Title Recall: 10 Creatures with Doubly Descriptive Names
November 1, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats & History & Trivia & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
From Horseflies to Bull Elephant Seals and more, an abundance of animals bear the burden of doubly descriptive names. Does being twice-blessed in the naming department add depth to their description or merely sow confusion among those who would appreciate them? The animals aren’t saying so it’s up to us to decide.
Horsefly
(images via: TAMU, Luke Is Digging, Permatreat and Wikipedia)
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There are over 4,500 species of Horse Flies and they can be found anywhere on Earth except for the hottest deserts and coldest polar regions. Horse flies are big; well over an inch (25mm) long in many cases. Their bites can be very painful as they use their sharp, knife-like mandibles to slice open skin and draw blood. Why “horse flies”? Perhaps because of their large size, “as big as a horse”.
(image via: What’s That Bug?)
Only female horse flies bite, and they do indeed bite horses should the opportunity present itself. In some parts of Canada, the insects are dubbed Bulldog Flies as a nod to both their intimidating size, growling buzz when in flight and their dogged persistence when in search of a blood meal.
Mantis Shrimp
(images via: Aquatic Animals, eHow and British Marine Life Study Society)
“It’s a Mantis, it’s a Shrimp, it’s a…” actually, Mantis Shrimps are neither mantises nor shrimps… a double DOHse of name-dropping if there ever was! These reclusive, poorly understood creatures are actually Stomatopods, marine crustaceans that are related to lobsters and shrimp. Their claws are used to spear or stun prey, the former method utilizing wickedly barbed folding claws that to some eyes look rather Praying Mantis-like.
(image via: Rapture of the Deep)
Mantis Shrimp can grow up to 15 inches (38cm) in length but size isn’t their weapon, their stunning claws are. That’s “stunning” as a verb, not a mark of beauty: mantis shrimps can snap their claws as quick as a .22 caliber bullet in flight, producing a shock wave that’s been known to shatter glass aquarium walls. Mantis Shrimp are also notable for their stalked eyes, believed to be the most complex ocular sensors in the entire animal kingdom.
Wolf Fish
(images via: Deep Down, Annabel Chaffer and AT S, AM B)
There are five separate species of wolf fish (or wolffish), with the Atlantic Wolf Fish (Anarhichas Lupus) being the only one that incorporates Lupus, the Latin term for “wolf”, into its taxonomic name. Though fearsome to look at, wolf fish are actually quite shy and pose no threat to humans. Clams and other bottom-feeders DO need to worry, however, as the wolf fish’s wolfish teeth are designed to pierce, puncture and crush shellfish shells. Maybe the wolf fish need to worry too, as Annabel Chaffer (“Where the Cognoscenti love to shop”) is selling Spotted Wolf Fish Leather Wallets. That bites.
(image via: Science Daily)
Wolf fish are rarely seen in the flesh as they are deep-water dwellers and most divers never visit their stomping grounds 2,000 feet (600 meters) below sea level. Just as well… wolf fish have been known to grow as much as 6.6 feet (2.2 meters) in length.
Cowbird
(images via: We Saw That, Fat Finch, Alan Lenk and Birdorable)
Doubtless you’ve watched nature programs in which birds casually ride on the backs of cattle, plucking and parasites they might find. Those aren’t Cowbirds, regardless of that being a better name than “Cattle Egret”. Cowbirds are insect eaters, however, and they have been known to shadow herds of herbivores, and one alternate name for the Brown-headed Cowbird is the Buffalo Bird.
(image via: BirdForum)
Cowbirds are the New World counterpart to the Cuckoo in that both birds lay their eggs in other bird species’ nests, leaving the feeding duties to the foster parents. The Brown-headed Cowbird is the best-known of the five recognized Cowbird species, with the the others being the Shiny Cowbird (above), the Giant Cowbird, the Bronzed Cowbird and the Screaming Cowbird. “Great screaming cowbirds, Batman!”… sorry, couldn’t resist.
Kangaroo Rat
(images via: ElyWoody/Panoramio, Animals, Animals, Animals and Science Photo Library)
Kangaroo Rats are big-eyed, long-tailed rodents but they are not specifically rats. They hop around much like kangaroos but they’re native to western North America, not Australia. That said, Kangaroo Rats do have fur-lined pouches – not for their young, but for storing the seeds the find on food-gathering missions.
(image via: Arkive)
There are 19 known species of Kangaroo Rat and all have six toes. There are also two related species of Kangaroo Mice, though a fuller description of them must wait for a follow-up post on double-named creatures.
Raccoon Dog
(images via: Kathy Pippig Harris)
Raccoon Dogs look a lot like those masked woodland critters familiar to North American suburbanites but their roots are firmly in the Dog family. There are major differences between Raccoon Dogs and man’s best friend, however. Raccoon Dogs enjoy a mixed diet of meat and vegetables, whereas your dog only wants steak.
(image via: FactZoo)
Raccoon Dogs are native to East Asia; in Japan they’re known as “tanuki”. They are also hunted and trapped for their fur… that new parka of yours with the fur-rimmed hood? Uh huh, likely Raccoon Dog. In the wild, these curious creatures hibernate during cold winters, and are the only Canids to do so.
Elephant Seal
(images via: Point Reyes Weekend, Ugly Animals and WonderClub)
If the name “Elephant Seal” already combines two different animal names, consider the dominant males: yes, Bull Elephant Seals. How’s that for a triple play on words? Elephant Seals are divided into northern and southern species with the southerners generally being larger in size… must be all that fried food.
(image via: Grant Dixon Photography)
Not all Elephant Seals are elephantine, specifically referring to the trunklike proboscis exclusive to males. Their floppy, fleshy noses assist the males in roaring but also serve a more important purpose: they help recover moisture from the seal’s breathing. During the mating season, high-ranking males rarely leave the beach to eat as they’re occupied in guarding their harems. They run a real risk of dehydration – to maintain all those brides, they’ve gotta pay through the nose.
