Under the Ice...

Bigger than the Grand Canyon, this one was just discovered under Greenland's icecap:

We're a long way from knowing even our own planet very well.  Other planets (and even more so other stars) we've just barely scratched the surface.  Literally...

Flash Floods...

What they actually look like:


I've only seen two flash floods in my entire life, both entirely by accident – I wasn't chasing them like these guys.  Both the flash floods I saw looked much like this, though the character of the brush was a bit different (being Southern Californian chaparral).  They aren't at all like the flash floods of Hollywood or many western novels – there's no 50 foot high wall of water that appears without warning.

On the other hand, if you do something stupid like, say, parking your RV in the wash and going to sleep – you're likely to get quite a rude surprise!  In one of the flash floods I witnessed, exactly this happened.  I saw the RV being washed along the by the torrent, flipping over and over.  About 15 minutes after the RV went by, the owners (a young couple) came huffing up, trying to catch up with it.  They managed to get out of the RV before the flood tipped it over, but getting to shore was touch-and-go.  They were both quite scared.  I gave them a ride, first down to where their RV was still tumbling along, now beaten almost beyond recognition.  It was a total loss.  Then I gave them a ride into the town of Ocotillo, where they parked themselves in an air-conditioned business and awaited help from relatives.

National Geographic Photo of the Month...

It'a a corker of an Eastern Screech Owl, in the Okefnokee Swamp of southern Georgia...

Evolution Often Got There First...

Stealth aircraft and ships are a response to radar and sonar; they make the targets hard to find.  Electronic counter-warfare (ECW) kicks it up a notch: ECW systems actively fool radar or sonar, either by jamming them so they can't receive a signal, or by deliberately tricking them into thinking their target is somewhere it isn't.

Evolution produced all of these defenses (against the echo-location, or sonar, of bats) long before humans ever did so...

Beautiful Nature Photos...

Via my mom (one sample below, see the rest here):

Mantis Shrimp...

You've probably never seen one of these shrimp, not even in an aquarium.  The Oatmeal explains why...and the answer is more interesting than you might think!

Giant Arapaima...

British fisherman Steve Townson caught a 250 pound freshwater fish, an arapaima.  He released it after weighing and taking photos.

Awesome...

Macaulay Library is Online...

In the bad old days (before yesterday), if you wanted to listen to the Macaulay sound library (a huge archive of the sounds of nature: animals and birds, especially birds) you had to purchase expensive CDs.  Now they've gone and put it online – the whole library – complete with a nifty search capability that lets you search by either common name or Latin name.  I just spent a happy half hour listening to great recordings of all sorts of familiar animals and birds.

Now all we need is a way to search for sounds that we record, to identify the animal or bird by searching the library!

Frozen Waterfalls...

Lots more like the one below from Croatia...

Brrrrr!

A Win on Two Counts!

Via my mom, who declares it a winner for (a) the cinematography, and (b) the score (Kenny G.):

A Geyser and the Aurora Borealis...

Both at the same time, in the same photo.  Gorgeous!  From APOD, of course...

Toroidal Vortices...

Extraordinary and beautiful artifacts of nature, produced by dolphins, whales, and volcanoes...

Blindsight...

It's for real...

Awesome Photos...

Via my mom and reader Simi L., on the same day!  Lots more at the link.

Iconic Trees...

The “baobab” tree of Africa...

This Smithsonian article describes seven iconic trees of the world, like the one at right:

Its bark is fire resistant. Its fruit is edible. It scoffs at the driest droughts. It shrugs, and another decade has passed. It is the baobab, one of the longest-living, strangest looking trees in the world. Several species exist in the genus Adansonia, mostly in the semi-deserts of Africa and southern Asia. They can grow to be nearly 100 feet tall—but it’s the baobab’s bulk and stature that is so astonishing; many have trunks 30 feet in diameter. The Sunland Baobab of South Africa is far bigger still and is reportedly more than 6,000 years old. Its trunk, like those of many old baobabs, is hollow and—as a tourist attraction—even features a small bar inside. Baobab trees are leafless for much of the year and look rather like an oak that has been uprooted and replanted upside down. Numerous legends attempt to explain the bizarre and awesome appearance of the baobab, but if you visit the great Sunland Baobab, just let your jaw drop—and go inside for a drink.

I was disappointed to see that the author left out the koa tree of Hawai'i, one of my personal favorites. The koas at altitudes of roughly 8,000 feet and up on Mauna Kea (the middle volcano on the Big Island) are amongst the most beautiful trees I have ever seen. But despite this omission, it's an interesting collection...the tallest, strongest, and most iconic trees in the world.

Japanese Maple...

National Geographic's Photo of the Month:

Pollination...

Via Simon M.:

Antelope Canyon...

Antelope Canyon is a particularly beautiful example of a “slot canyon”, on Navajo land in north central Arizona.  You can only get to it with a special permit and a Navajo guide. 

I've never been there, but after seeing these photos I'd sure like to!

Species Rescue...

It sounds almost like a bad sci-fi novel: rats wipe out an interesting species on a large island, but years later scientists discover a tiny population surviving on a desert island.  After two years of effort they get permission to take four individuals to attempt captive breeding.  The first two individuals taken die shortly after leaving the island.  The second two (dubbed “Adam” and “Eve”) nearly die, but a last-ditch, guessed-at food supplement revives them.  Not long after: now we have thousands of descendants of Adam and Eve.  And now they'd like to reintroduce them back to the island where the rats killed them all.  Fascinating story!  Here's video of one of the these animals hatching – it's a giant walking stick insect:

Icy Fingers of Death...

Super-chilled brine flowing into merely cold seawater forms ice in the lower-salinity water. This time-lapse film captures this, along with the slow-moving sea life that the ice overcomes. This little clip and the accompanying story are the first I've ever heard of this strange natural phenomenon...