Category: Science

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Nature Science

Iceland’s dark and tall scree Vestrahorn mountains

Vestrahorn mountain

The ever-so-beautiful Vestrahorn mountain in southeast Iceland is a sight to behold.

Nicknamed “Batman Mountain” for its dark and ominous appearance – it looks like the iconic Bat-signal from afar — the 1,490-foot tall scree mountain looks down at the flat black sand of Stokksnes Beach below.

Vestrahorn is composed of gabbro and granophyre rocks, which help give it the appearance of sharp spikes resembling bull horns.

The mountain is located on private property. So to access the photogenic landscape of the beach, you’ll need to make a small payment first.

The experience is worth every penny—especially if you get to see Vestrahorn mountain on a clear night under the Northern Lights.

Vestrahorn mountain
Vestrahorn mountain
Vestrahorn mountain
Vestrahorn mountain
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Nature Science Travel

Natural erosion takes down famed Darwin’s Arch in the Galapagos Islands

Darwin's Arch

The top of Darwin’s Arch, a rock formation located in the Galápagos Islands, collapsed into the sea from erosion.

The Ecuadorean Environment Ministry reported the destruction of the unique 141 foot high, 230-foot long rock on May 17.

“The collapse of Darwin’s Arch, the attractive natural bridge found less than a kilometer from the main area of Darwin Island, was reported,” said the ministry.

A tour group traveling with tour company Aggressor Adventures witnessed the collapse right in front of their eyes.

The natural stone bridge was named after the English biologist Charles Darwin who visited the Galápagos Islands in 1835. Among the smallest of the 19 islands in the Galápagos Archipelago, Darwin’s island is located 621 miles from the coast of Ecuador.

The island hosts a rich array of plants and wildlife, many of them endemic, including some of the largest shark communities in the world.

The rich diversity of wildlife in the surrounding areas (re: Darwin’s finches) became the cornerstone of Darwin’s theory on evolution.

Take a look back at the world-famous Darwin’s Arch before the collapse took place.

Darwin's Arch
Darwin's Arch
Darwin's Arch
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Architecture & Design Science Technology

Watch styrofoam dancing to sound waves in a Kundt’s tube

Watch styrofoam dancing to sound waves

Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care.

What looks like a dubstep rave of little ghost people is actually styrofoam dancing to sound waves in a massive plexiglass pipe known as a Kundt’s tube.

In 1866 German physicist August Kundt constructed the experimental acoustical apparatus to measure the speed of sound in a gas or a solid rod. Said Kundt, “A physicist must be able to saw with a file and to file with a saw.”

The faux mosh pit is the result of a process called “sound looking” which demonstrates what audible vibrations or acoustical forces may actually look like.

No one can doubt that life moves to fascinating rhythms & vibrations.

Watch the entire video below.

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Nature Science Travel

How Australia’s Lake Hillier gets its pink color

lake hillier pink lake australia

Lake Hillier in the Recherche Archipelago of Western Australia off the coast of Cape Arid National Park is known for its pink color.

Scientists postulate that the lake’s solid bubblegum pink color results from the intermixing of Halobacteria and a salt-tolerant algae species called Dunaliella Salina.

How Australia's Lake Hillier gets its pink color

Halobacteria produce red pigments mixed with salt-tolerant Dunaliella Salina, creating a stunning strawberry milkshake color.

The chemical reactions between the salt and the microorganisms make the lake ten times saltier than the ocean nearby.

There are 29 other pink lakes in the world. But unlike other pink lakes that morph into different colors, Lake Hillier retains its pink hue all year round. It’s also safe to swim in.

How Australia's Lake Hillier gets its pink color
How Australia's Lake Hillier gets its pink color

The contrast between the bright pink and dark blue ocean water is also striking when viewed above. Learn more about Australia’s pink lake below.

How Australia's Lake Hillier gets its pink color
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Nature Science Travel

The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona

The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona

The Wave is a sandstone rock located in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument on the Arizona and Utah borders.

The swirling formation combines water and wind eroded sandstone dunes calcified vertically and horizontally and fossilized over 190 million years.

Only 20 people are permitted to visit the natural wonder daily, which can only be reached by foot.

