tagged w/ preserved
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Lake Namtso, one of two holy lakes in Tibet, forms the centre of the valley floor and is surrounded by the Nyanchen Tanglha mountain range. In 1986, Robert Hefner, President of the Bradshaw Foundation, found himself standing here on top of the world (or what felt like it) a little while before he made a remarkable discovery. This is how he described it: "The deep blue Tibetan sky encompassed barren, craggy, rocky peaks, full of spectacular geological structures typical of the Tibetan plateau. Beside the road was a pile of carved religious rocks and a pole with many fluttering prayer flags. Only 300 metres below was a sapphire lake enclosed by snowy peaks: the great valley of Lake Namtso." http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/section-blog/42989-a-note-on-the-rock-art-of-lake-namtso-tibetLake Namtso, one of two holy lakes in Tibet, forms the centre of the valley floor and... more
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worrg
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10 months ago
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Japanese artist Iori Tomita transforms the scientific technique of preserving and dying organism specimens into an art form with his series, 'shinsekai [toumei hyouhon]' ('new world transparent specimens'). Tomita began experimenting with the preservation and staining of fish while working as a fisherman, gradually developing his mastery of the nuances of the process necessary for refining the form and colour of the pieces. for each specimen, tomita first removes the scales and skin of fish that have been preserved in formaldehyde. He leaves the organism to soak in a mixture of blue stain, ethyl alcohol, and glacial acetic acid before utilizing the enzyme trypsin to break down protein and muscles, stopping the reaction as soon as they become transparent but before they lose their form. The bones are then stained by soaking the fish in a combination of potassium hydroxide and red dye, before the specimen is preserved in glycerin. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/section-blog/42984-iori-tomitaJapanese artist Iori Tomita transforms the scientific technique of preserving and... more
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11 months ago
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These fairly freaky historical remains can be found lurking in dark corners of Buddhist temples and museums across Japan. Known as monster mummies, they are, in fact, the preserved remains of demons, mermaids, kappa, tengu and raijū. Or should I say things that people thought were demons, mermaids, kappa, tengu and raijū. They are not pretty, but they are really fascinating. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/bizzareweird/42940-japan-monster-mummiesThese fairly freaky historical remains can be found lurking in dark corners of... more
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worrg
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1 year ago
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Peru’s authorities have announced that they will work together with Brazil to stop loggers entering isolated Indians’ territory along the two countries’ joint border.
The move is the first success of Survival’s campaign to protect the uncontacted Indians of the Peru-Brazil border.
Global coverage of the newly-released photos made public this week has pushed the Peruvian government into action.
In a statement released February 2nd, Peru’s Foreign Ministry announced that they will ‘establish contact with Brazil’s FUNAI institute [Department of Indian Affairs]… to preserve these peoples and avoid the incursion of illegal loggers and the depredation of the Amazon.’
Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘This is a really encouraging first step, let’s hope their declared intention turns into real action quickly.’
http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/news/6956Peru’s authorities have announced that they will work together with Brazil to... more
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Just in time for Halloween, researchers have announced the discovery of a new, real-world “monster” – what they are calling a “unicorn” fly that lived about 100 million years ago and is being described as a new family, genus and species of fly never before observed.
A single, incredibly well-preserved specimen of the tiny but scary-looking fly was preserved for eternity in Burmese amber, and it had a small horn emerging from the top of its head, topped by three eyes that would have given it the ability to see predators coming. But despite that clever defense mechanism, it was apparently an evolutionary dead end that later disappeared.
“No other insect ever discovered has a horn like that, and there’s no animal at all with a horn that has eyes on top,” said George Poinar, Jr., a professor of zoology at Oregon State University who just announced the new species in Cretaceous Research, a professional journal.
“It was probably a docile little creature that fed on the pollen and nectar of tiny tropical flowers,” Poinar said. “But it was really bizarre looking. One of the reviewers of the study called it a monster, and I have to admit it had a face only another fly could have loved. I was thinking of making some masks based on it for Halloween.”
This fly lived in the jungles of Myanmar and was found trapped in amber that was from 97 to 110 million years old. The gooey, viscous tree sap that flowed down over the fly and later turned to stone preserved its features in lifelike detail, including its strange horn topped by three functional eyes.
“If we had seen nothing but the wings of this insect, it would have looked similar to some other flies in the family Bibionomorpha,” Poinar said. “But this was near the end of the Early Cretacous when a lot of strange evolutionary adaptations were going on. Its specialized horn and eyes must have given this insect an advantage on very tiny flowers, but didn’t serve as well when larger flowers evolved. So it went extinct.”
Poinar named the new fly Cascoplecia insolitis – from the Latin “cascus” for old and “insolates” for strange and unusual.
The fly also had other very unusual characteristics, the study found, such as an odd-shaped antenna, unusually long legs that would have helped it crawl over flowers and extremely small vestigial mandibles that would have limited it to nibbling on very tiny particles of food.
Pollen grains found on the legs of the fly suggest that it primarily must have fed on flowers.
This fly lived during the time of the dinosaurs, but also in a period when Triassic and Jurassic species were becoming extinct, modern groups were appearing and angiosperms, or flowering plants, were diversifying. Some of the characteristics of the fly were common to other families found around that time, but others were extremely different – especially the horn with eyes on top.
The specimen found in amber was well-preserved, lacking only the rear left portion of the abdomen and a portion of the left hind leg. It’s rare to find specimens with essentially a complete body as well as wings, scientists noted in the report. The fossil came from an amber mine in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, first excavated in 2001.
Read full article for more pictures and details.Just in time for Halloween, researchers have announced the discovery of a new,... more
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Dolly the ewe, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell at Royal museum Scotland
Dolly the ewe, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell at Royal... more
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