Japanese spider crab

 

The Japanese spider crab has the greatest leg span of any arthropod, reaching 3.8 metres (12 ft) from claw to claw. The body may grow to a size of 40 cm or 16 in (carapace width) and the whole crab can weigh up to 41 pounds (19 kg).The males have the longer chelipeds; females have much shorter chelipeds, which are shorter than the following pair of legs.Apart from its outstanding size, the Japanese spider crab differs from other crabs in a number of ways. The first pleopods of males are unusually twisted, and its larvae appear primitive. The crab is orange, with white spots along the legs. It is reported to have a gentle disposition "in spite of its ferocious appearance".

Japanese spider crabs are mostly found off the southern coasts of the Japanese island of Honshū, from Tokyo Bay to Kagoshima Prefecture. Outlying populations have been found in Iwate Prefecture and off Su-ao in Taiwan. Adults can be found at depths of up to 600 m (2,000 ft), or as shallow as 50 m (160 ft). They like to inhabit vents and holes in the deeper parts of the ocean.

 

Shedding New Light On the Brightest Objects in the Universe

Shedding New Light On the Brightest Objects in the Universe

July 24, 2013 — Quasars are among the brightest, oldest, most distant, and most powerful objects in the universe. Powered by massive black holes at the center of most known galaxies, quasars can emit enormous amounts of energy, up to a thousand times the total output of the hundreds of billions of stars in our entire Milky Way.
Dartmouth astrophysicists Ryan Hickox and Kevin Hainline and colleagues have a paper scheduled for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, detailing discoveries based upon observations of 10 quasars. They documented the immense power of quasar radiation, which reaches out for many thousands of light years to the limits of the quasar's galaxy. 
"For the first time, we are able to see the actual extent to which these quasars and their black holes can affect their galaxies, and we see that it is limited only by the amount of gas in the galaxy," says Hainline, a Dartmouth postdoctoral research associate. "The radiation excites gas all the way to the margins of the galaxy and stops only when it runs out of gas."
The radiation released by a quasar covers the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves and microwaves at the low-frequency end through infrared, ultraviolet, and X-rays, to high-frequency gamma rays. A central black hole, also called an active galactic nucleus, may grow by swallowing material from the surrounding interstellar gas, releasing energy in the process. This leads to the creation of a quasar, emitting radiation that illuminates the gas present throughout the galaxy.
"If you take this powerful, bright radiation source in the center of the galaxy and blast the gas with its radiation, it will get excited in just the same way the neon gets excited in neon lamps, producing light," says Hickox, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth. "The gas will produce very specific frequencies of light that only a quasar can produce. This light functioned as a tracer that we were able to use to follow the gas excited by the black hole out to large distances."
Quasars are small compared to a galaxy, like a grain of sand on a beach, but the power of their radiation can extend to the galactic boundaries and beyond.
The illumination of gas can have a profound effect, since gas that is lit up and heated by the quasar is less able to collapse under its own gravity and form new stars. Thus, the tiny central black hole and its quasar can slow down star formation in the entire galaxy and influence how the galaxy grows and changes over time.
"This is exciting because we know from a number of different independent arguments that these quasars have a profound effect on the galaxies in which they live," Hickox says. "There is a lot of controversy about how they actually influence the galaxy, but now we have one aspect of the interaction that can extend on the scale of the entire galaxy. Nobody had seen this before." 
Hickox, Hainline, and their co-authors based their conclusions on observations made with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. Dartmouth is a partner in SALT, giving faculty and students access to the instrument. The observations were performed using spectroscopy, in which light is broken down into its component wavelengths. "For this particular kind of experiment, it is among the best telescopes in the world," says Hickox.
They also used data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) -- a space telescope that imaged the whole sky in the infrared. The scientists used observations in infrared light because they give a particularly reliable measure of the total energy output by the quasar.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130724200605.htm

Sarcastic fringehead

The Sarcastic fringehead, Neoclinus blanchardi, is a ferocious fish which has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behavior from which it has been given its common name. When two fringeheads have a territorial battle, they wrestle by pressing their distended mouths against each other, as if they were kissing. This allows them to determine which is the larger fish, which establishes dominance.

They can be up to 30 centimeters (12 in) long, elongate and slender and are mostly scale less with great pectoral fins and reduced pelvic fins. They tend to hide inside shells or crevices. After the female spawns under a rock or in clam burrows the male guards the eggs.

They are found in the Pacific, off the coast of North America, from San Francisco, California, to central Baja California and their depth range is from 3 to 73 meters (9.8 to 240 ft).

Frizzle chickens

 

A Frizzle is a type of chicken with feathers that curl outwards, rather than lying flat as in most chickens. While many consider the Frizzle to be an entirely separate breed, it is not. Chickens from all breeds may have a frizzled appearance. It is a variety within breeds, some with clean legs and others with feathering on the legs.Genetically, the frizzled gene is a dominant trait. As a result of its unusual look, Frizzles are primarily exhibition birds, and are included in the Standard of Perfection.

Frizzle Chickens Background & Appearance.

The Frizzle is thought to have originated in Southern Asia around 300 years ago, but the history is a little sketchy as some Frizzles were documented to have been kept in Europe in the 17th century.