Bearcat
(images via: TEAK, Gina Blogs All About It, My [Confined] Space and Birdorable)
The Bearcat is a smallish, forest-dwelling mammal which is neither bear nor cat tough it appears superficially cat-like. Perhaps everyone would be better off (and less confused) if we’d just settle on its native Southeast Asian name: the Binturong.
(image via: Zooborns)
Bearcats are closely related to civets and genets though they’re larger than members of both of those groups. If you’ve been wondering why American companies Stutz and Grumman would name their iconic products (cars and fighter planes, respectively) after an unremarkable Asiatic arboreal mammal, stop wondering: traditional use of the term “bearcat” references the much more fearsome Mountain Lion.
Mule Deer
(images via: FMCA, American West Tours, Inkity and Visual Paradox)
Mule Deer, one of the largest species of deer, are generally found west of the Missouri River while its White-tailed Deer cousins are dominant to the east. The species gets its name from its large, long, mule-like ears. Yeehaw… or should that be, “Hee Haw!”
(image via: South Dakota Birds)
Mule Deer have black-tipped tails and their antlers divide by forking… and I mean that in a good way. Mule Deer are rarely, if ever, found in Gary, Indiana, while Gary Mule Deer has probably played comedy clubs in that city a number of times. Coincidence? I think not!
Minke Whale
(images via: Treehugger, It’s Nature, ScienceBlogs and Clatko)
Mention “Minke Whale” to someone and they might imagine a 35ft long sea creature covered snout to fluke with a rich, luxurious pelt… a colossal “sea beaver”, as it were. Instigate such a rumor back in the 1850s and you’d send the world’s whaling/trapping nations into a collective fur-gasm – and it’s very likely Minke Whales would be extinct today.
(image via: Seattle PI)
Of course, Minke Whales have about as much fur as actual Minks have blubber. These smaller relatives of the mighty Blue Whale (which IS blue, or at least blue-ish) are one of the most populous whale species and are listed by the IUCN as being of “least concern”. By the way, “least concern” means “open season” in Japanese.
(image via: CRISP Graphic Design)
All of these animals – one might even say, all of THE animals – existed long before humans came along to name them. While the actual creatures are anything but chimaeric, it’s amusing to consider the reasoning of those who bestowed these somewhat schizoid names.
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Earth from Above: Wild Aerial Photography Series
October 21, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Geography & Travel & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Lurid zig-zags of black and red cut across a green landscape at a coal mine; flocks of birds fly in formation across a pristine sky. Suburban neighborhoods form perfect circles in the countryside and tiers of a sand dunes step down from the sea to the forest. This contrast of natural and man-made patterns is what photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand saw of the world during a five-year odyssey by air over six continents.
“Earth from Above,” Bertrand’s large-scale photography series, is the result of that journey, bringing these birds-eye images of the earth to those of us who can’t embark on a similar quest. The aerial photographs capture the dazzling combination of order and chaos that is life on this planet.
Not only has Bertrand made these images available free to the public as wallpaper downloads, he has also brought his $16m film, ‘Home’, a documentary about humanity’s impact on the planet, to American cinemas at no charge to viewers. Bertrand sees it as his “gift to the world.”
“With Earth from above, I simply want people to see the Earth as it is today, as faithfully as possible,” Bertrand says. “What motivates me is the impact a photograph can make within the framework of environmental preservation. The great novelty of our time is that mankind has the power to change its environment and I want my photos to testify to this fact so people can realise this.”
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Impossible Pillars: Another Natural Wonder of the World
September 23, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in 7 Wonders Series & Geography & Travel & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Seeming to defy the laws of gravity, teetering, spindly mountains tower into the air in a surreal display reminiscent of the floating monoliths in the movie Avatar. This is China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, and its particularly stunning natural beauty can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
(top & above images via: kenner116, fishki.net)
Located 19 miles from urban Zhangjiajie, a city in the northern Hunan Province, this park is part of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, an officially recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site. Enjoying a comfortable sub-tropical climate, the park attracts thousands of year-round visitors who come to gawk at its unusual landscape.
(images via: top china travel, wikimedia commons)
Tourists navigate the many hiking trails and attempt to capture on film the staggering pillars that make the park so famous. The small girth of these towering mountains, particularly notable for their height, is the result of many years of erosion which occurs during the expansion of ice in the winter.
(images via: fishki.net, kenner116)
The similarity of the floating ‘Hallelujah Mountains’ in Avatar to the pillars in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is no accident. The film’s director and production designers were inspired by their ethereal appearance. One pillar, the 3,544-foot Southern Sky Column, has been officially renamed ‘Avatar Hallelujah Mountain’ in honor of the movie.
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Movable Homes: 13 Modern, Modular, Relocatable Residences
September 16, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
What if you could just pack your house onto the back of a truck or lift it with a helicopter and move it to an entirely new place, whenever you wanted, without making a negative impact on your temporary home site? Portable modular living spaces go places that other forms of mobile housing can’t - like remote mountain ridges – and easily disassemble. Some are fully self-sufficient while others are only intended as lightweight seasonal shelters but all 13 of these relocatable residences sit lightly upon the earth.
Eco-Temporary Refuge in the Mountains
(images via: archdaily)
Seasonal homes don’t have to sit empty for half of the year. The Eco-Temporary Refuge by Andrea Jasci Cimini of CiminiArchitettura was designed for temporary lodging in mountain landscapes where permanent dwellings are impossible or undesirable. Tourists, climbers, hikers and skiers could make use of these self-sufficient, easily movable buildings, which are equipped with solar panels and water systems that make use of snow.
Portable Prefab Paco Unit
(images via: design boom)
You may not imagine that a house measuring just 9 feet square would contain all the necessities of life, but somehow, the Paco prefab unit by Jo Nagasaka and Schemata Architecture Office manages to do just that. The unit has an opening roof to allow sunshine and fresh air into the home and contains a kitchen unit with a sink, a dining table for two, a hammock for sleeping and even a toilet hidden in the floor, which transforms into a shower with the help of a shower curtain hooked to the ceiling. An extra compartment on the exterior allows a guest to stay overnight in a sleeping bag, and can also be used for storage.
