Home/Articles in: Weird & Wonderful
Articles in: Weird & Wonderful
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Feb 2nd, 2012,
By Andrew Freedman NASA released a new, high-resolution “Blue Marble” image of Earth this week, taken from instruments aboard the recently launched Suomi NPP satellite. The image is actually a composite of many pictures from Jan. 4, 2012 that were stitched together, and shows North America in stunning detail. One feature that is notably absent from the picture is snow cover, which is confined to parts of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. In many parts of the country, snowfall has been running well below average so far this year. The image was taken by one of the five instruments…
Tags: blue marble, climatecentral.org, earth images, NASA, space
Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 29th, 2012,
US Republican presidential candidate and blowhard Newt Gingrich has stated that he will build a base on the moon by his second term should he get elected. Gingrich said he’d like to get there before the Chinese do. Well, the US did put someone there before the Chinese and everyone else back in 1969, though it was the Soviets who first put an unmanned craft on the lunar surface. OK, so they didn’t stay there and colonize as Newt would like. Republican rival Mitt Romney countered that while Gingrich’s moon colony vision is a big idea, it’s not good one….
Tags: Gingrich, lego, moon, Newt, space
Animals, Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 24th, 2012,
Freckles the goat is part spider. Her milk is loaded with spider silk protein. The silk from Freckles has potential uses in medicine (as a ligament replacement), is stronger than Kevlar and extremely elastic. So why not just harvest the silk from spiders? Spiders can’t be farmed because they are cannibalistic, while goats have been farmed for 10,000 years or so. Genetically engineered ‘spider goats’ also produce vast amounts of spider silk in their milk when compared to tiny golden orb spiders. Freckles is the creation of Randy Lewis, a professor of genetics at Utah State University. The farm…
Tags: engineered, Freckles, genetic, goat, silk, spider
Nature, Pollution, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 23rd, 2012,
Dutch architect Koen Olthuis, from Waterstudio.NL, hit on the idea of how to create more green areas in cities, which could become habitats for wildlife and to have a positive affect on improving air quality in a metropolis. He created a “Tree Sea”, which can be placed in a river, lake or at maritime coasts, informs The Dailymail. The construction resembles the design of a drilling rig. In Olthuis’ opinion, their building could be sponsored by large oil companies, so they can express their concern for the environment. “What is beautiful about this project, is that it doesn’t demand expensive…
Tags: floating tree, Pollution, The Netherlands, Tree Sea
Nature, Sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 16th, 2012,
Giuliano Mauri started building this cathedral in 2001. It is one of the most natural pieces of architecture in the world. The artist, who passed away in 2009, claimed that the supporting structure will decay with time and the eighty hornbeam saplings he planted, will continue growing, forming a roof over the building “Cattedrale Vegetale” is situated in the North of Italy.
Tags: architecture, Cathedral, Italy, natural, organic, trees
Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 13th, 2012,
Creating awareness among the people of nation has become the most necessary task these days. The awareness can be about diseases, environment, human beings etc. But the environment is what the focus is kept on and people have tried their best possible ways in creating the awareness among public regarding the environmental issues. The movies are one of the best sources of creating awareness among people and have come out to be a really good source of delivering strong environmental message. The movies thus are nowadays focused mainly on environmental issues and there were few classic movies which perfectly delivered…
Tags: amazon, arctic tale, environmental films, march of the penguins, the lorax, under the sea 3D
Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 10th, 2012,
Late spring and early summer in the southern hemisphere is the perfect time for the growth of microscopic plants: phytoplankton. Stimulated by sunlight it spreads enormously. It has been photographed by a spectroradiometer (MODIS) attached to a NASA satellite. The blue vortex visible in the picture, is the phytoplankton in a background of the turquoise Indian Ocean waters off the Southern coast of South Africa. The picture was taken on 26th December. It is the time of late spring and early summer in the southern hemisphere. The warm rays of the sun stimulate the life of these microscopic plants, causing…
Tags: eye, ocean, phytoplankton, South Africa, Vortex
Animals, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 9th, 2012,
Vivid pink or orange? You choose. Coloured chicks are winning the hearts of Pakistani kids. The birds have been moved from livestock to a new category. They are now family pets. To entice customers, especially teenagers, the wayside dealers dye the birds in vivid colours. Such a living commodity is not only more conspicuous, but also more attractive. Prices of the chicks range from 20 to 50 Pakistani rupees, which is about 15 to 40 eurocents. What happens to these trendy pets when they grow bigger? We are waiting for a reaction from animal rights organizations.
