I still haven’t heard any good news about the Bees and their Colony Collapse Disorder.
So we still face a serious Bee problem here. If the numbers keep dropping like in recent years we lack enough buzzers to pollinate OUR crops and therefore keep our food production running.
We still don’t understand the CCD - and we are far from a "cure". And even if we find the reason for their disorder - it’s still not sure if we can "heal" our little friends. Vaccination is complicated to say the least …
National Geographic offers a brilliant image gallery with many amazing shots. You can even download those images as wallpapers.
Highly recommended.
Anyone remember the devastating fires in Greece last year?
This year it’s once again California’s turn to suffer fires and huge areas of nature destroyed. Yes, Mother nature uses fires to clear out forests - so big fires are not unusual. But climate change and human intervention have changed the equation.
We hardly can afford to loose huge amounts of trees - we need every tree to get rid of CO2.
New Scientist: The world’s most successful bug hits dolphins
How does a parasite found in kitty litter get into whales and dolphins? By hitching a ride down the sewage pipe and into anchovy guts, say researchers.
Gloeta Massie and Michael Black of California Polytechnic State University say this could explain why one of the most prevalent parasites in humans is now popping up in marine mammals. They presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Microbiology Society on Monday.
"Toxoplasma gondii is the most successful protozoan pathogen on the planet," says Michael Grigg of the US National Institutes of Health. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that nearly one in four people aged 12 or older in the US have been infected with the parasite.
This is another great example how little we often about the consequences about our actions. Nature is a complex system and even small & stupid acts can have serious consequences.
A lot of science is "wasted" by finding out these often destructive connections and their consequences.
They will survive us all!
New Scientist: Jesus-era seed is the oldest to germinate
Forget cryopreservation – hot and dry conditions might be all you need to awake far into the future. A date palm seed some 2000 years old – preserved by nothing more than storage in hot and dry conditions – has germinated, making it the oldest seed in the world to do so.
The ancient seed was found along with several others in the 1960s in the Masada fortress on the edge of the Dead Sea in Israel. Recently, three were planted in soil and one germinated.
Wow! Nature is pretty inventive and tough. This shows us that we humans might be able to kill ourselves and damage nature. But in the long run nature will survive and regenerate itself.
We humans have always loved to associate ourselves with animals: strong as a bear, cunning as a fox and being a chicken.
Now a stallion and the white horse are in particular interesting: strength, grace, white (as in innocent), potency, speed, freedom, independence, power (as leader of his herd) and war (because horses were only for rich people and knights need a horse).
So … no surprise "chicks" love riding horses.
BBC News: Vast cracks appear in Arctic ice
It’s melting and melting and melting. I wonder when we start to RALLY do something about climate change? When New Orleans is an underwater museum or Venice a diver’s Disney Land?
Interesting video - didn’t know that Sir Attenborough also did porn voice overs. Overall I am happy that my penis isn’t located behind my head - although sometimes it feels like my head is located in my penis. And another note: you can show almost any animal fucking on national TV - except homo sapiens … why is that?
*Thanks to Olivia for that scientific video*
We humans are so often amazed by natures inventions - but we often fail to see that many creatures and plants are just transitions from one “model” to the next.
Only a few of natures experiments have been around for a long time and proven themselves worthy to continuing: the shark is one of the oldest “models”, so are the bees and crocodiles.
We humans are pretty new and I am not sure if we make it for several million years like the sharks have …
Tree Kangaroos are pretty amazing and cuddly. I really envy the countries down under for all their strange and rare animals. 
Forests need small fires to ‘clean’ themselves - but since most of our Forests no longer are in a natural condition fires sometimes get totally out of hand. Climate change and extreme weather increases the disastrous effects even further.
Another problem is that we humans have intervened before the fires in a bad way and do so after the big barbecue. Instead of supporting nature to rebuild itself - we use the new ‘free space’ for property development or farming.
Not good.
Click image for an even bigger bang.
BBC - on this Day: Now that was a big bang and all the dust contributes to global warming today. It’s not only we humans that pollute the atmosphere, but also events like this - although volcanic eruptions are pretty rare and lame compared to some earlier earth periods.
More? Wikipedia entry and don’t miss the 1980’s section with some great images! Then you can ‘feel’ how massive that explosion was.
Fish and Beef are a luxury. It takes big amounts of primary food sources like wheat to produce the same amount of calories in meat.
So instead of eating such luxuries items every day, we should change our habit and ignore the 99¢ burgers with fries and diet coke - and get some apples or pasta instead.
I am not a 100% sure but I think this is evening in Europe. Since the planet rotates counter clockwise this should be the transit into darkness.
Documentary / Channel 4 / 55+ minutes
It’s always good to check from time to time who you are and who we are. Some nice insights about humans, apes, brains and our heritage in this documentary.
Click image for a bigger stone.
If you click the image and feel small by what you see - you are correct. Compared to nature’s awesome monuments we are small and short lived. That’s why our admiration should be huge and timeless.
Climate Change, reduced consumerism, no more cheap flights to your favorite party location, less cheap petrol, more expensive food, responsible consumerism, less convenience food, less lead and cheap toys, more reusing things - less shopping for new stuff …
Sure all that complicated and a serious effort for humans.
But how would you explain to those two chaps why we fucked up the whole planet. Most animals will simply be destroyed by more and extreme climate change. Sure nature will survive and produce some new amazing species after we have killed ourselves and the rest of the inhabitants of planet earth.
We need change - but not at a snails pace and with much more brains. Aren’t we always saying we are the smartest life form on earth? Time to prove it.
Cute baby Knut.
Very Knute.
Super cute Knute.
Not so cute Knute anymore.
So - now Kute is one year old and no longer so small and harmless. The media is hardly interested in him anymore and so are the kids.
Modern Media Cuteness doesn’t like the natural way: polar bears get bigger and more dangerous. So all the Knute merchandise will show him as a baby forever, even when he is an old fart and maybe has eaten his care taker …
Not all animals are created equal, especially not in terms of intelligence. Nobody would consider Cows, Chicken or Snakes as especially smart.
Very different to Elephants, Squid, Chimps and most of all Dolphins. Recent stunning experiments with Dolphins have revealed that they ‘understand’ basic concepts of language and can answer questions with the capability of small kids.
In nature the fight for food and survival is a tough one. That is why huge amounts of easy to get food are so devastating to us humans. We were made to survive on little food, trying to burn as few calories searching for more. How many calories have you burned to hunt your last steak? How much physical work is left in our life’s?
Humanity isn’t built for office work, fast food and extreme couching.
Madame Modotti had a keen eye for beauty. Her gentle photos of people and flowers always touch my heart …
An interesting scientific article about the development of breasts. No easy reading, but excellent of you want to learn more about evolutionary biology.
Ragnar has a sharp eye for amazing moments! Visit his fascinating gallery for a shot trip to some harsher places and of our globe like the Faeroe Island or Siberia. Wow!
Click any image to get an impressive view on Saturn.
I already envy future generations, who can jump into their spaceships and take a weekend trip around our solar system. Boy, I would love to fly by Saturn or Jupiter. That must be most amazing.
Click image to zoom into Africa (warning this image is big).
It is scary that has less and less green spots. The Sahara is growing every year and the water is a scarce resource even in ‘green’ areas.
Africa is like South America one of our last remaining green lungs. We have to be careful or it turns into another barren land like most of Australia.