Limestone head of a bearded male wearing a conical helmet, Greek and Roman Art
Period:Archaic
Date:6th–5th century B.C.
Culture:Cypriot
Apothecary jar (orciuolo) by Giunta di Tugio, Robert Lehman Collection
Artist:perhaps workshop of Giunta di Tugio (Italian (Florence), active ca. 1430–1466)
Date:probably 1431
Imagine dipping a rod into a liquid mixture filled with particles. When you pull the rod out, do particles stick to it? The answer depends on the relative importance of two sets of forces: the viscous drag as you lift the rod and adhesive power of surface tension. Scientists express this as a dimensionless ratio known as the capillary number.
When the capillary number is small, viscous drag dominates, and any particles that try to stick to the rod get pulled away (upper left). But as you increase the capillary number, surface tension helps particles clump together and stick to the rod (lower left and right). If the surface tension forces are strong enough – meaning that the capillary number is high – you can actually get multiple layers of particles adhering to the dipped surface. (Image and research credit: E. Dressaire et al.)
happy Friday everybody, it’s time for another installment of Weird Biology! and today, you’re going to learn about a goddamn dinosaur.
(yes, I know all birds are technically dinosaurs, but this one is… dinosaurier? dinosaurien? DINOSAURIEST than the rest)
*raptor screech*
the Hoatzin is the only member of the family Opisthocomidae, an ancient line of birds that branched off from the rest some 64 million years ago. this would have been just shortly after the event that murdered the shit out of all non-avian dinosaurs. to death.
Hoatzins are the very last survivors of this ancient line. (I wanted to make a joke here, but that’s actually really fucking tragic)
shit I made myself sad, MORE JOKES
Hoatzins are common pheasant-sized birds that live in the riverside forests of South America, where they survive on a diet of *drumroll* leaves. yum.
seriously, they are one of exactly two known bird species to specialize in leaf-eating, having evolved past their shame trait some 30 million years ago. (the other one is the Kakapo, who mostly just seems confused)
Kakawho?
their love of delicious delicious leaves gives them a very… distinctive odor, shall we say. this is due to their fermentative digestive process. it has earned the Hoatzin the local name ‘Stinkybird”, which for any Hoatzins reading this, is really more of an affectionate nickname. honest.
but what truly sets Hoatzins apart, and proves their saurian nature, is this.
HOLY SHIT A DINOSAUR
the hatchlings have fucking claws on their wings. remind you of anything? like maybe, oh I dunno, this guy?
HOLY SHIT A BIRD
Archaeopteryx up there bears a striking resemblance to our Hoatzin friend, which did not go unnoticed by the scientific community (who was actually paying attention this time, they swear). in fact, this uncanny resemblance helped finalize the theoretical link between dinosaurs and birds, which we now know are the same fucking thing. (more or less)
but anyway, the baby Hoatzins use those scientifically-groundbreaking claws to scramble around in trees and avoid predators. also apparently the claws just kind of… fall off?.. when the bird becomes an adult. like, imagine if your fingers all fell off at puberty, how weird would that be? jesus.
(Hoatzins definitely aren’t the only birds with wing claws, but DON’T TELL THEM THAT. they like to feel special.)
thankfully, it looks like these evolutionary weirdos will be with us for some time to come, as Hoatzins continue to be plentiful in their range. we hope they and those weird dinosaur claws stick around for a long, long time.
Good dinosaurs. 10/10
Astronomers using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered the brightest quasar ever seen in the early Universe — the light received from the object started its journey when the Universe was only about a billion years old.
Quasars are the extremely bright nuclei of active galaxies. The powerful glow of a quasar is created by a supermassive black hole which is surrounded by an accretion disc. Gas falling toward the black hole releases incredible amounts of energy, which can be observed over all wavelengths.
The newly discovered quasar, catalogued as J043947.08+163415.7, is no exception to this; its brightness is equivalent to about 600 trillion Suns and the supermassive black hole powering it is several hundred million times as massive as our Sun.
Despite its brightness Hubble was able to spot it only because its appearance was strongly affected by strong gravitational lensing. A dim galaxy is located right between the quasar and Earth, bending the light from the quasar and making it appear three times as large and 50 times as bright as it would be without the effect of gravitational lensing. Even still, the lens and the lensed quasar are extremely compact and unresolved in images from optical ground-based telescopes. Only Hubble’s sharp vision allowed it to resolve the system.
The data show not only that the supermassive black hole is accreting matter at an extremely high rate but also that the quasar may be producing up to 10 000 stars per year. read more
When I was learning about the wonders of the universe in my first college astronomy class quasars were a total mystery defying all known laws of physics. At some point it was realized what we were seeing but the mechanism involved in focusing such beams is only partially understood. The fact is, we don’t have a complete understanding of any of the known forces in nature.
This article got me thinking. NASA’s MMS ( Magnetospheric Multiscale) mission is currently investigating a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. I suspect we might find this process is a major contributing factor to the power generated.
JN, Ph7.5
The Carina Nebula - Star Birth in the Extreme.
Credit: NASA, ESA, N Smith, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
![the-telescope-times:
“ cosmicdustpw:
“ How would feel if you were this far from Earth ? Picture : NASA [1080x1235] by fromspacewlove
“★☆★ SPACE ★☆★” ”
Alone.
”](https://66.media.tumblr.com/66b6fd512800aef9eaf776ca9a5468ff/tumblr_pkijbqlTL11wf4hhqo1_1280.jpg)
How would feel if you were this far from Earth ? Picture : NASA [1080x1235] by fromspacewlove
★☆★ SPACE ★☆★
Alone.
lionofchaeronea
Notes:
“the beast of Lerna”: the Hydra. “The shape of triple-bodied shadow”: Geryon, a three-bodied monster whom Hercules killed while stealing his cattle.
In the midst a shady elm extends
Its branches, ancient limbs – an elm immense,
Which (the story goes) vain dreams maintain
As their seat – they cling to the underside
Of every leaf. And many monstrous forms
Of varied beasts, beside, have made their lairs
In the doorway: Centaurs, hybrid Scyllas,
Briareus with his hundred hands, the beast
Of Lerna – hissing dreadfully – Chimera
Armed with flames, the Gorgons, and the Harpies;
The shape of triple-bodied shadow, too.
Here Aeneas, struck by sudden fear,
Drew his sword, held out the naked blade
Against all comers; had his sage companion
Not told him they were wispy, bodiless souls
That flitted about in hollow mock of form,
He’d rush amidst them, with his sword he’d try
To beat a path between the shades – in vain.
in medio ramos annosaque bracchia pandit
ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia vulgo
vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus
haerent.
multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum,
Centauri in foribus stabulant Scyllaeque biformes
et centumgeminus Briareus ac belua Lernae
horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera,
Gorgones Harpyiaeque et forma tricorporis umbrae.
corripit hic subita trepidus formidine ferrum
Aeneas strictamque aciem venientibus offert,
et ni docta comes tenuis sine corpore vitas
admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae,
inruat et frustra ferro diverberet umbras.
Aeneas on the Bank of the River Styx, Pietro Testa (1611-1650)