Fincube
(images via: design boom)
Made entirely of locally sourced wood from its current location in Northern Italy, ‘Fincube’ is a transportable low-energy home measuring just under 155 square feet. Triple-glazed glass insulates the home while a slatted wooden sheath provides shade and privacy.
Port-a-Bach Shipping Container Home
(images via: port-a-bach.com)
This portable home, named for the New Zealand word referring to small, modest vacation houses, was made using a 20′ shipping container. One side of the container folds down, opening the interior to the outdoors; it includes a double bed, bunk beds, a dressing room, a kitchen and a bathroom, all of which can be separated from the main space using fabric screens. Of course, since it’s made from a shipping container, it’s super easy to move, so owners can simply pack up their lodgings and bring them to their holiday destination.
M House by Michael Jantzen
(images via: dailytonic)
Bold and futuristic, the M House by Michael Jantzen is a flexible and impermanent mobile structure consisting of large rectangular panels on hinges, attached to seven interlocking cubes. They can be folded in or out to alternately enclose or open spaces, shade them from the sun, deflect rain or block wind. This makes the home extremely adaptable to all manner of new environments as the home moves from place to place.
Lumenhaus
(images via: gizmag)
Built by students at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture and Design, Lumenhaus is a compact, movable, sustainable home with lighting, music, draperies and other systems in the home controlled via iPad or iPhone. The home, which won the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe, is entirely solar-powered and was inspired by the iconic Farnsworth House by architect Mies Van Der Rohe.
Kitahaus Relocatable Living & Office Pods
(images via: gizmag)
Multi-function pods that can easily be moved from one site to another, Kitahaus prefabs have been used as homes, offices and school buildings. These log-like transportable units, made of timber, have adjustable legs so they can be set up on all sorts of sites including sloping areas.
TRTL Solar Shell Home
(images via: inhabitat)
Cleverly named to reflect its design and intention – TRTL stands for ‘Technological Residence, Traditional Living – this structure was made specifically for the native peoples of Southern Alberta, Canada. The semi-rounded two-bedroom home, measuring 1000 square feet, features an upper ‘shell’ made of solar panels. In this case, the movability of the home is actually a technicality, but it’s still an interesting feature. TRTL has a temporary foundation that allows it to bypass a law that makes any permanent structure built on a reservation in Canada part of the land rather than privately owned.
ADEX Modular Housing Structure
(images via: best of remodeling)
If it looks unlike any house you’ve ever seen, that’s because it is. The ADEX sustainable modular housing structure consisting of interlocking pieces that can be put together to suit the home site and the owner’s needs. This means each ADEX is totally unique. In addition to its colorful and futuristic appearance, ADEX has a host of interesting and sustainable features including solar panels and heaters, rainwater storage, greywater recycling and even a bio-digester that turns food waste into power for cooking appliances.
XBO Adjustable Mobile Home
(images via: architizer)
This adjustable, sliding mobile home is constructed in the shape of a shipping container to make it super-easy to transport. XBO Mobile is self-sustaining and consists of two sliding parts that open to reveal a 22-foot patio; an additional terrace on the roof is reachable via ladder. XBO is made with birch veneer walls and lots of glass and contains a kitchenette, living room, bathroom and bedroom/office.
Dune Hotel – On-the-Spot Lodging to Order
(images via: inhabitat)
Imagine being able to choose a rooftop, abandoned lot, park or seaside location and demand that your very own private hotel be set up right then and there. Brazilian Architect Guilherme de Vasconcelos wants to see that happen, envisioning the Dune Hotel as prefab modular lodgings that go wherever they’re wanted by guests. Each lightweight unit is made of EPS and fiberglass-reinforced plastic so they can be shipped easily, quickly and at a relatively low expense.
Archinoma: Pop-Up Beach House
(images via: archinoma.com)
The Archinoma is a geometric pop-up shelter based on the Sierpinski Triangle, made from a metal frame with multiple connection points that allow multiple triangular panels, solid or translucent, to be connected into the three-dimensional shape of the user’s choice. This low-impact structure could theoretically be used as a vacation home, a spa, a cafe, a tea house or any other temporary function, easily set up in practically any location.
Modular Ski Cabin of the Future
(images via: inhabitat)
Who wouldn’t want to stay in a flying saucer? While designer Matti Suuronen’s 1968 ‘Futuro House’ doesn’t actually fly, it does easily assemble and disassemble in rough mountainous terrain, making it ideal as a modular ski cabin. The 10-foot-tall, 26-foot-wide fiberglass-reinforced plastic living unit represented an imagined future where people living as nomads could take their movable homes on the go. One of these homes is available for rent in Wisconsin, and another is currently on display in the Museum Boljmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
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21 Magnificent Moon Photos: Phases, Eclipses & More
September 5, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in History & Trivia & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
For a big rock that happens to be trapped in our planet’s orbit, the moon certainly has a lot of pull – literally – on life here on Earth, from the tides to centuries of art, religious beliefs and folklore. We can’t help but be fascinated by its beautiful glow, its changes throughout the month, its movement across the sky and the vast rocky landscape on its surface.
The Full Moon
(image via: wikimedia commons)
This stunning image shows the moon as it was captured by the Galileo spacecraft in 1992. The moon is ‘full’, appearing perfectly round, when it is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. This is the only time when the back half of the moon is truly dark. (See this image large!)
Lunar Eclipse
(images via: davedehetre, wikimedia commons)
The moon can take on an eerie red glow in the midst of an eclipse. Lunar eclipses occur when the moon is perfectly aligned behind the earth, with the earth blocking the sun. The phenomenon can be viewed by anyone on the side of the earth facing the moon when it occurs, and can last several hours. In contrast, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon blocks the sun as viewed from the earth; solar eclipses last just a few minutes.
Waxing and Waning
(images via: maxwell hamilton, wikimedia commons, nasa goddard)
As the moon passes through its various stages, its shape appears to change. However, this is only an optical illusion based on the relative location of the moon to the earth and the sun. When the illuminated side of the moon is on the right, the moon is ‘waxing’ or building toward a full moon. When it’s on the left, the moon is ‘waning’ toward the ‘new moon’, when the moon is in total darkness.
