Be scared
"Nature" Category
The first step to human de-evolution?
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
The brain is just like your body, if you don’t use it regularly, it will lose efficiency and will decay. This project is not going to help as people we’ll rely more and more on devices rather their own memory.
I thought toes will be the part of the human body that will disappear progressively as a result of the modern life but it looks like the brain is a good contender too 
Microsoft researcher wants to back up your brain.: “‘The quest is to essentially build a surrogate memory. Something that’s as good as my own memory, that I can use it as a supplement, and will remember everything that I should have remembered, that came to my ears, eyes, whatever,’ Microsoft’s Bell said of his experiment.”
(Via digg.)
Six horrifying parasites
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The screwworms are really scary. The tongue-biter is amazing.
Six horrifying parasites: “Mark Frauenfelder: “ (Via Boing Boing.)
Neatorama has a nice article about six sickening parasites.
A female sacculina begins life as a tiny free-floating slug in the sea, drifting around until she encounters a crab. When that fateful day arrives, she finds a chink in the crab’s armor (usually an elbow or leg joint) and thrusts a kind of hollow dagger into its body. After that, she (how to put this?) ‘injects’ herself into the crab, sluicing through the dagger and leaving behind a husk. Once inside, the jellylike sacculina starts to take over. She grows ‘roots’ that extend to every part of the crab’s body — wrapping around its eyestalks and deep into its legs and arms. The female feeds and grows until eventually she pops out of the top of the crab, and from this knobby protrusion, she will steer the Good Ship Unlucky Crab for the rest of their co-mingled life. Link(Thanks, Frank!)
I’m bringing sexy bark!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Nature beauty, literally ;-D
I’m bringing sexy bark!: “Xeni Jardin:
That’s what Justin Timberlake might say if he were responsible for these suggestive images from nature. But he’s not. I’m not sure who shot them, but they’re blogged with Japanese text by someone named Hiro. Here’s what Hiro says, in babelfish botglish:
‘Sexy which can be made natural it is photograph collection of the thing.
It makes good.’
I’m pretty sure they are unretouched. Even the hot carrot, which makes good. Link (Thanks, Seth Abramovitch)
“
(Via Boing Boing.)
Cocoons and larvae eat Sweden
Saturday, August 5, 2006
These photos are all amazing, especially the close-ups on the big swarm in the corner.
They remind me that episode of X-Files with small spiders.
It might be chilly, but the good news is that one day they will become nice and beautiful butterflies, won’t they?
Cocoons and larvae eat Sweden: “Cory Doctorow: This Swedish website contains jaw-dropping (and way grody) photos of a carpet caterpillar (?) infestation in which bicycles and trees are completely covered in cocoon that’s filled with masses of writhing, maggot-like larvae. (Thanks, Fipi Lele!) “ (Via Boing Boing.)
Interspecies love: duck and chicken raise a family
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
I don’t know what to think of that. That’s odd. Interspecies love: duck and chicken raise a family: “Mark Frauenfelder: A duck and a hen on a farm outside Söderköping have found each other. The duck is now a foster-father to five chickens. Annika Stenbäck and Peter Andersson, who live at the farm, tell the daily Norrköpings Tidningar about the love birds. The birds started dating already last summer, after the duck accidentally drowned his mate during lovemaking. However, the duck didn’t spend much time in mourning before starting to date the hen instead. Soon, the hen started laying and brooding, but as the eggs were not fertilized, they never hatched. ‘So we fetched some fertilized eggs from our old hens at my parents-in-law. She got six chickens, but one has died,’ says Annika Stenbäck. During the entire brooding period the duck kept a nervous watch by the hen’s side. ‘And since the chickens were hatched he hasn’t left her side,’ says Annika Stenbäck to Norrköpings Tidningar. “ (Via Boing Boing.)
Johan Anglemark says:
Boy uses sound to see
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Is he going to be the real-world DareDevil, or one of a mutated (with superpower) form of human being 
Life is really amazing.
Boy uses sound to see: “David Pescovitz:
People magazine profiles Ben Underwood, a blind 14-year-old who apparently uses echolocation to ’see.’ Ben, sightless since the age of 3, makes loud clicking noises with his tongue and then listens for the echo. According to the article, he can not only detect distance but sometimes the material of an object based on how soft, dense, or sharp the echo is.
Link to People, More on human echolocation here and here
”
(Via Boing Boing.)