Descartes' Automaton Daughter

leprocrastinateur: Van Laren D. Cycadeoidea ingens....

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:57:05 -0800

leprocrastinateur:

Van Laren D. Cycadeoidea ingens. 1910-1912.

Source: ici.

coleoptera-kinbote: Weaponized Goliath Beetle

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:34:55 -0800

coleoptera-kinbote:

Weaponized Goliath Beetle

rhamphotheca: Morphological Diversity and Phylogenetics of the...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:09:21 -0800

rhamphotheca:

Morphological Diversity and Phylogenetics of the Darter Etheostoma Subgenus Doration (Family Percidae), with Descriptions of Five New Species

Five new fish species were scientifically described last week, all after former or current U.S leaders who have records of environmental leadership and commitment. Three species are found in Tennessee, which already leads the nation in freshwater fish diversity with 315 species. These new species were formerly considered isolated populations of the wide-ranging Speckled Darter (Etheostoma stigmaeum) but are now recognized as distinct species based on morphology and male breeding colors.

These new species are part of a group of darters (subgenus Doration) that are found throughout southeastern river drainages west of the Appalachians. The new species, described by Steve Layman at Geosyntec Consultants in Kennesaw GA and Rick Mayden at Saint Louis University MO, include

Etheostoma obama, the Spangled Darter, found entirely within Tennessee;

Etheostoma gore, the Cumberland Darter and

Etheostoma jimmycarter, the Bluegrass Darter, both found in Tennessee and Kentucky;

Etheostoma teddyroosevelt, the Highland Darter from the Ozark Plateau in Missouri, Arkansas, and the corners of Kansas and Oklahoma;

and Etheostoma clinton, the Beaded Darter from the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas.

reference: Layman, S.R. & Mayden, R.L. (2012): Morphological Diversity and Phylogenetics of the Darter Subgenus Doration (Percidae: Etheostoma), with Descriptions of Five New Species. Bulletin of the Alabama Museum of Natural History. 30: 1–83.

http://tnaci.blogspot.com/2012/11/new-fishes-named-after-us-leaders-three.html

(via: NovaTaxa)

Photo

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:43:25 -0800

NME Photography Awards

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:54:56 -0800

owenrichards:

I was very flattered to be included in the 2012 NME photography awards exhibition at the Getty Images gallery in central London.

The original image is part of an editorial commission from Loud and Quiet on the Maccabees return to Brixton Academy.

The exhibition is on until 1st December.

scientificillustration: Okay so it’s not necessarily...

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 03:26:13 -0800

scientificillustration:

Okay so it’s not necessarily scientific..

Thanks for the submission CVWS

Urban Noise Makes Flycatchers Change Length of Their Songs Birds...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:08:55 -0800

Urban Noise Makes Flycatchers Change Length of Their Songs

Birds use their songs during social interactions to attract females and repel intruders. Factors affecting acoustic communication, such as urban noise, may therefore impair breeding success. Research to date has shown that several songbird (or oscine) species like robins, nightingales and blackbirds, adapt their song in response to noise.

They found that males occupying territories with relatively high noise levels produced longer songs, whereas males in quieter places sang both long and short songs. Males also showed song plasticity as they sang less versatile songs later in the morning when noise level was higher, but time of day seemed to play a more important role in driving this shift than did noise levels.

halotharfroggies: paarthurnax-actually: I fucking love this....

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:00:54 -0800

halotharfroggies:

paarthurnax-actually:

I fucking love this. The toad is about to be really sad, and then he’s so happy because someone thinks he’s lovely.

Oh you found a comic about me.

atelierentomologica: Moth and Butterflies Surinomo print by...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:17:34 -0800

atelierentomologica:

Moth and Butterflies

Surinomo print by Kubo Shunman, Japan C19

Photo

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 06:51:48 -0800

biomedicalephemera: Thornback ray (Raja clavata) and thornback...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 03:26:17 -0800

biomedicalephemera:

Thornback ray (Raja clavata) and thornback ray skeleton

Like sharks, rays and skates have fully cartilaginous skeletons, which provide a stable structure but more flexibility than bone. You can see that, much like fish, rays have defined, er, rays, in their fins. The difference is that while fish tend to have a few unconnected rays and a taught tissue between them, the Rajiforms (skates and rays) have many, many rays, which are all connected perpendicularly by collagen. The body is then formed around these rays, which propel the Rajiforms forward in an undulating (wave-like) motion.

