Link of the day- Seasnakes of England...

Hi. Welcome to weirdbeautiful.
First link of the day today is this odd story in the British tabloid newspaper "The Sun" of a body-boarder who claims he was bitten by a tropical sea snake off the coast of Cornwall (England)-

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3067153/Tourist-believes-he-was-bitten-by-a-tropical-sea-snake-off-the-coast-of-Cornwall.html

Quite a few snakes have venoms that cause their victims to bleed from their mouths in the aftermath of being bitten. Similarly, the bite site oozing fluid and blood is characteristic of a lot of snake bites, including that of the adder (Vipera berus)(something -the badly swollen, oozing wounding- I got to witness at first hand, when my dog was bitten by a snake a few years ago).

The Sun is also hosting this impressive gallery-

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3067121/Amazing-wildlife-pictures-from-photographer-Scott-Linstead.html

- of wildlife images by Canadian teacher-turned photographer Scott Linstead.

Insect photographs

Hi. Welcome (back) to Weirdbeautiful. Thanks for stopping-by. The weirdlybeautiful creature above is a grasshopper species that I am currently "culturing" on my windowsill. Grasshoppers are famously noisy creatures, but this particular species seems to be almost totally silent- so far, at least.

Over the past few weeks, I have been heavily involved in both entomological and botanical and wildlife photography projects- the pictures below are what happens when photography and entomology collide...











All images in this post (c) Victoria Neblik, 2010. All rights reserved.

Quote of the week- James Anthony Froude- science rests on reason..belief is always sensitive

"Science rests on reason and experiment, and can meet an opponent with calmness; but a belief is always sensitive."
- James Anthony Froude (English historian and writer, 1818-1894)

Iridescent Bees, Wasps, Ants and Sawflies...

Hi. Welcome (back) to Weirdbeautiful.
This is just a short personal post- I am happy to announce the publication of my book with Prof. Jean-Pol Vigneron (of The University of Namur), "Iridescent Bees Wasps Ants and Sawflies: structural colouration in the Hymenoptera".

This scientific book was the result of a 6-month preliminary-study (plus the time it took to write up)of colouration in bees, wasps, ants, sawflies and various of their relatives- ichneumon flies, for example. It was really to fill a gap in the scientific literature. The abstract will shortly be available on my website; a full-length preview is online at the printers's website [here], where copies are onsale.

Link of the day- odd trees and the wonders of faecal transplantation

Hi Welcome to Weirdbeautiful

Weird-link of the day today is this great article on the potential of faeces to heal... and the wonders of faecal transplantation-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13micro.html?src=me&ref=general

This is not really a new breakthrough, in the sense that the idea has been around for a little while (and previously reported elsewhere), but it is still an interesting story and - perhaps a timely reminder of the often overlooked power of bacteria.

The Beautiful link of the day is this gallery or photoessay on the world's strangest trees, by the search engine Bing-
http://www.bing.com/featured/content/search?q=Fantastic+Trees%3a+Baobab+%28Adansonia%29&FORM=RQHOME
starting with Baobabs and Rainbow Eucalyptus, the features has Sequioas, Jackfruits, Joshua trees, Wolemi Pines and a whole load of other strange trees- not least the magnificent "Dragon Blood Tree"...

Quote of the week- Dmitri Mendeleev, pleasures and work

"Pleasures flit by - they are only for yourself; work leaves a mark of long-lasting joy, work is for others."
- Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907)


(image by Victoria Neblik.)

Links of the day- naturally multicoloured river and child psychology

Hi. Welcome to Weirdbeautiful

First link of the day today is this amazing set of photographs of a multi-coloured river in Colombia- the colours come from the mosses and algae growing on the river-bed and give it the local name "River of 5 colours":
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1unTKr/www.funzug.com/index.php/nature/most-colorful-river-in-the-world.html

(thanks to Stumbleupon.com for the link)

The second link is to this slightly more philosophical article by Pschiatry Professor, Dr Richard A. Friedman about the influence of nature and nurture in child personality development. In essence, what happens when good parents produce "bad" children-
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/health/13mind.html?src=me&ref=general
I have no idea why, but The International Herald Tribune seems to be a real well of good scientific articles and this one is no exception.

The final link for today is this stunning set of images from the Carl Zeiss photography competition in The Telegraph newspaper
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/7887634/The-Carl-Zeiss-Photography-Competition-at-Cambridge-Universitys-Department-of-Engineering.html