Best News Photos of 2010 – From National Geographic
December 4, 2010 by admin
Filed under News, Odd World, Places and Nature
Check out the best news photos that appeared on National Geographic website in 2010. We present these photos to you as measured by viewer interest—featuring a shocking sinkhole in Guatemala, fish with “hands,” volcanic lightning in Iceland, and a crocodile-elephant fight.
Sinkhole Pierces Guatemala
Yes, it’s real. See multiple views of the 30-story-deep sinkhole in Guatemala that swallowed a three-story building in June.
Fish With “Hands” Identified
Nine fish that use handlike fins to walk, rather than swim, off Australia were identified as new species in May.
Best of 10-Year Marine Census
7 Amazing Transparent Animals – Wonders of Nature
Nature is fascinating and often weird, it surprises us when we least expect. Some creatures use the camouflage techniques as a hunting and defense mechanism, others show everything they have - like transparent animals. Despite of what we are inclined to think, transparent and translucent animals live also on the ground, not only in the abyss of the ocean and we have visual proof of it. Nothing is photoshopped!
1. Transparent Frog
Umm, not so fast, prof… have you seen the “glass frog” (above), native to the Venezuelan rainforest? Like the transparent frogs selectively bred in the lab from generations of pale-skinned Japanese Brown Frogs, the Glass Frog’s internal organs and eggs can be seen without too much trouble. Word to Professor Sumida: take the grant money and run!
2. Transparent Cave Crayfish
Caves are some of the darkest places on the planet – even sophisticated light-gathering instruments are unable to register a single photon in the deepest, darkest caves. Under these conditions, creatures including fish, spiders, insects and crayfish have evolved into “troglobites”: animals so precisely adapted to living in darkness that they cannot survive outside cave environments. Under such conditions, neither eyes nor pigmentation are necessary.
3. Transparent Sea Cucumber
Slow moving, soft bodied bottom dwellers for the most part, Sea Cucumbers are an ancient lineage of sea creatures who have evolved a variety of ways to survive and thrive over hundreds of millions of years of evolution. For some Sea Cucumbers, being transparent allows them to fly under the radar, as it were, of predators in search of a quick & easy ki**.
4. Transparent Icefish
Fund in the cold waters around Antarctica and southern South America, the crocodile icefish (Channichthyidae) feed on krill, copepods, and other fish. Their blood is transparent because they have no hemoglobin and/or only defunct erythrocytes. Their metabolism relies only on the oxygen dissolved in the liquid blood, which is believed to be absorbed directly through the skin from the water. This works because water can dissolve the most oxygen when it is coldest.
5. Transparent Amphipod
Called Phronima, this unusual animal is one of the many strange species recently found on an expedition to a deep-sea mountain range in the North Atlantic. In an ironic strategy for survival, this tiny shrimplike creature shows everything it has, inside and out, in an attempt to disappear.
6. Transparent Squid
Found on the southern hemisphere’s oceans, the Glass Squid (Teuthowenia pellucida) has light organs on its eyes and possesses the ability to roll into a ball, like an aquatic hedgehog.
7. Transparent Siphonophores
Siphonophores belong to the Cnidaria, a group of animals that includes the corals, hydroids, and true jellyfish. Marrus orthocanna, a deep sea siphonophore. The combined digestive and circulatory system is red; all other parts are transparent.
LEGO Creatures of Habitat at The Philadelphia Zoo
August 17, 2010 by admin
Filed under Animals, Art and Design
At the Philadelphia Zoo premiered a collection of 31 different animal sculptures, all rendered in Legos, by certified Lego artist Sean Kenney. The exhibition is called Creatures of Habitat and is in place to promote awareness about vanished habitats.
Ten different animals and their habitats have been places around the Zoo. Visit all the stations to learn about why these creatures were chosen for the exhibition as well as what role the Philadelphia Zoo plays in protecting and preserving these animals and their habitats. The Lego animals will be in place until October 31, 2010, so do make sure to get over there between now and then. This is one not to be missed!
4 World’s Most Unusual Plants
August 15, 2010 by admin
Filed under Featured, Places and Nature
Nature can be very strange and sometimes its creatures can be incredible. Here are 4 of the world’s most unusual plants. Don’t give any of these to your Valentine…
1. Dracunculus Vulgaris
The Dracunculus Vulgaris smells like rotting flesh and has a burgundy-colored, leaf-like flower that projects a slender, black appendage.
2. Rafflesia Arnoldii
This parasitic plant develops the world’s largest bloom that can grow over three feet across. The flower is a fleshy color, with spots that make it look like a teenager’s acne-ridden skin. It smells bad and has a hole in the center that holds six or seven quarts of water. The plant has no leaves, stems, or roots. Read more
Great Skills of Rubber Women
Many of us ( by us I mean men and women) consider woman’s body to be form of art. The artistic nature of their bodies emerges when they show you what they can do with it. Women are able to flex their body beyond our wildest imagination. These rubber women will show you how it is done. No matter in which setting you put them, their amazing moves will strike your attention and amaze you. Chill out with these cool photographs!
30 Fantastic Examples of Lightning Photography
August 11, 2010 by admin
Filed under Art and Design, Places and Nature
Lightning is a very destructive force but the impossibly beautiful patterns which emerge when lightning strikes are some of the most beautiful phenomenons nature has to offer. Here are some great examples of lightning photography to inspire you. Someone has to teach me how to use my camera to make these cool photos. A lot of patience and a nice thunderstorm are the basic ingredients, that’s for sure.
50 Stunning Tilt-Shift Photographs
July 31, 2010 by admin
Filed under Art and Design, Places and Nature
The Tilt- shift Photography is to use both tilt and camera movements, making the life of objects in a scale effect miniature. The effect can be incredibly powerful, instantly transforming a city into a huge miniature toy . To achieve that some photographers use a lens directly, while others prefer the effect of ” blurring of the target ” with Photoshop.
Here is a series of 50 Stunning Tilt-Shift Photographs.
