#rare
Ancient Snow Gum
All rights reserved by idonothaveacat
This is a picture of a 'Snow Gum' taken on the Bogong High Plains (near Cape West Aquaduct) quite some time ago. This tree must be very very old, given it's size and how slow snow gums grow.
#straaya #snowgum #eucalyptus #tree #rare ... @Clarice Boomshakalaka Bouvier
Geologists Solve Crucial Mystery Surrounding The Deposits of Rare Earth Elements
A handful of europium. Credit: Alchemist-hp, CC BY-SA
An international team of scientists has helped to unravel a longstanding mystery about how rare earth element deposits form underground – and sometimes seem to disappear without a trace.
Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits.
A team of geologists, led by Professor Frances Wall from the Camborne School of Mines, have discovered a new hypothesis to predict where rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium could be found.
The elements are among the most sought after, because they are an essential part of digital and clean energy manufacturing, including magnets in large wind turbines and electric cars motors.
For the new research, scientists conducted a series of experiments that showed sodium and potassium -- rather than chlorine or fluorine as previously thought -- were the key ingredients for making these rare earth elements soluble.
This is crucial as it determines whether they crystalise -- making them fit for extraction -- or stayed dissolved in fluids.
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The above story is based on Materials provided by University of Exeter.
#geology #elements #mining #energy #rare #earth #europium #rare-earths #science
A rare demo of The Cure's song "The Empty World" from 1984
Researchers Photograph Rare Fish That Sees Through its Own Head
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) recently spotted an exceedingly rare find: a barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma). This strange deep-sea dweller has a transparent head it sees through with its tubular eyes.
MBARI uses a pair of remotely operated vehicles (ROV), the Ventana and the Doc Rickets , to survey the ocean at various depths. In the more than 5,600 successful dive missions and more than 27,600 hours of video, the team has only ever seen this fish a scant nine times.
Aquarist Tommy Knowles and his team were aboard MBARI’s R/V Rachel Carson with our ROV Ventana to collect jellies and comb jellies for the Aquarium’s upcoming Into the Deep exhibition when they spotted this fascinating fish. The team stopped to marvel at Macropinna before it swam away.
The barreleye is a particularly unique species of fish. It lives in what is called the twilight zone of the ocean at depths of 2,000 to 2,600 feet. That deep, light comes at a premium and different species have developed unusual traits to adapt to the environment. Of those, MBARI says that the barreleye is one of the most bizarre.
The barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) has extremely light-sensitive eyes that can rotate within a transparent, fluid-filled shield on its head. The fish's tubular eyes are capped by bright green lenses. The eyes point upward (as shown here) when the fish is looking for food overhead. They point forward when the fish is feeding. The two spots above the fish's mouth are olfactory organs called nares, which are analogous to human nostrils.
"Two small indentations where eyes might normally appear on a fish are actually the barreleye’s olfactory organs, and its eyes are two glowing green orbs behind its face that gaze up towards the top of its head," MBARI explains.
The barreleye doesn't get particularly large and has an estimated maximum size of just six inches long. It is known to exist between the Bering Sea to Japan as well as Baja California.
The research team had previously shown that the fish can rotate its eyes towards the front to see its food when eating. Before that, scientists believed that the fish had its gaze permanently fixed upwards, which would be helpful to it as the fish is believed to often hover below a siphonophore’s tentacles to steal food.
"Its eyes look upwards to spot its favorite prey -- usually small crustaceans trapped in the tentacles of siphonophores -- from the shadows they cast in the faint shimmer of sunlight from above."
MBARI is working with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to bring deep-sea creatures to its Into the Deep exhibit set to launch in the spring of 2022, though it's not clear if the barreleye will make an appearance. The organization has set up a detailed webpage on the rare fish for those interested in learning more about one of the ocean's most bizarre creatures.
Image credits: Photos copyright MBARI.