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Culture & Society Science Travel

Two ash-covered bodies from Vesuvius eruption uncovered at Pompeii

two ash covered bodies from vesuvius eruption uncovered at pompeii

Archaeologists uncovered the body of a wealthy 40-year old man and his young slave in Pompeii, 2,000 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 

Excavations at the suburban villa Civita Giuliana, a suburb outside Pompeii, discovered the bodies covered in a bed of 6.5-foot ash.  

Researchers believe that the two men survived the initial eruption from Mount Vesuvius, only to succumb to a massive and more destructive cloud of scorching ash while seeking shelter in a cryptoporticus. 

The skeletal remains follow last year’s discovery of another Ancient Roman man crushed by a flying rock during Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 A.D. 

Photo: Luigi Spina/Parco Archeologico, via AP
Photo: Luigi Spina/Parco Archeologico, via AP
Photo: Luigi Spina/Parco Archeologico, via AP
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Health Science

There are different types of tears

there are different types of tears

Did you know that we shed different types of tears based on our emotions?

Each tear type is composed of unique chemicals — mainly salt, water, and lysozyme — that give them their variable structure.

There are different types of tears

Emotional tears contain a natural painkiller

According to scientist Claire Phillips, tears of grief contain the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin which helps relieve the body in times of stress. In such a way, our tear ducts can act as a natural painkiller.

There’s a biological and evolutionary reason we feel better shedding tears after experiencing a traumatic event.

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Architecture & Design Nature Science Travel

Photographer captures rare Devil Horns solar eclipse over the Persian Gulf

Photographer captures rare Devil Horns solar eclipse over the Persian Gulf
All Photos: Facebook/elias.chasiotis

On December 26, 2019, amateur photographer Elias Chasiotis captured an incredible ‘red devil horns’ sunrise over the Persian Gulf during a rare solar eclipse. 

The Athens-based photographer was vacationing in the coastal city of Al Wakrah in Qatar just before the new year when he snapped the rare spectacle of the moon blocking the sun. The sun appears to rise in two pieces amid the cloudiness. 

“Astronomy has attracted me since I was a kid,” Chasiotis said in an interview with Bored Panda. “I’ve been an amateur astrophotographer for the last 15 years as well. I took these photos in the coastal city of Al Wakrah, Qatar, on the morning of December 26, 2019, when an annular eclipse was in progress.”

“I was worried that nothing would come out of the eclipse. However, when the sun finally began to rise, it looked like two separate pieces, some sort of red horns piercing the sea. It soon took the form of a crescent, with the so-called ‘Etruscan vase’ inferior mirage effect visible. Due to its shape, the phenomenon was nicknamed the ‘evil sunrise.’”

Interestingly, images of the red crescent sunrise emerged a few days before the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Make of that what you will.

See more of Chasiotis’s photos on Facebook.

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Nature Science

UFO, lampshade? An amazing lenticular cloud hovers over Japan’s Mount Fuji

UFO, lampshade? Look at this lenticular cloud hovering over Japan’s Mount Fuji
Photo: Twitter/earth

They look like flying saucers or marshmallows.

These UFO-looking lens-shaped clouds called lenticular clouds often develop near the peaks of mountains, as in the case of Mount Fuji in Japan.

Lenticular clouds form when strong winds force air up and over a topographic barrier such as a mountain. Once the rising air hits the obstructive peak, an “eddie”, and then mixes with the upper-wind, the air deflects the mountain wind downward to create the lampshade looking clouds.

Here’s a collection of lenticular clouds forming in different settings — over buildings, volcanoes, and grassy fields. You love to see it!

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Nature Science

The Dragon’s Eye Stone Mine in the UK

The Dragon’s Eye Stone Mine in the UK
Photo: YouTube/Underground Explorers C9C

What looks like a scene out of Indiana Jones or a J.R.R. Tolkien novel, the Dragon’s eye stone mine was discovered at the Hall of Giants stone mine in Lancashire UK.

The underground adventurers who discovered the mine in Northern England took the picture using a fisheye lens — the surface is actually flat rather than curved.

The dragon’s eye formed as a result of a collapsed mine roof that exposed different color sediments.

We can’t be the only ones just waiting for the stone to blink.

Photo: Twitter/@evrthangel
The Dragon’s Eye Stone Mine in the UK
Photo: YouTube/Underground Explorers C9C