Movement of the Moon
(image via: wikimedia commons)
This animation illustrates the moon as it passes through its cycles. It appears to wobble a little bit, a phenomenon called libration, because of the slight shifts in the lunar orbit.
Crescent Moons
(images via: jurvetson, makelessnoise)
Crescent moons occur both at the waxing and waning phases, when the moon is between 1-49% visible. Waxing crescent moons are visible between about 3pm and post-dusk, while waning crescent moons can be seen between pre-dawn and 9am. At 50% visible, it’s a ‘quarter moon’, and when the moon is between 51-99% visible in either waxing or waning phases , it’s referred to as ‘gibbous’.
Earthshine
(image via: wikimedia commons)
What causes that strange glow on the dark side of the moon? Often called ‘earthshine’, this glow comes from sunlight reflected by the earth. It occurs when the light from the sun is reflected from the surface of the earth to the moon and then back again to our eyes. It can be seen most clearly during the crescent phases.
The Moon Beside the Earth
(images via: wikimedia commons)
Unlike most other planets (aside from Pluto, which technically isn’t even a planet anymore), Earth’s moon is relatively large compared to the size of its planet. It’s a quarter of the diameter of the earth, and 1/81 its mass. It takes the moon about 29.5 days to orbit the earth; this time period was the basis of what we now use to divide the days of the year into months.
Lunar Craters
(images via: wikimedia commons 1, 2, 3)
These images capture some of the moon’s craters including Goclenius, Daedalus and Tycho. The word ‘crater’ was coined by Galileo from the Latin word for cup. They were formed by the impact of meteors and asteroids. The lack of water, atmosphere and tectonic plates on the moon mean there is little erosion, preserving the crates for millennia.
The ‘Seas’ of the Moon
(images via: nasa, wikimedia commons 1, 2)
Centuries ago, astronomers believed that the dark, featureless areas on the moon that can be seen with the naked eye were seas, hence the term ‘mare’ (plural maria) used to identify these areas. We now know that these plains are solidified pools of ancient basaltic lava which flowed into the depressions associated with impact basins between 4.2 and 1.2 billion years ago.
The Moons of Jupiter
(images via: wikimedia commons 1, 2)
Of course the earth’s moon is not alone in its beauty; many other planets have moons that are just as incredible. Jupiter has the most moons of any planet, with 64 confirmed. The largest of them are the four ‘Galilean moons’, discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei; this observation marked the first time objects were found to orbit a body that was neither the sun nor the earth. From left to right, the four Galilean moons as depicted above are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
The Moons of Saturn
(images via: nasa, wikimedia commons)
Saturn is home to the second largest moon in our solar system, know as ‘Titan’. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and has an Earth-like atmosphere with hydrocarbon lakes and networks of dry rivers. In addition to Titan, Saturn has 61 moons of vastly variable sizes; 38 of them are ‘irregular satellites’, likely captured minor planets or collections of space debris.
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Ahead Of The Curve: Hudson Bay’s Semicircular Nastapoka Arc
August 2, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in Geography & Travel & Nature & Ecosystems & Science & Research. ]
Billions of years of bombardment by space rocks of all sizes have left our planet remarkably unscathed, yet if one looks closely the traces of enormous ancient impact craters are all too obvious. Or are they? Hudson Bay’s Nastapoka Arc may superficially resemble the many frozen lava “seas” of the moon but its actual origins are much more down to Earth.
Great Whitewater North
(image via: Wikipedia)
Hudson Bay, known to many from its prominent place in the center of Canada (and the Canada Dry ginger ale label), was first discovered by European explorers on this date in 1610. Henry Hudson had thought he had found the fabled Northwest Passage but ended up being abandoned by a mutinous crew who didn’t share his desire to confirm the possibility.
(images via: Son of the South and Wikipedia)
Hudson lost out twice: this seemingly endless body of water was merely an enclosed bay, and although Hudson is memorialized by having it named for him, he received nary a farthing for the naming rights. We can possibly add a third fail, as Hudson sailed across the huge Nastapoka Arc without even realizing it. Oh Henry!
(images via: Ye Olde Jonathan Birge, WN.com and TravelJournals)
Looking at a map of Hudson Bay one quickly notices two salient features. One is James Bay, a southeastward-pointing fingerlike projection. The other is the Nastapoka Arc, a strikingly semicircular stretch of coastline that, if expanded beyond its over 155° natural arc, would form a nearly perfect circle some 280 miles (450 km) in diameter.
Knowers Arc?
(images via: BBC, Science Daily and AOAS)
The Earth bears the scars of hundreds of meteor and asteroid impacts, most of them well under a mile or so in diameter. Where are the really big impact craters, like those so plainly visible on the Moon? Most have vanished due to the actions of weathering, erosion, glaciation and plate tectonics over hundreds of millions of years, and most of the larger impacts occurred very early in the Earth’s history.
(images via: Ogle Earth, Daily Galaxy and KEN14)
When a large crater is discovered, it’s often through the analysis of magnetic and/or gravitational anomalies that reveal subsurface evidence of the impact. If any surface features are found, time has distorted them such that their relation to an ancient impact would not be guessed at without the invisible data. A prime example is the Wilkes Land Crater in Antarctica, a 300-mile (480 km) wide basin estimated to be up to 500 million years old.
(image via: Oceandots)
Assuming the Nastapoka Arc is the remnant of an ancient asteroid impact, it sure doesn’t act like one! Only two aspects of the area ring meteoric alarm bells: the exquisite, cookie-cutter sweep of the shoreline and the offshore Belcher Island archipelago which sits just about where a large crater’s central peak would be found. There’s no raised crater rim, though grounds could be made for repeated episodes of glaciation having shaved it flat.
(images via: Manitoba Historical Maps and WorldAtlas)
Here’s another neat anomaly about the Nastapoka Arc. Early mapmakers had neither the knowledge or the instruments required to draw accurate maps, and so many early maps show geographic features in a rounded, less fractal-like style (see 1886 map, above left). As time passed and better maps became available, however, the Nastapoka Arc seemed to regress to a more rounded configuration. This led to a number of geographers, geologists and astronomers to wonder if the feature’s origins didn’t evolve, well, naturally.