#news #spotlight #barreleye #fish #mbari #monterey #montereybay #montereybayacquariumresearchinstitutue #montereybayaquarium #ocean #rare #research #rov #science #underthesea #underwater
The Story Behind Los Angeles’s Rare Lightning Storm Photos
My name is Emeric Le Bars and this is the story of how I captured some insane, extremely rare photos of a lightning storm in Los Angeles, without really planning anything.
You don’t need to be familiar with Los Angeles to know that the city has an average of 300 sunny days every single year, which makes it one of the sunniest locations in the country and eventually the world. Even though the city usually gets very dry summers, rainy days do happen between the months of December and March. Additionally, lightning storms are historically quite rare in the region. But this year, it was different…
On October 4, 2021, Los Angeles experienced an insane thunderstorm that even a 50-year-old inhabitant born and raised in the area told me had never seen before. Southern California, including Los Angeles, was hit by over 4,000 lightning strikes in a 24-hour time frame. Even if this happened in Florida, a state that experiences year-long thunderstorms, that’s a lot of lightning in such a short period of time.
It was probably not the safest time to go out and shoot, I should tell you. But what’s crazy about my story is that nothing was really planned. I was light-years away from thinking that a storm like this could happen in early October in Los Angeles. Two days prior, it was still 90-degrees out!
I went out shooting only because one of my friends, Craig who was visiting from Chicago, had a few hours to spare before his flight back. Since he was staying in Los Feliz, I suggested we go to Griffith Park nearby because it offers amazing high vantage points of the downtown Los Angeles skyline, Hollywood, the Griffith Observatory, and many other iconic locations when the weather is clear.
This also happened to be the day Facebook and Instagram were down for several hours and the only way to get in touch with him was through Instagram messages; I did not have his number saved in my phone. Around 3 PM, when the app slowly started to work again, I received his message saying he was ready to go at any time. Sunset was only three hours from then, so we had no time to waste.
As I was driving from my apartment to Los Feliz to pick him up, I started seeing some very scary-looking dark clouds approaching from the south. Once I reached his location, I decided to check the radar and noticed that some heavy rain and lightning was coming towards us. Going to Griffith Park, which is mostly hills and required hiking suddenly became a bad idea. So, we decided to go grab a beer in a local bar while we waited for the storm to pass.
Between Instagram being down and the storm approaching, it felt as though everything was against us that day.
After 30 minutes of enjoying a cold one and catching up, the rain calmed down a bit and we decided to drive to the entrance of the park. That said, it was still raining a lot and the constant lightning definitely did not make us want to go hiking and so we decided to wait another 20 minutes in the car. We didn’t want to give up as we could clearly see that the storm would pass fairly quickly; looking South, the sky was mostly blue. At that time, it was only half an hour before sunset and I did not want to miss the good colors if there were any. Speaking from my experience from the last nine years shooting timelapses, after-storm sunsets can be very, very colorful. I did not want to miss it!
And I am glad we didn’t give up.
Even though we didn’t get a colorful sunset, I came back with some of my favorite photos I have ever captured.
We started hiking to our spot in Griffith Park when the rain stopped. Our goal was to capture the downtown Los Angeles skyline at sunset, but once we reached our spot, we noticed some crazy huge lightning strikes to the West, right above the ocean. We could clearly see the Century City skyline and the Griffith Observatory. The visibility was really clear with all the rain and wind from the past couple of hours, so we decided to change our plans and capture this view instead of Downtown Los Angeles, where nothing was really happening.
I want to explain that I know nothing about capturing thunderstorms and lightning. I specialize in timelapse photography, mostly city skylines and other cityscape subjects, and have only shot one or two storms like this in the past.
The only detail I was aware of to capture a great timelapse of a thunderstorm is to reduce the amount of time between each photo as much as possible. This technique will raise the chances of capturing a lightning bolt since the “dark time” is reduced to the minimum.
After setting up my camera, composition, and settings, I decided to shoot a first timelapse with a 2.5-second shutter speed and three-second interval. This will give me only half a second of delay between each photo. Luckily for me, I did not miss a single lightning strike during the 15-minute timelapse.
The park was mostly empty because of the weather, and we were the only two around aside from a few hikers we saw in the two hours we were shooting up there.
