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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Rats, Not Recklessness, May Have Done Easter Islanders In
Easter Island has been used as a famous example of what can happen to a culture when it exhausts its resources (as seen in Jared Diamond’s Collapse). Recently, though, that idea has come into question.
Did the original settlers of Easter Island (the Rapanui) really die off due to their obsessive deforestation and cult-like competition to erect the large Moai sculptures? Or did they actually settle there much later, succumbing to other factors?
The newest research blames the infestation of a polynesian rat for the rapid deforestation of the island, where it would have quickly multiplied to a population of millions of seed-eating pests.
A lack of resources probably had something to do with the Rapanui population crash, but likely wasn’t the only factor. The poetic example of a native people living outside their natural means and suffering the consequences might be due to collapse itself.
(via Discover Magazine)
cwnl:
Milky Way above Easter Island
This dramatic scene definitely inspired ancient residents of the Easter Island as it amaze us today. Silhouetted against the southern Milky Way and starry sky of this isolated Pacific Ocean island, are large statues, locally called Moais, remained from 13th to 15th century.
By Wally Pacholka
(Source: ikenbot)
Underwater spider uses air bubble as oxygen tank
The only spider to spend almost all of its life underwater creates a bubble of air in its web, which actually extracts oxygen from the surrounding water. This allows the spiders to stay in their aquatic webs for more than a day at a time.
Moon over Afghanistan, by astronaut Ron Garan (@astro_ron) aboard the ISS.
(via Bad Astronomy)
This video illusion will destroy your brain!
A demonstration of how your mind can play tricks on you. This video isn’t special effects.
To prove it, here is a still from the video:
I opened it in Photoshop and isolated the two squares:
Then I deleted the rest of the picture, leaving only those two spots:
You can download the still from the video and try it your self. The different shades are completely an illusion caused by your brain.
Always stay aware, you can’t always even trust your own perception…
Hole-Punch Clouds
A fallstreak hole, also known as a hole punch cloud is a large circular gap that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds. Such holes are formed when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing but the water has not frozen yet due to the lack of ice nucleation particles. When a portion of the water does start to freeze it will set off a domino effect, due to the Bergeron process, causing the water vapor around it to freeze and fall to the earth as well. This leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.*
(Source: ikenbot)
Astrophysicists have finally simulated an entire galaxy.
It only took nine months of computing to do it, too!
We were talking about how spiral galaxies form the other day, and simulations like this are key to checking our understanding of the processes behind the Milky Way and others. Essentially, they take all the applicable laws of physics and astronomy, dump them in a computer, let it build a galaxy and see if it matches what we see in real life.
(Source: jtotheizzoe)
China and Europe Both Have Plans To Prevent Deadly Asteroid Apophis from Hitting Earth in 2029 (or 2036)
Apophis is a 46 million tonne asteroid that will pass within a hair’s breath of Earth in 2029. However, Apophis’s trajectory is likely to take it through a region of space near Earth known as a keyhole that will ensure the asteroid returns in 2036.
Nobody knows how close Apophis will come on that pass. But if there’s a chance of a collision, we’ll have only 7 years to work out how to avoid catastrophe.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing say their preference is to use a solar sail to place a small spacecraft into a retrograde orbit and on collision course with Apophis. The retrograde orbit will give it an impact velocity of 90km/s which, if they do this well enough in advance, should lead to a collision large enough to do the trick.In 2002, the European Space Agency began a program called Don Quijote to find out how best to perform such a deflection.
Don Quijote involves sending two spacecraft to a near Earth asteroid; one to smash into it and the other to watch while in orbit above the impact crater. The goal is to change the asteroid’s semimajor axis by more than 100 metres and to measure the change with an accuracy greater than 1 per cent.
#RockTheReTweet for Tumblr.
This is the “smoke ring” a strange phenomenon that happens in volcanos and it has only been documented 3 times. Two from Mt. Etna in 1970 and 2000, and another from Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland, in May 2010.
#RockTheReTweet for Tumblr.
Thunderstorms produce a lot of weird things, which are often easy to miss amid the urgency of tornadoes, floods and lightning. But before a storm arrives, or sometimes out of the blue, rare “roll clouds” like this one command attention as they float ominously overhead.
#RockTheReTweet for Tumblr.
Infographic: Bedbugs attack!
As bedbugs invade cities across the U.S., a little knowledge can go a long way in helping you sleep tight and avoid bites.
#RockTheReTweet for Tumblr.
Perhaps it’s unfair to judge a fish out of water, but the blobfish looks more like a ball of slime than a living creature.
13 ugly animals
#RockTheReTweet for Tumblr.
Tsunami caused Manhattan-sized iceberg in Antarctica
The March 11 tsunami that struck Japan created waves that hit an ice shelf in Antarctica 8,100 miles away, smashing parts of it into huge icebergs.