Lunar Tunes
(images via: DailyMail UK, FARK.com and Tower Records)
I mention astronomers because the emergence of modern maps roughly coincided with the first clear photographs of our near neighbor in space, the Moon. Our battered satellite displays an abundance of impact craters, some of which were later flooded by lava and became the Lunar Maria. The features were so named due to their dark tints, homogenous surfaces and distinct “shorelines” (actually crater walls). They looked like the oceans of Earth… but did earthly seas look like lunar maria?
(images via: Michael A. Covington, Newport Geographic’s photostream and Vaz Tolentino)
They do indeed… at least, in one particular place: the Nastapoka Arc. Circular reasoning dictates the “unnatural” arc must have been formed by an impact event, a cosmic cookie-cutter as it were. These reasoners thought they had the perfect pair of pairs all lined up: the Nastapoka Arc off of Hudson Bay, and the Sinus Iridium off the lunar Mare Imbrium.
(image via: Our Amazing Planet)
On the face of it, it’s easy to draw conclusions based on a host of circumstantial evidence. “It walks like a duck, it talks like a duck, therefore it must be a duck!” Trouble is, ducks don’t talk… and geologists now look for a number of essential clues to confirm if a crater-like feature has a celestial origin. Above is Crater Lake in Oregon, USA… not the crater you were thinking of.
Derp Impact
(images via: Ottawa-RASC and Barnes & Noble)
Following the 1968 publication of On the possibility of a catastrophic origin for the great arc of eastern Hudson Bay by C.S. Beals, a 1972 investigative expedition headed by Dr. Robert S. Deitz and J. Paul Barringer failed to find any of the now-recognized markers of an interstellar impact: shatter cones, unusual melted rocks such as suevite, pseudotachylite or mylonite, radial faults or fractures, signature injection breccias, or other related evidence of what geologists call “shock metamorphism”.
(images via: God Was Love, USRA and SubarcticMike)
Even the Belcher Islands didn’t fit the mold of an impact’s central peak (or remains thereof), being instead composed of ancient rocks of many types – none of them unearthly or with a direct or indirect impact-related origin. Sorry folks, show’s over, nothing to see here, just plate tectonics at work. You can fool the casual eye but you can’t fool Mother Nature. Then again, maybe we just haven’t found the right evidence yet. As someone once said, “the truth is out there.”
(image via: Nunatsiaq Online)
It’s somewhat ironic that early astronomers once thought the impact-related Lunar Maria were the seas of the moon while the Nastapoka Arc – a sea of the Earth – formed though tectonic processes occurring deep within the Earth. So much for WYSIWYG… geology sometimes takes a long and complex route to an ending that only seems obvious to us.
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Cob Creations: 18 Natural Homes, Pizza Ovens & More
August 1, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Cob is a natural building material made using mud, straw and lime that has been in use for millennia. Fireproof, earthquake-resistant and very inexpensive to build with, cob can be used to make stunningly creative homes, sheds, benches and wood-fired bread ovens. These 18 examples of cob creations illustrate the material’s beauty and versatility.
Three Cob Hobbit Houses
(images via: simondale.net, yearofmud, cob cottage co)
For those familiar with cob construction, these three houses represent the most recognizable form achievable with the medium. Cob lends itself wonderfully to rounded structures like the Simondale ‘hobbit house’ (top two images), a green-roofed cob house at the Dancing Rabbit Eco Village (below left) and another at the Cob Cottage Company in Oregon.
Stunning Cob Interior
(images via: greenbuildingelements)
There’s no end to the customization that’s possible with cob. Because cob is so easy to work with, even beginners can create staircases, niches, built-in benches, bookcases and other cob features in home interiors. This home, built by Meka Bunch of Wolf Creek, Oregon, is an incredible example of just how creative cob builders can get.
Cute Cob Cottage
(image via: greenvillages.co)
Is this cob cottage adorable or what? Built in a somewhat more modern design, this home features a curving roof, a second-floor balcony and chains that act as gutters and are also an interesting design detail. Stone is visible along the foundation; this helps to protect the cob from water damage.
Two Indoor Cob Fireplaces
(images via: firespeaking.com, onelessbrickinthewall.com)
Niches, bookcases and stairways aren’t the only interior details that can be sculpted with cob. You can make your fireplace out of cob, two, as illustrated by these two examples.
Cob Building at the Anam Cara Collective
(image via: cultureartist.org)
This sustainable cob house at the Anam Cara Collective in Asheville, North Carolina features lots of windows, a large wooden deck and solar panels for power. Anam Cara holds regular cob building workshops that teach participants how to work with this natural, inexpensive building material.
Adorable Cob Garden Shed
(image via: cityfarmer.org)
Not ready to take the plunge with a cob house? You could give a shed a shot. This one, located in Vancouver, Cananda, has a green roof covered in local vegetation. Its exterior was plastered with clay.
Traditional Cob Houses of England
(images via: supermac1961, buildsomethignbeautiful)
Cob homes are not a new concept; clay bricks have been used to create human dwellings for thousands of years. Cob in particular has been used to build houses in Great Britain at least since the 13th century. Many of those homes, with traditional thatched roofs, still stand today, and the style is experiencing a revival with companies like Build Something Beautiful using it for new construction.
The Hand-Sculpted House
(image via: tinyhouseblog)
This beautiful structure is home to Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley, authors of The Hand Sculpted House and co-owners of the Cob Cottage Company in Oregon. Though cob houses are often round, they can be built in any shape, with or without a wooden frame.
Four Fun Sculptural Cob Ovens
(images via: natural building, designbuildlive.org, ilovecob.com, dayonedesign)
A great way to practice with cob building is to construct a pizza oven. The book Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer explains how with step-by-step instructions, including recipes for wood-fired bread once your oven is done. These four ovens are great examples of cob ovens that double as outdoor sculptures.
Two Combination Cob Oven/Benches
(images via: mudsunfun.org, our ecovillage)
Cob ovens can also be combined with benches into one large structure. The benefit of creating a cob oven/bench combo is that in cold months, the oven will heat up the benches, making them a cozy place to enjoy the outdoors.