As time passed, the storm started to get even bigger. I changed location, only 100 feet away, and tried timelapsing the downtown LA skyline, but wasn't happy with that since nothing was happening in that direction. We had to leave soon as my friend Craig had a flight to catch in a few hours, but agreed to try one more timelapse.
“Once last one,” we said.
And I am glad we did.
The storm had moved just behind the Griffith Observatory. It seemed closer and bigger than when we started, yet it was super clear right above us.
I started shooting a last timelapse aimed at the Observatory when we witnessed the biggest lightning strikes of our entire lives -- I am not exaggerating. The fact that this was happening right there, right then in a city known for its dry and hot weather all year long, was just out of this world.
Since we were over an hour after the sunset, it was really dark around us and I had to use different settings. I went with a five-second shutter speed and a six-second interval. One second between each shot is not much, and even then I did miss a few strikes. Eventually, I did capture a few that turned out to be some amazing photos of the Observatory.
Since I was shooting a timelapse, I could not look at the photos directly, but I knew I captured some unique shots. We were both super excited and could not believe it!
The timelapses in video form are actually not that exciting since the lightning bolts happen on one single frame -- It’s just too fast! But I am okay with this and am just really happy about the stills I got.
What was supposed to be a fun timelapse session with a friend turned out to be the most exciting shoots of the last 10 years. Besides the location, nothing was planned at all and we even had to change our plan a few times. Even at 3 PM, I didn’t even know if we were still going out or not since I couldn't communicate with my friend Craig.
This story was a way to remind you that sometimes, just going out at the last minute can turn out to be the best session of your life! I tend to overthink everything before going out shooting: Are the clouds moving in the right direction? Are those low, medium, or high clouds? Should I go to this spot or to that one? Where do I park? It’s always impossible to fully predict the outcome and sometimes what you expect never happens, but something better might take its place.
Of course, planning is always good and often safer, but some of my favorite timelapse videos and photos ever captured were actually not really planned. This was the case for my SpaceX Falcon 9 timelapse from October 2018, or La Tuna fire in September 2017 (and countless amazing sunsets).
What a crazy session I will not forget anytime soon!
About the author: Emeric Le Bars is a French timelapse photographer who has been based in Los Angeles for the past nine years. He has created over 700 clips of the City of Angels and more than 500 of Atlanta, San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas, Chicago, Paris, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Denver, Miami, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Montreal, Quebec. His work has been used by multiple companies including Adobe, Facebook, OPPO, Google, Netflix, LG, STARZ, Microsoft, Mastercard, Red Bull, and Nike. Today, he teaches timelapse photography through online classes in both English and French on his website.
#spotlight #travel #emericlebars #historic #landscapephotography #landscapes #lightning #lightningstorm #losangeles #nature #rare #stormphotography #storms #thunderstorm #timelapse #weatherphotography
Aster amellus
Aster amelle, ouest genevois. Plante assez rare en Suisse
European Michaelmas daisy
#myphoto #macrophotos #wilflower #rare
Bob Dylan ~ Subterranean Homesick Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH_5BxNV5HE
#musicvideo #bobdylan #dylan #subterraneanhomesickblues @alfred #rare
The Qinling panda, also known as the brown panda, is a subspecies of giant panda. As their namesake suggests, they have a light brown coloration opposed to the black fur of the nominate species. The species was not fully recognized until 2005 and there is only an estimated 200-300 left existing in the wild.
Orchis des marais (Anacamptis palustris), très rare en Suisse, considéré comme vulnérable et protégé
http://www.apercufloresuisse.info/anacamptis_palustris_11129.php
#myphoto #wildorchid #switzerland #nature #rare
Ledikant, 1646, Rembrandt
#ThisWeekInPictures: Oct. 14 - 21 by NBC News
Battle for Mosul begins, presidential candidates have a laugh at dinner, a pygmy anteater makes its debut, and more.