A history of the fishes of the British Islands. Jonathan Couch, 1863.

“There have been experiments,” says NASA aerospace engineer Dan...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 21:19:27 -0800

“There have been experiments,” says NASA aerospace engineer Dan Dietrich, “where we observed fires that we didn’t think could exist, but did.”

Photo

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 03:26:22 -0800

tristetriste: Things are Queer (1973) by Duane Michals This...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:06:48 -0800

tristetriste:

Things are Queer (1973) by Duane Michals

This piece by Duane Michals comprises nine photographs, each one a detail of the one that follows. The first shot shows a bog-standard bathroom. Then the camera pulls back to reveal what is either an oversized man, or an undersized bathroom: the man’s foot is the size of the lavatory-bowl. During the ensuing sequence, it emerges that the photograph of the man in the tiny bathroom is itself a picture in a book being read by another man in an alley. Then it turns out that the man reading the book in the alley is also a picture of a picture in a frame which is hanging on a wall. The final twist in this circuitous tale is the revelation that this picture of the man reading the book in the alley is itself a picture hanging on the original bathroom wall. Things are Queer neatly challenges the viewer’s assumptions about the photographic version of reality. The sequence taken as a whole has a cheeky intrigue - at no point can we actually identify the perspective of the camera, the reality of each shot is superseded by the next.

explodingtorium: Perpendicular Shadows, 1986, photo by Nancy...

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:34:56 -0800

explodingtorium:

Perpendicular Shadows, 1986, photo by Nancy Rodger

http://www.gregadunn.com/gold-leaf-painting-by-greg-dunn/crab-stomatagastric-ganglion/

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:43:16 -0800

http://www.gregadunn.com/gold-leaf-painting-by-greg-dunn/crab-stomatagastric-ganglion/:

Crab Stomatagastric Ganglion by Greg A. Dunn, 2009.

Enamel on composition gold and copper, 18”x24”.

factstofigures: Caption: Artist’s representation of the...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:17:49 -0800

factstofigures:

Caption: Artist’s representation of the exploration by the submersible ‘Nautile’ of the hydrothermal vent community associated with ‘black smoker’ chimneys made up of precipitated sulphides, and the more diffuse, lower temperature flow from ‘white smokers’ surrounded by the tangled tubes of alvinellid worms.

Artist: Violaine Martin

Gage, J.D. and Tyler, P.A. (1991). Deep Sea Biology: A natural history of organisms at the deep-sea floor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

# Much of the ocean is not yet explored / Though submarines pootle about the sea-floor …

archivesofamericanart: I never thought a photo of a blimp could...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 07:57:44 -0800

archivesofamericanart:

I never thought a photo of a blimp could be beautiful, but this proves me wrong. The “Chevron Flying Spectacular” sprang from the mind of Douglas Leigh, “the man who lit up Broadway.”

The Chevron Flying Spectacular over Los Angeles, between 1945 and 1955 / unidentified photographer. Douglas Leigh papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Photo

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:13:57 -0700

funnywildlife: funnywildlife: Weird Halloweenie CaterpillarIf...

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:09:11 -0700

funnywildlife:

funnywildlife:

Weird Halloweenie Caterpillar
If prizes for Halloween costumes were handed out in the world of nature, this scary skull-faced creepy-crawly would surely win. The extraordinary specimen is the larvae of the pink underwing moth, an endangered species only found in the Australian rainforest. Ecologist Lui Weber photographed the rare caterpillar, which is characterised by a set of teeth-like markings set between spots that look like eyes with large pupils.
Picture: Lui Weber/Rex Features