This breed of chicken is generally regarded as an exhibition breed, the bantam variety being much more popular than the larger type. In fact the larger bird was virtually extinct, until a group of breeders set up an intensive program to promote them, they are still considered rare today.

One look at a Frizzle Chicken and you’ll understand how it got it’s name, the strange feathering curls towards the head and is even and as tight as posible. Frizzles are full breasted and have short erect bodies. Large tails and long wings complete the picture.

Frizzles come in a range of colours, the commonest being white, black,blue, buff and silver-grey. Less common colours being columbian, black-red, duckwing, cuckoo, spangle, brown-red, pile and spangle.

Beak colour is denoted by the plumage colour, with some white and some yellow. The curly feathers also get a category either frizzled, over-frizzled or flat-coated.

Caring For Frizzle Chickens.

Frizzles are hardy birds, which develop quickly and can be left to free roam, but if you want to keep them in a run, then ensure you have a top on it or they may escape.

If you live in a particularly wet area, and get a lot of rain, then your frizzles should be kept indoors, as their feather formation doesn’t tolerate  particularly wet weather. You should also make sure your drinkers don’t allow the birds feathers to become wet, as the wet curly feathers become a magnet for dirt and shavings etc.

A great breed for keeping pet chickens, but if you have toddlers, don’t let them run around the pen or your chooks will become nervous.

If you are considering breeding Frizzle Chickens,  then introduce new strains to your girls, as breeding from the same strain year upon year will result in birds with weak and sparse feathers.

Newly hatched chicks appear to be normal feathered when they hatch, but don’t worry, the feathers soon start to grow and curl outwards.

Frizzle Chickens, Egg Laying & Broodiness.

It is worth mentioning at this point, that a lot of breeders and chicken fanciers, don’t recognise frizzles as a breed, (except in the UK where it is a show breed) but a feather type. Therefore a lot of crossbred frizzle strains abound. So dependant on where you get your birds, egg laying and egg colouration can differ quite a lot.

Generally true bred Frizzles lay quite well and produce a cream or tinted medium egg. If your ‘frizzles’ are cross bred with Cochins or Australorps for instance, then the egg laying/colour could follow those breeds. It’s best to check with the breeder you get your chicks or eggs from as to the exact strain.

 

20-Meter Sea Level Rise, Five Million Years Ago

July 21, 2013 — Global warming five million years ago may have caused parts of Antarctica's large ice sheets to melt and sea levels to rise by approximately 20 metres, scientists report today in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The researchers, from Imperial College London, and their academic partners studied mud samples to learn about ancient melting of the East Antarctic ice sheet. They discovered that melting took place repeatedly between five and three million years ago, during a geological period called Pliocene Epoch, which may have caused sea levels to rise approximately ten metres.
Scientists have previously known that the ice sheets of West Antarctica and Greenland partially melted around the same time. The team say that this may have caused sea levels to rise by a total of 20 metres.
The academics say understanding this glacial melting during the Pliocene Epoch may give us insights into how sea levels could rise as a consequence of current global warming. This is because the Pliocene Epoch had carbon dioxide concentrations similar to now and global temperatures comparable to those predicted for the end of this century.
Dr Tina Van De Flierdt, co-author from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, says: "The Pliocene Epoch had temperatures that were two or three degrees higher than today and similar atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to today. Our study underlines that these conditions have led to a large loss of ice and significant rises in global sea level in the past. Scientists predict that global temperatures of a similar level may be reached by the end of this century, so it is very important for us to understand what the possible consequences might be."
The East Antarctic ice sheet is the largest ice mass on Earth, roughly the size of Australia. The ice sheet has fluctuated in size since its formation 34 million years ago, but scientists have previously assumed that it had stabilised around 14 million years ago.
The team in today's study were able to determine that the ice sheet had partially melted during this "stable" period by analysing the chemical content of mud in sediments. These were drilled from depths of more than three kilometres below sea level off the coast of Antarctica.
Analysing the mud revealed a chemical fingerprint that enabled the team to trace where it came from on the continent. They discovered that the mud originated from rocks that are currently hidden under the ice sheet. The only way that significant amounts of this mud could have been deposited as sediment in the sea would be if the ice sheet had retreated inland and eroded these rocks, say the team.
The academics suggest that the melting of the ice sheet may have been caused in part by the fact that some of it rests in basins below sea level. This puts the ice in direct contact with seawater and when the ocean warms, as it did during the Pliocene, the ice sheet becomes vulnerable to melting.
Carys Cook, co-author and research postgraduate from the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial, adds: "Scientists previously considered the East Antarctic ice sheet to be more stable than the much smaller ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland, even though very few studies of East Antarctic ice sheet have been carried out. Our work now shows that the East Antarctic ice sheet has been much more sensitive to climate change in the past than previously realised. This finding is important for our understanding of what may happen to the Earth if we do not tackle the effects of climate change."
The next step will see the team analysing sediment samples to determine how quickly the East Antarctic ice sheet melted during the Pliocene. This information could be useful in the future for predicting how quickly the ice sheet could melt as a result of global warming.

 

Source:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130721161502.htm