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Cold Comfort: 7 Amazing Antarctic Lakes
July 19, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series & Nature & Ecosystems & Science & Research. ]
Lakes? In my frozen Antarctica? It’s more likely than you think, and their existence has nothing to do with global warming. This in-depth (brrr!) look at 7 amazing Antarctic lakes shows us the 7th continent still has a few tricks up its frosty sleeve.
Don Juan Pond
(image via: 77 Degrees South)
Don Juan Pond may sound romantic but visitors will find intimacy is the last thing on their minds – unless getting up close & personal with Mother Nature is your thing, you salty dog! Speaking of which, Don Juan Pond‘s hypersalinity is what keeps it from freezing over no matter how cold it gets, and (cue Larry David voice) Antarctica can get pretty, pretty cold. Scale is difficult to determine without trees, but note the red-coated researcher on the right in the above image.
(images via: Polar Night Images, Hassan Basagic and Los Alamos Mountaineers)
You think the Dead Sea is salty at 8 times the ocean’s salinity? Don Juan Pond laughs at your assumptions, being 18 times saltier than the sea. Forget about floating IN it, anyone brave enough to strip down and dip their tootsies might find they float ABOVE it!
(images via: The Resource Center and Walt Hamler)
Sadly, doing the Don Juan Pond flotation exercise is not an option. Scientists aren’t sure why, but over the past few decades Don Juan Pond has been steadily drying up to the point where it’s only a few inches deep. One might assume that its location in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys region doesn’t help the situation.
Organic Lake
(images via: Punnett’s Square, AAD and Liquida)
Located in eastern Antarctica’s Vestfold Hills, Organic Lake formed about 6,000 years ago and gets its name from the profusion of algae it hosts. These algae produce malodorous Dimethyl Sulfide as a gaseous waste product and they do so in abundance, as the 24.5 ft (7.5m) deep lake boasts the highest level of dissolved DMS of any lake on Earth. Blazing Saddles in a drop of water, that’s what they’ve got there.
(images via: AAD and Smaller Questions)
Organic Lake made the news recently when scientists testing its waters discovered the Organic Lake Virophage (above, lower left), a so-called “virus-eater” that preys on larger viruses that in turn infect the lake’s algae. Further research is being conducted to find out not only how OLV functions, but if the knowledge gained can assist medical professionals in devising new antiviral drugs and treatments for viral illnesses in humans.
Radok Lake
(images via: Swisseduc, ANARE Club and Schepps Media)
Alien-sounding Radok Lake can be found near (the unfortunately beaver-less) Beaver Lake at the foot of the Prince Charles Mountains. Although not especially large as lakes go – it’s about 4 miles (6.43 km) long – Radok Lake is 1,188 ft (362 meters) deep making it the continent’s deepest surface-exposed lake. One wonders what waits in the extreme depths of Radok Lake, dreaming with his hordes hidden in green slimy vaults… the awful answer being, of course, “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”
(image via: Swisseduc)
Radok Lake’s most exception feature – visually, at least – is the spectacular “ice tongue” of the Battye Glacier which stabs into the lake and floats upon its frigid, cerulean blue waters. If Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones ever loaded up the Prius with PBR and headed out for a weekend at the beach, this is where they’d likely end up chilling out.
Lake Vida
(images via: DRI and National Geographic)
Livin’ la Lake Vida loca? Try nada. Lake Vida is capped with ice over 60 ft (21 m) thick, precluding its use for recreational watersports even at the height of the Antarctic summer. It’s been so for thousands of years. Beneath that protective ice cap, however, lies a mysterious lacustrine ecosystem that’s basically humming along in sweet isolation… at a frigid (but still liquid) -13°C, no less.
(images via: BBC and Space Daily)
Lake Vida’s no Don Juan Pond but its kosher dill-level brine is still 7 times as saline as seawater. If it was stocked with herring, all you’d need were jars! In 2002, a research team from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Peter Doran discovered halophile (salt-loving) cyanobacteria in ice cores drilled into Lake Vida 6 years earlier.
(images via: NASA/APOD, We Heart New York and Bloody Good Horror)
Upon being thawed, the microbes awoke from their 2,800-year-long slumber and carried on much as before. NASA has since set up a Meteorological Station on the shores of Lake Vida to, well, keep tabs on things. The station is unmanned… I guess they saw that movie too.
Lake Bonney
Lake Bonney, a freshwater lake located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (which seem to have a lot of lakes), is 4.35 miles (7 km) long by about 1/2 mile (900 meters) wide. It was named for Thomas George Bonney, professor of geology at University College in London from 1877 to 1901, but naming it for William H Bonney (alias “Billy the Kid”) makes much more sense. Why? Because it’s fed by Blood Falls, a red-tinted plume of rusty water that pours out of the Taylor Glacier onto the lake’s surface!
(images via: Taylor Valley, Space.com and Astrobioblog)
Lake Bonney may soon be visited by autonomous submersible robot NASA calls “Endurance” (though I would’ve called it the “Pat Garrett”) that will explore the depths of Lake Bonney as practice for a future mission to Jupiter’s watery moon Europa. Hopefully the exploratory mission to Europa’s subsurface ocean will go ahead without any, er, holdup.
Lake Thomas
(images via: QSL)
Lake Thomas, found in the Dry (yes, I know) Valleys of Victoria Land, is a freshwater lake fed by glacial melt on Antarctica’s warmer summer days. Though Lake Thomas itself isn’t especially remarkable, it’s surrounded with some of the planet’s most eerie, inhospitable, otherworldly (yet beautiful) scenery. It’s going to be a popular place once global warming really kicks in.
(image via: Portland State University)
As is the case with many of the glacial meltwater lakes in the Dry Valleys region, the purity of the water in the frozen surface cap allows for a remarkable clarity shown off to full advantage by scientists and photographers alike.
