Wednesday 7 May 2014

Red Rain in Kerala


On July 21, 2001, there was a meteor airburst event near Changanacherry in the Kottayam district. Many people recall the loud sonic boom during early morning of that day. Just a few hours later, rain the color of blood began to fall. For two months, red rain fell sporadically around the state of Kerala in southern India. Scientists first attributed the strange crimson rain to particles swept from the desert or other dust-like material that was carried off by winds and then was dispersed during precipitation.


Monday 5 May 2014

Electric fish

Two New Electric Fish Species Discovered!!!

Petrocephalus are African weakly fishes of the family Mormyridae that produce pulses of only a few hundred millivolts from an organ made of modified muscle cells in front of their tail.

Receptor cells on the fishes’ skin detect distortions to the electric field created by nearby objects in the water. In this way, they are able to electrolocate through their complex aquatic environment at night. Their short electric pulses, too weak to be sensed by touch, are also used to communicate the sender’s species identity and gender to other electric fishes.
On a 2010 field trip to the Congo River of Democratic Republic of the Congo, ichthyologists Dr Sébastien Lavoué from the Taiwan Institute of Oceanography and Dr John Sullivan from Cornell University captured a single individual of the genus Petrocephalus not quite like any they had seen before.

Keeping Milk Fresh — With Frogs

Before modern refrigeration, people dLong before modern refrigeration, people in Russia and Finland reportedly placed living Russian brown frogs in milk to keep it fresh.
It turns out the curious practice has a basis in science: Recent research on the amphibians’ skin secretions led by Moscow State University organic chemist A.T. Lebedev shows they’re loaded with peptides, antimicrobial compounds as potent against Salmonella and Staphylococcus bacteria as prescription antibiotics. To your health! ropped frogs in their milk to preserve it. 

Saturday 3 May 2014

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Rainbow River, The River of Five Colors


A unique biological wonder, Caño Cristales has been referred as the "river of five colors," "the river that ran away from paradise" "the Liquid Rainbow,” and "the world's most beautiful river."
Caño Cristales is a Colombian river located in the Serrania de la Macarena, province of Meta. It’s the algae that produce colors like red, armadillo, yellow, green and blue at the bottom of the river giving it a unique appearance.

Rare Algae bloom turns water near Sydney’s Bondi Beach blood red

The natural phenomenon is caused when algae, a plant-like organism flourishes and large groups of the miniscule plants, which can appear in various colours, gather together often with spectacular results


Sunday 30 March 2014

The Blue Tunnel, Antarctica



5 m high 150 m long ice tunnel formed by melt water and pressure ridges on the ice shelf near the Schirmacher Oasis. The Schirmacher Oasis (also Schirmacher Lake Plateau) is a 25 km long and up to 3 km wide ice-free plateau with more than 100 fresh water lakes. It is situated in the Schirmacher Hills on the Princess Astrid Coast in Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica, and is on average 100 metres above sea level. With an area of 34 km², the Schirmacher Oasis ranks among the smallest Antarctic oases and is a typical polar desert