Category Archives: Nature

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Swimming With Whale Sharks

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Simon Pierce grew up besotted with wildlife and not even a terrifying one-on-one encounter with a great white shark on his first solo dive could deter him from his passion of underwater photography.

The 35-year-old ‘scientist with a camera’ is leading a global whale shark research project, showcasing nature’s beauty in his spectacular underwater photography and documenting his mission to save some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet.

Pierce learned to scuba dive at university and instantly fell in love with what lies beneath the ocean, travelling the world to encounter remarkable species and highlighting their plight in his series of impressive snapshots.

Simon Pierce grew up besotted with wildlife and not even a terrifying one-on-one encounter with a great white shark on his first solo dive could deter him from his passion of underwater photography

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Cloned Woolly Mammoth?

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What could possibly go wrong?

 

Woolly mammoths could be brought back from extinction after a preserved body of one of the ancient animals was found frozen in the snowy wastes of Siberia, scientists hope.

The mammoth, which took its last steps around 40,000 years ago, is in such good condition that biologists believe they may be able to clone the creature.

An autopsy of the Ice Age beast, which has been nicknamed Buttercup by scientists, will be shown in a documentary later this month.

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Back from the dead? Scientists hope to bring woolly mammoths back from extinction after a preserved body of the ancient animal was found frozen in Siberia

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Left Coast Stupidity on Display

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by: the Common Constitutionalist

How’s the weather in your neck of the woods? Here in New England we’re freezing our tushies off. It could be worse. We could be living in the Lakes region or Buffalo New York buried under several feet of snow, with more on the way. And winter is still over a month away.

I was speaking with a buddy of mine from Houston Texas a day or so ago. He told me was in the 30s. The 30s – in Houston – where they fry bacon on the sidewalks in May.

In fact the whole country is frozen over, save for maybe the southern tip of Florida.

However, none of this seems to have any affect on the liberal wackos in Berkeley California.

Kristin Bender of the AP writes: “Some of the country’s first gas pump warning labels about climate change are coming to Berkeley, a city with a long history of green and clean policies. The Berkeley City Council voted late Tuesday to draft a proposal by next spring that will put stickers on gas pumps citywide to warn customers that burning fuel contributes to global warming.” read more

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Not the Jaws of Life

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This is the frightening moment a three-meter Great White started trailing a surfer back to shore, just two weeks before another man lost his arm and hand in a nearby shark attack.

Andy Johnston was out with a small group of surfers at West Beach near Esperance, south-east of Perth, on September 21 when people ashore spotted the dark shadow looming.

Other surfers managed to clear the water onto a reef after people started to honk their car horns to warn of the approaching shark, but Mr Johnston opted to stay put.

Andy Johnston was out with a small group of surfers at West Beach near Esperance, south-east of Perth, on September 21 when people ashore spotted the dark shadow looming

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Puppy Sized Spider

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Piotr Naskrecki was taking a nighttime walk in a rainforest in Guyana, when he heard rustling as if something were creeping underfoot. When he turned on his flashlight, he expected to see a small mammal, such as a possum or a rat.

“When I turned on the light, I couldn’t quite understand what I was seeing,” said Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.

A moment later, he realized he was looking not at a brown, furry mammal, but an enormous, puppy-size spider. read more

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How Many Earthquakes?

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Mammoth Lakes saw nearly 600 earthquakes in 24 hours last week – the worst swarm of tremors in nearly a decade.

Monitors show a concentration of seismic activity in the region which has sent shockwaves through the the California town.

Starting just before 5am on Thursday they have ranged between 1.0 and 3.8 in magnitude.

An earthquake monitor shows a collection of seismic activity in Mammoth Lakes, California. Yellow dots show tremors in the last 12 hours and green in the last 24 hours

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Massive Wave Ride

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Daredevil surfers are flocking to the coast of Portugal to ride giant waves up to 100-foot high.

Incredible photos show the thrill-seekers riding the huge swells off the coast of Nazare, a fishing town north of Lisbon.

A 125-mile long underwater canyon – which is up to three miles deep – combines with strong Atlantic currents to create the enormous waves.

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A deep underwater canyon and strong currents sweeping in from the Atlantic Ocean create huge, 100-metre waves off the coast of Nazare, Portugal at this time of year

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Volcanoes Erupting Around the World

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from National Geographic:

Photo of Mount Tavurvur erupting in eastern Papua New Guinea.

Mount Tavurvur erupts in eastern Papua New Guinea on Friday. PHOTOGRAPH BY OLIVER BLUETT, AFP/GETTY

The Mount Tavurvur volcano in eastern Papua New Guinea jolted awake early Friday morning, belching rocks, ash, and steam (see above) nearly 60,000 feet (18,288 meters) into the air.

Local residents evacuated their homes on Friday, and Qantas Airways modified flight paths for planes heading to Tokyo and Shanghai from Sydney, Australia, according to news reports. (Watch video: “Volcano 101.”)

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Hummingbird Sweet Tooth

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A photo of a male ruby-throated hummingbird.
A ruby-throated hummingbird feeds on mimosa flowers. Photograph by George Grall, National Geographic Creative

Hummingbirds feel the sweet lure of nectar, but they taste it in the most unexpected of ways.

This group of feathered friends doesn’t have a sweet taste receptor, which means they shouldn’t be able to taste sweet at all. But a new study published Thursday in Science reveals that hummingbirds have repurposed their umami receptor (which recognizes meaty and savory flavors) to be able to taste nectar’s sweetness.

“There are not many cases of such a complicated function being regained over the course of evolution,” which makes it a unique example to study, said Maude Baldwin, a doctoral student at Harvard University and lead author of the new study. read more