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Heavy Bombardment of the Moon This NASA video is called the “Evolution of the Moon”, but we think that “heavy, brutal, merciless bombardment” will be better way to describe the epic cataclysmic events that shaped our Moon in the distant past. Today’s pictures & links: The Edge of the World Beachy Head cliff, South Coast of England: great place to launch and moor airships -
———— This is the leg of a spider This is why spiders move so easily along the web, never stick to it, fall off, slip or falter. Due to multitude of non-stick bristles, and a special coating, spiders actually “tip-toe” on the string in a delicate dance! – see the video of the leg in motion here.
See more microscope photography by Susumi Nishinaga here. Here is the no-less-wonderful photograph from a human digestive system, namely the external wall of small intestine, with blood vessels looking like tangled tree trucks in the jungle: ” The walls of the small intestine are lined with millions of projections called villi, which absorb and transmit nutrients into the bloodstream.” -
———— Chapel Set High on a Cliff, Closer to the Clouds This ancient chapel is set high on a natural formation, a seventy meter tall Katskhi Pillar in Georgia, Imereti region. The original structure was built in 1200 AD on top of the column for protection against attacks by the Ottoman Empire, and is now being restored by local priest Father Maxim with the villagers’ help.
“Upon completion Fr. Maxim hopes to take up residence on top of Katskhi as a Stylite monk”.
———— Mixed fresh links for today: Reverse Concept of Time Discovered in Language – [fascinating] ———— Super-incredible architecture …turns out to be not real, after all. These surreal structures are the work of the Belgian artist-photographer Filip Dujardin – see more here
More strange and imaginary structures (note, these do not exist in Russia, Eastern Europe, or anywhere!), by the Spanish photographer Victor Enrich:
———— Jungle Yachts! We wrote about this streamlined Art Deco RV concoction before, but now (thanks to our knowledgeable readers) we have more info and images:
There were called Jungle Yachts and featured quite a luxurious interior (here are a few images of the trailer’s interior – 1, 2, 3) “Ever heard of Attilio Gatti and his “jungle yachts?” Picture a couple of streamlined semi-trailers, set up as luxury living quarters, cruising African Congo in 1938 to 1940″. The expedition was sponsored by International Harvester. ———— Jupiter and Venus were… …”just a cat’s ears apart” this week! You can observe them very close to each other in the evening, till March 17 – Venus is the brighter one (more info)
At the other end of the sky, Mars is also very bright and red, silently watching the pair’s dance around each other. Also, recent Solar activity produced great Northern (or Southern) lights: here is a view from the orbit:
———— The following is a short round-up of the best from our Facebook stream (which update every day with unique material, not available on DRB otherwise): Monstrous vehicles: really weird food truck – more info:
A little dog from a nightmare: well, hello grandma! -
Looking good! -
Creative Rust! -
The mysterious Mona Lisa’s…. cat:
INSIDE a musical instrument -
Construction of Hoover Dam, 1933-1935 – more info:
Golden Brushtail Possum! – more info:
Eric Johnson from Garden Drama came up with this great idea: find some marbles, stick them in your fence and enjoy the radiant art! –
Wonderful space adventure scene by Al Williamson, cover for Overstreet Comic Book Quarterly #4, 1994:
———— “Insects”, by Sang Won Sung See more here
———— Wires… Dust… Great mess… Here is the wallpaper version
———— Dieselpunk, or Art Deco, you decide. Electron Microscope from 1945
———— Trilobites had full 360-degrees vision!
As you all know, trilobites lived around 500 – 300 million years ago in Triassic period (the largest growing to the size of an umbrella). However, one fact about trilobites is even more amazing than their longevity – they roamed the oceans for all 270 million years!. The Trilobite eye is truly amazing instrument: it’s the oldest eye we have on record, and also a very successful one – it gave trilobites a huge evolutionary edge compared to other species. The most advanced species possessed compound eyes capable of 360-degree vision; what’s more, their eyes were made of solid crystal! – more info. “The trilobite eye is composed of solid calcite crystals pack together.”
Even more interesting is this peculiar columnar eye (complete with an eyeshade), discovered on one of the rare varieties of trilobite: “In September 2003 Fortey and Chatterton reported on a remarkable trilobite: Erbenochile erbeni, a Moroccan acastoid with an extremely well-developed schizochroal eye borne on tall, columnar palpebral lobes, rimmed with an eyeshade.”
“Trilobite scientists now conclude that trilobites “possessed the most sophisticated eye lenses ever produced,” and their vision may actually have “been superior to current living animals”… If you think that nothing resembling trilobites survives today, think again – Notostraca family are true living fossils, changed little since the Jurassic period (approximately 180 million years ago)! Here is a specimen found in Chelyabinsk, Siberia, of the Triops kind:
And then there are horseshoe crabs… Seems like “Trilobite doppelgangers” are all around us:
———— Some funnies and smarties found on the internets last couple of days (originals unknown):
and this one (some language) ———— Yay!
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