Lake Untersee
(images via: Stampboards and WordlessTech, Dale Anderson)
Lake Untersee was discovered by the German Antarctic Expedition of 1938–39, which did little other than name upwards of 50 topographical features with German names and drop a dozen Nazi flag markers by air… or so they would like us to think! The lake itself is about 4 miles (6.5 km) long, 1.6 miles (2.5 km) wide, and up to 554 ft (69 m) in depth. Though permanently capped with ice up to 9.8 ft (3 m) even in the summer, it’s what lies beneath Lake Untersee’s surface that has aroused both shock and surprise.
(images via: TMP, Bibliotecapleyades and Fufor)
You thought there was going to be mention of a Nazi u-boat base and UFO hangar (or both), didn’t you? Sorry, fellow conspiracy theorists, no such luck. Instead, divers who braved the exceptionally alkaline water (the pH ranges from 9.8 and 12.1, like strong Chorox) discovered… life!
(images via: WordlessTech)
Yes, life, albeit in a very primitive form. Those odd, purplish humped objects seen in the image above are not the spawn of Shoggoths, but stromatolites: layered structures built up layer by layer over centuries by mats of cyanobacteria. Stromatolites are among the Earth’s oldest fossils, dating back 3.5 billion years… and here they are at the bottom of an Antarctic lake. Maybe ol’ HP was on to something after all.
(image via: Cthulhu’s Holiday Photos)
Anglers anxious to reel in the first fish hooked in an Antarctic lake should cool their heels, as there are no viable fish populations in any of Antarctica’s many saline or freshwater lakes. Then again, many of these lakes have been isolated from the outer environment for thousands to millions of years and new discoveries concerning their ecologies continue to be made. So go ahead and bait a hook… but if something tugs on your line, let it go, man. Just let it go.
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Mud Men: Scientists Find an Ocean of Rare Earths
July 5, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in News & Politics & Science & Research & Technology & Gadgets. ]
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah! A Japanese expedition has discovered a wealth – literally – of rare earth minerals in mud samples taken from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Should the discovery pan out, the rewards could be richer than gold. Even better, refining the bounty involves much more environmentally friendly processes compared to those used in highly toxic traditional mining.
Trash to Treasure
(images via: Mining.com, Nature News and The Australian)
A stunning discovery by a Japanese research team could ripple the waters of science, technology and geopolitics for years to come… “ripple” being the key word as the report concerns samples of seafloor mud dredged from thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
(images via: Investors Insight and iOffer)
Mud, you say? Indeed, the gooey gloop that’s been accumulating for millions of years harbors an unseen but much desired treasure: rare earth minerals, said by some to be “21st-century gold” based on their rarity and value. These attributes are a function of demand, which has been on the rise due to the explosion of new, high-tech products and applications requiring these formerly uncommon elements.
(images via: DachaMetals, New Scientist and NewsWhip)
Now just to clarify, “uncommon” refers to concentrated deposits of rare earth minerals suitable for commercial mining. The elements themselves (the metals Scandium and Yttrium, plus 17 minerals in the Lanthanide series of the Periodic Table) are relatively common components of the earth’s crust – Cerium, for example, is about as common as Copper.
(images via: Qwiki and UCL Graduate School)
The three rare earth elements mentioned above are joined by Lanthanum, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium and Lutetium. Their atomic numbers range from 57 through 71 inclusive, plus 21 for Scandium and 39 for Yttrium. Besides sharing similar properties, many of the rare earths have similar names derived from the Swedish village of Ytterby, where rare earths were first identified in the early 19th century.
Rare Earths, Abundant Uses
(image via: Allvoices)
Before we delve into the particulars of the Japanese ocean discovery, let’s take a look at the many uses of rare earths and why they’re so important today, as opposed to 100, 50 or even 10 years ago. Can you imagine living without your cellphone, MP3 player or other portable electronic devices? What would the modern world be like without hybrid vehicles, flat-screen TVs, night vision goggles, superconducting magnets or anything made by Apple?
(images via: Bloomberg, China Rare Earths and Hurriyet)
Pretty grim, huh? What’s even grimmer is knowing that 97 percent of the current supply of rare earth minerals is controlled by a single nation, China, and boy oh boy do they know it! Annoy China and you just might see your rare earth imports cut to the bone… and by “you”, we mean Japan.
(images via: Asiabizz, Euronews and East Asia Forum)
In November of 2010, an incident occurred in the East China Sea near the disputed Senkaku Islands (Japanese) or Diaoyu Islands (Chinese). While attempting to stop and arrest the captain of a Chinese fishing boat deemed to be trespassing, a Japanese Coast Guard vessel was rammed by the Chinese ship. Check out this video captured by a Japanese crewman and leaked without authorization:
Leaked China-Japan boat crash video sparks row, via RT
(images via: ChattahBox and Blogs/WSJ)
Amid the diplomatic fallout caused by Japan’s taking the Chinese trawler captain into custody, rare earth exports from China to Japan dropped precipitously and remained at lower than normal levels for months. As Japan is a major manufacturer of leading edge electronics and hybrid vehicles, shortages of rare earth elements would be expected to seriously affect these industries while those in China enjoyed unrestricted access to these crucial raw materials. Japanese companies have accelerated rare earth recycling programs but these worthwhile efforts are stopgaps at best. How did we arrive at such a situation?
China Crisis
(images via: Telegraph UK and Reuters)
When one considers mining for rare earths, the NIMBY factor comes into play in a big way. Put plainly, a rare earth mineral mine is about the last thing you’d want in your backyard. Separating the minerals from the waste products involves the use of toxic chemicals and produces particulate pollution on a massive scale. The waste itself is toxic – rare earths are often found in conjunction with radioactive elements such as Uranium and Thorium.
(images via: Latest China and Business Insider)
Voters in the United States and Australia – two nations with large reserves of rare earth minerals – simply won’t tolerate rare earth mining. China, on the other hand, has a totalitarian form of government that puts the needs of China as a whole before those of the “voters”. Even so, there have been rumblings from farmers and agricultural cooperatives in China’s rare earth mining and smelting regions whose crop yields have plummeted as a result of extensive pollution.
(images via: Straits Times and China Daily)
One of the stated reasons China has reduced its exports of rare earth minerals is due to these environmental concerns, though many China-watchers dismiss this as green-washing to hide the real issues: Chinese strategic control over rare earth minerals and the prices charged for them.