Tags: animal abuse, chicks, colour, dyed, Pakistan, pets
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 5th, 2012,
These amazing pictures and videos show the aurora, also known as the Northern Lights, which appeared over Kirkenes-Fjell. Norway is well known as a country to view this stunning phenomenon, but rarely has it been seen in such fantastic clarity. Auroras are visible all over Norway, but it is best to view them in the north, behind the Arctic Circle. If you are planning on visiting Norway, the best time that you’ll get a chance to see the Aurora is in late autumn and early spring. Best viewed in the night sky between 6.00pm and 1.00am, it is much easier…
Tags: Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights, Norway
Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Over 2,000 meters beneath the surface of the Southern (aka Antarctic) Ocean lives a colorless collection of newly discovered life forms. The animals that make up this ghostly white ecosystem survive without sunlight, instead living off minerals and energy from volcanic vents, which make waters as hot as 382°C (720°F). That’s pretty hot, especially considering it’s deep-sea Antarctica. From the Christian Science Monitor: Unlike vents in other oceans, the Antarctic vents lack tube worms, mussels and shrimp. Instead they harbor new species of barnacles and anemones, as well as a large brown spiral-shelled snail. The researchers even saw ghost-pale octopuses, which…
Tags: Antarctic, deep sea, ghost, life, ocean, vents, video
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Jan 4th, 2012,
The Green Slime are coming! It sounds like a bad Cold War science fiction movie, but slime is smarter and more cunning than you think. Scientists in Japan are researching how slime molds navigate in search of food. Though slime mold has no brain, it shows signs of intelligence and can even navigate itself through a maze by organizing its cells and finding the most direct route to a food source. From the Telegraph: Humans are not the only living things with information-processing abilities. Simple creatures can solve certain kinds of difficult puzzles. If you want to spotlight the essence…
Tags: intelligence, japan, mould, scientists, slime
Weird & Wonderful, Jan 3rd, 2012,
It’s TEOTWAWKI – the end of the world as we know it… do you feel fine? Despite economic and social crises that only show signs of getting worse, intensifying environmental problems – climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, etc. – wars, famines, a deepening democratic deficit in most of the world, the big apocalyptic prediction of 2012 which gets the most attention is of course the so-called ‘Mayan Prophecy’. This doomsday scenario is an interpretation of the Long Count calendar of the Maya, which has been calculated by some to end on December 21, 2012. Many serious Maya scholars dismiss this…
Tags: 2012, calente, gerald, maya, mayan, predictions, prophecy
Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 2nd, 2012,
A beach in Nordreisa, Norway is now completely blanketed in dead herring. It is unknown what caused the herring to die; whether it was tides, predatory fish or something else. Scientists would like to test the dead fish to discover the cause of death. From the Guardian: For doom-mongers, the fish were the second a sign in as many days that 2012 would live up to the apocalyptic prediction of the ancient Mayans, after hundreds of blackbirds reportedly dropped dead in Arkansas. To see a large picture of the starling scene check out this article in the Daily Mail.
Tags: beach, dead, fish, herring, Norway
Conservation, Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 26th, 2011,
Status: Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting Fact: The axolotl has the ability to re-grow whole limbs! While the bizarre axolotl may look like it comes from another planet, it is actually a type of salamander. This fascinating amphibian exhibits a trait known as neoteny, where, instead of transforming from the juvenile form to an adult as in other species of amphibian, it retains some of its juvenile features. The most obvious of these is the branch-like gills projecting from the neck on each side of the head. These allow the axolotl to remain permanently in water. However, if conditions become unfavourable, the axolotl…
Tags: ARKive.org, axolotl, Conservation, endangered species, Nature, salamander
Sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Dec 21st, 2011,
When I go shopping for groceries in Portugal I have the choice between two major supermarkets plus several bakeries and fruit and veg places. When I hit the big supermarkets I can either buy flimsy biodegradable bags at one or stand in the exclusive eco queue at the other. Since I’m a dedicated eco-fascist I like the eco queue, which doesn’t provide any cheap plastic bags and only sells large reusable ones. As it is the lines are always short and using it makes me feel smug. Maybe people will start to catch on and it will have a longer…
Tags: cubist, estoril sol, Green, Portugal
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Dec 20th, 2011,
On Friday morning in the sky over Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama, clouds in the shape of tsunami waves appeared. They have been called a “surfer’s dream” by the locals. Strange? It turns out that what was seen is actually a well known phenomenon to meteorologists. Residents of Birmingham documented the sighting and asked the local meteorological services to explain what it was that they had seen. The waves in the sky are an example of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. In the air the phenomenon arises when a strong wind causes an imbalance in the boundary between the layers…
Tags: Alabama, Birmingham, clouds, tsunami waves
Climate & Change, climate change, green living, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Dec 15th, 2011,
If you’re interested in staving off climate change without trying too hard, painting your roof white seems like a complete no-brainer. It’s far cheaper than trading in your SUV for a Prius, and it turns the laws of physics to best advantage. Dark roofs absorb sunlight that heats up your house, office tower, or apartment building. That means you’re bound to crank up the energy-intensive air conditioner to keep pace in the summer months — and since electricity in the U.S. comes largely from fossil fuels, the net result is more heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, and more global warming. But…
Tags: climate central, climate change white roofs, global warming, white roofs global warming, white rooftops
Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 14th, 2011,
An unusual guest visited the residents of one of the streets in Canadian Vancouver. A bear came along to the suburbs of the city on… a garbage truck! City cleaning professionals say that the little black bear got into the truck probably when digging into leftover food inside one of the litter bins. Quite unconsciously, he treated himself with a ride to Vancouver. After opening the hatch of the vehicle, the bear climbed up to the very top, where he was noticed by two pedestrians. The rescuers were trying to get the one-year old animal down for about an hour….
Tags: black bear, Canada, Vancouver
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Dec 12th, 2011,
A bridge that will be built on the lake in Xidong Central Park in Wuxi, China, experts have already been calling legendary, although construction has not even started yet. The projects of the Chinese architects from the L&A Design Group are known for winning voices of recognition all around the world. Futuristic design elements will connect the northern and southern parts of the park. In the middle of the pedestrian bridge an artificial island with restaurants, tea rooms, galleries and gardens will be created. The project is distinguished by smooth but dynamic lines. The bridge will have a shape resembling…
Tags: bridge, China, Wuxi
Conservation, Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 10th, 2011,
Another endangered fellow deserves some attention today. Check out the below video of a Giant Weta, a cricket-like insect with a wingspan of nearly 18 inches. The animal is almost exclusively found in New Zealand. Although New Zealand is a perfect habitat for this insect, rats introduced by Europeans in the region hunt the Giant Weta to a point it’s now facing extinction. The Giant Weta in the video weights almost as much as three mice. Incredible!
Tags: endangered species, Giant Weta, largest insect in the world
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