ropes and fabric for parachutes and clothing.
In the last century, plastics (synthetic polymers) have been so ubiquitous that it is difficult to imagine life without it. But what happens to it when we longer have use for it? Where does it go when we throw plastic out?
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2951 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
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