(images via: Treehugger and New York Times)
Some might say that rare earth importers have only themselves to blame for the current supply imbalance, and that may indeed be true. There’s the moral issue to consider as well: while we enjoy our iPhones and Prius’s (Prii?), millions of poor Chinese farmers suffer from ill health and reduced quality of life. Wouldn’t it be nice if somebody could find an abundant source of these essential minerals and a cheap, easy and non-polluting method of refining them?
Bounty From the Sea
(image via: CBC)
A recent announcement published in Nature Geoscience would seem too good to be true, which is perhaps why the researchers behind the story ensured that their testing was both vigorous and voluminous in scope before revealing their discovery. According to the researchers, led by Yasuhiro Kato of the University of Tokyo’s department of systems innovation, “Just one square kilometer (0.4 square mile) of (oceanic rare earth) deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption.”
(images via: Geeky Gadgets, SBS and Asahi News)
Professor Kato and his team tested over 2,000 sediment samples retrieved from the seafloor at 78 different sites in the central Pacific Ocean – in international waters, one might add. It gets even better: the oceanic rare earth deposits are nearly twice as concentrated as underground deposits in China and they boast a higher ratio of heavier to lighter rare earth elements. Serendipitously, heavier rare earths are more important than lighter minerals in manufacturing technology products.
(images via: Dawn, TCE Today and Geology.com)
Since the oceanic rare earths are suspended in viscous mud and not locked into solid rock, refining them would be a simpler process. No need for blast furnaces or the strong acids that have wreaked so much environmental havoc around land-based mines. Radioactivity from associated trace elements is not a concern as the Japanese researchers measured their occurrence at just 1/5 that of typical underground ores. What’s more, these rare earths are anything BUT rare. According to professor Kato, rare earths contained in the seafloor deposits could amount to 80 to 100 billion metric tons. Estimated global reserves confirmed by the USGS for all land-based sources including China only total 110 million tonnes. Investors may not be happy to hear this news but just about everyone else should be!
(images via: Nature Geoscience, 2Space and Canadian Mining Review)
The only fly in the ointment is bringing the rare earth-infused sea mud to the surface in quantity. The researchers’ samples were extracted from cores ranging from 11,500-20,000 ft (3,500 to 6,000 meters) below the ocean surface. Where there’s a will there’s a way, however, and necessity is the mother of invention after all. “Sea mud can be brought up to ships and we can extract rare earths right there using simple acid leaching,” stated professor Kato. “Within a few hours we can extract 80–90 percent of rare earths from the mud.” Sounds like a plan!
The possibility of cheap, abundant, pollution-free rare earth minerals is as exciting as the prospects of low-cost, sustainable and renewable solar power… though the latter still lurks somewhere in the future. At least there’s hope, both for consumers and for China’s long-suffering farmers and rural villagers. The day may come when, like the 1970s funk-rock band Rare Earth, we all can celebrate another day of living, another day of…LIFE!
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Seven Feel Good Now Approaches
June 13, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
1. Listen to music. It lowers your body’s level of cortisol (the stress hormone), reduces anxiety, and can even improve your memory. Whether you love Mozart, Alicia Keys, or Lady Gaga, it’s all good. Are you pregnant? One recent study found that lullabies and nature sounds were the best choices for helping moms-to-be relax.
2. Warm up. The comfort of feeling warm and cozy is a terrific stress-reducer. The doctors at the international Mandometer Clinics, which specialize in treating eating disorders, use warm rooms and blankets to help anorexic women curb their anxiety after meals. Take advantage of spring’s lingering chill by taking a hot shower and wrapping yourself in a fluffy robe afterward. Savor a cup of green tea or get a hot stone massage. If it’s a nice day, put on your sunscreen, grab a book and find a sunny spot.
3. Have a peanut butter sandwich. When you’re fixing your kids’ lunches, aren’t you tempted to make your old favorite for yourself? Go ahead. The protein in peanut butter naturally boosts your level of serotonin, the hormone that regulates moods, sleep, and behavior. Stick with an all-natural variety (you don’t need the saturated oil and preservatives in other brands), have it on whole-grain bread and skip the sugar-loaded jelly. You’re indulging your inner child, and who’s more joyful than a five-year-old?
4. Get a friend fix. A well-known study from the University of Illinois found that the happiest people are the ones with strong bonds to friends and family. (As if you need a bunch of psychologists to tell you that girlfriend-time is fun!) A lot of us don’t make it a priority to connect with our friends regularly. Get into the habit of reaching out to a friend at least once a week, or more often if you can. Send a text, call or get together for a drink after work. And you can never have too many girls’ nights out.
5. Bring nature into your life. Getting in touch with the earth is a time-honored stress reliever, and spring, when nature comes back to life, is a fabulous time to start. Have breakfast on the porch or in the backyard and watch the birds gathering material for their nests. Pick a tree in your neighborhood and look at it daily to see buds turn into leaves.
6. Write it down. For her book, Gore asked women to keep a journal of the best moments in their day. This mindfulness will get you into the habit of noticing the good times as they happen. “Focusing on the moments of flow and happiness in our daily lives instead of focusing on what went wrong just has a refreshing effect,” Gore says. “We notice the natural joy more easily, and we remind ourselves, and sometimes even begin to relearn, what we want to be spending our time doing. “ Buy a notebook and keep it on your nightstand so you can write just before bed. Your entries don’t have to be long; a few lines are plenty.
7. Get out of your rut. Many women Gore spoke to found that they were happiest doing something that took them out of their day-to-day routine: working on an art project, going on a hike, playing with the kids during a time when they didn’t have to rush off to school or sports. Shake up your schedule: Go for a walk at lunch hour instead of eating at your desk. If you spend your nights in front of the TV, turn it off and reach for your journal, a book, or a paintbrush.
In short: Don’t wait for joy to come to you—go out and grab it with both hands!
Via http://www.divinecaroline.com/22189/98056-seven-foolproof-feel-good-strategies#ixzz1PAPIe6NP
Beth
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