14 PHOTOS
1. #Iraqi #soldiers #walk on a #road as #smoke billows from the #Qayyarah #area, about 35 miles south of #Mosul, on Oct. 19, 2016, during an #operation against #ISIL to retake the main hub #city. In the biggest Iraqi #military operation in years, #forces have retaken dozens of #villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple #assaults for October 20.
YASIN AKGUL / AFP - Getty Images
2. #Commuters are #dressed in #black and #white or #dark colored #clothing mourning the #death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej during the #morning rush hour at a #station in #Bangkok on Oct. 17.
ISSEI KATO / Reuters
3. 89th Airlift Wing Vice Commander Col. Christopher M. Thompson loses his hat with the blast from #Air #Force #One, with #President Barack #Obama aboard, as it departs from #Andrews Air Force #Base, Md. on Oct. 20 en route to #Miami to encourage #people to sign up for #health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act during an upcoming enrollment period.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
4. A #street #vendor selling #paintings #drinks hot #tea while waiting for #customers on a #sidewalk in central #Lviv, #Ukraine on Oct. 20.
GLEB GARANICH / Reuters
5. #Democratic presidential #candidate Hillary #Clinton, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, #Archbishop of #NewYork, and #Republican presidential candidate Donald #Trump share a laugh during the Alfred E. Smith #Memorial #Foundation #dinner on Oct. 20 in New York.
Evan Vucci / AP
6. A #Ukrainian #serviceman #fires a 2S7 Pion self-propelled #gun during #military #exercises near the #village of #Divychky in #Kiev #region, #Ukraine on Oct. 21.
VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters
7. North #Korean #traffic #police #women chat next to a #residential #building while off duty on Oct. 18, 2016, in #Pyongyang, North #Korea.
Wong Maye-E / AP
8. A vet holds a #pygmy anteater, also known as a #silky #anteater, at the #Huachipa #Zoo, on the outskirts of #Lima, #Peru on Oct. 19. The zoo presented on Wednesday three anteater #species: #giant #bears, #tamanduas, and #pygmies, during an #event to promote their pair of silky #anteaters, who just turned 11 years old. The zoo is preparing a #breeding #program of this #rare species, that does not exceed 13 cm.
Martin Mejia / AP
9. Newly displaced #people wait to receive #food #supplies at a #processing center for displaced people In #Qayyara, south of #Mosul, #Iraq on Oct. 21.
ZOHRA BENSEMRA / Reuters
10. #Soldiers of the #Sudan #People #Liberation #Army ( #SPLA ) #celebrate while standing in #trenches in #Lelo, outside #Malakal, northern South #Sudan, on Oct. 16. Heavy #fighting #broke out on October 14 between the #government's SPLA and #opposition #forces in #Wajwok and Lalo #villages, outside Malakal. SPLA #commanders claim they succeeded to keep their positions and assure their #forces just responded "on self #defence".
ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN / AFP - Getty Images
11. #Smoke rises from a #building after #shelling in the #rebel held besieged #town of #Douma, eastern #Ghouta in #Damascus, #Syria on Oct. 19.
BASSAM KHABIEH / Reuters
12. #Migrants are seen during #rescue #operation in the #Mediterranea #Sea on Oct. 20.
Yara Nardi / Italian Red Cross via Reuters
13. #Members of an #evangelic #church attend church #damaged by #Hurricane #Matthew, in the commune of #Roche-a-Bateaux, in #LesCayes, #Haiti, on Oct. 16. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced distress at the "absolute #devastation" caused by the deadly hurricane in Haiti, and disappointment at the little #emergency #aid reaching the struggling #nation.
HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP - Getty Images
14. The #Orbital #ATK #Antares #rocket, with the #Cygnus #spacecraft onboard stands on launch Pad-0A during sunrise at #NASA's #Wallops #Flight #Facility on Oct. 16 in Wallops #Island, #Virginia. Orbital ATK's sixth contracted #cargo resupply #mission with NASA to the #ISS will deliver over 5,100 pounds of #science and #research, #crew supplies and #vehicle #hardware to the orbital #laboratory and its crew.
Bill Ingalls/NASA / NASA via Getty Images
#image #photo #picture #pictures #foto #photography #photograph
