A small boat looming over a mirage of sea surface Mila 2024-10-23 | A small boat looming over a mirage of sea surface
Sea otters, erosion in Santa Cruz Mila 2023-07-22 | Notice that sea otters are feeding on still alive crabs
Counter septaria structures in opal Mila 2023-07-22 | When I bought this boulder Australian opal, I thought that double spirals are fossil snail. They are not. They are Counter septaria structures. Dr. Adolf Seilacher Described them as “most perplexing example of diagenetic self-organization, their patterns are so regular and complex that one might mistake them for fossils or for artifacts of an ancient culture: polygonal fields are filled with regular spirals, whose segmentation resembles the vaulted septa of a Nautilus shell. Yet there is no doubt about a purely physical origin.
Extremely rare and beautiful fern pattern in Ethiopian opal Mila 2023-07-21 | To me this picture opal looks as if a magical, Jurassic forest is sometimes lit up by a volcanic eruption .
Frogfish using his lure to catch his dinner Mila 2023-07-19 | Expect I did not see anything eatable around…Frogfish have a dangling lure, which is a type of modified fin called an illicium, that acts like a fishing rod for prey. It can resemble a worm, shrimp or even small fish that looks very tasty to other fish and crustaceans! Once the prey has drawn close enough to realize the “worm” isn’t really a “worm”…it’s probably too late. The strategy is also used by the frogfish’s cousin, the deep-sea anglerfish (of Finding Nemo fame).
Pallasite meteorites Mila 2023-07-18 | Pallasites are stony-iron meteorites. Pallasites are Gemstones From Other Worlds.Perhaps the most beautiful of all meteorites, pallasites contain abundant olivine suspended in a nickel-iron matrix. When cut and polished, pallasites reveal translucent crystals, which are naturally green in color but sometimes acquire yellow, gold, or brown hues as a result of terrestrial weathering. When olivine crystals are of sufficient purity they are known as the gemstone peridot. Pallasites take their name from Simon Peter Pallas, a German doctor and naturalist, who first described the Krasnojarsk (Siberia) pallasite in 1772.Pallasites are believed to have formed within differentiated asteroids (asteroids that have been altered by thermal processes and have separated into a core and mantle).Noted science author O. Richard Norton explains in his excellent book The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites:Geoff Notkin Meteorites at Heritage Auctions“Pallasites can be thought of as an immiscible emulsion, like oil and water. During differentiation, fractional crystallization should separate the two major minerals . olivine is an ultramafic mineral that forms and accumulates deep within an asteroid body. We can imagine it gathering as a cumulate layer at the core/mantle boundary.”Featured in this video is a thin section of a Sericho pallasite,And a slice of Seymchan pallasite
Rocks that are older than the Earth ( Erg Chech 002 ) Mila 2023-07-16 | How a rock could be older than the Earth? Well, some meteorites are.Featured in this video are a few pieces of Erg Chech 002: 4.65 Billion Year Old meteorite.Imagine the solar system two million years after its formation. The Earth is not yet formed. However, some other celestial bodies (protoplanets) are traversing the space.Ec 002's chemical compositions revealed that it merged from partly-melted magma reservoirs in the protoplanet's crust, which means that this meteorite is the oldest magmatic sample analyzes to date that sheds light on the formation of the primordial crusts of the oldest protoplanets.During the volatile period of the solar system's planetary birth, most protoplanets likely weren't able to exceed infancy according to some studies. Either these primordial celestial bodies were smashed to bits during the collision with other bodies, or were absorbed by bigger rocky planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars leaving only traces behind such as EC 002.The magma from which EC 002 was formed would have been at least 1220 degrees Celsius and would have taken at least a hundred thousand years to cool.
Sea horses fight Mila 2023-07-15 | It appears they use a few different Techniques like hitting, biting and catching a ride on a rival.
“Forest floor” fossil Australian opal Mila 2023-07-13 | This opal has microscopic fossil vegetation and maybe even some insects.I included a few microscopic images in the end of the video,
Cuttlefishes on cleaning station Mila 2023-07-12 | Very small, hard to see eels cleaning cuttlefishes from parasites, sometimes even going into their mouths.Also notice how cuttlefishes change not only their colors and patterns but also the texture of their bodies
Ruby Princess after she hit the dock in San Francisco Mila 2023-07-09 | On Thursday, July 6 2023, a Princess Cruises ship crashed into a pier in San Francisco as it was preparing to dock after a 10-day Alaskan cruise.The 113,561-ton Ruby Princess “made unexpected contact with the dock at Pier 27” at the port of San Francisco on Thursday morning.The damage was repaired on the same day because the ship was expected to leave for Alaska on Thursday evening. However, the US Coast Guard inspected the ship and did not permit her to sail. Today, on July 8. the ship is still docked and is still being repaired. People are taking pictures of the damage, looking at it through binoculars, passengers are being interviewed by reporters. Some people decided to cancel the cruise altogether. It appears that there is a happy face on the of the repair. See it?
Opal fossil fungus from Australia Mila 2023-07-08 | I believe if it a fungus and if it is, it is probably the first opalised fungus being photographed.I included microscopic images in the end.
Fossil “forest floor” opal Mila 2023-07-06 | This is an Australian boulder opal. It's either forest floor, or detritus from an ancient creek bed or swampy area. The tiny plant stems with hooked leaves might be 'pine' twigs, or perhaps fragments of sphagnum moss, and there may be some seeds and other plants.I included microscopic images in the end.
The most recent and and the oldest volcanic (Komatiite) rocks in my collection Mila 2023-07-05 | Have you ever held a rock that was created an hour ago? I did, in July of 2018. This rock was created when debris from a steam explosion hit a boat touring newly-formed lava on the Big Island of Hawaii. The explosion produced hot rocks (lava bombs) that landed on the boat and actually injured several tourists. Because my hotel was nearby, I noticed that the boat came back 2-hours before it should have, so I went to the pier to see why. Click here to see what I saw youtu.be/6R0n0G7ISdw and picked one the rocks that hit the boat. Two days before, I took the same tour with the same company. The video is here youtu.be/ta5Q-ZGsp_YThe oldest volcanic rock in my collection is Komatiite from South Africa. It is 3.5 billion years old. To learn more about Komatiite please watch this video youtu.be/fjawx-_lLJcBoth rocks have olivine, which is green crystals that come directly from the Earth mantle. Of course, in Komatiite olivine was replaced by serpentine . Probably fresh Komatiite was a beautiful sight but Komatiite lava no longer erupts on the Earth.
Four-Eyed Fish Mila 2023-07-05 | calacademy.org/learn-explore/creature-closeups/four-eyed-fish“You’re not seeing double, but Anableps anableps is.With its bulging, orb-like eyes that can simultaneously see above and below the waterline, “four-eyed fish" is an understandable nickname for this curious creature—but it’s not actually accurate. Individuals only have two eyes, but each eye is divided by a thin band of tissue into dorsal (upper) and ventral (lower) sections, each with its own cornea and pupil to capture light from above and below the surface. A. anableps likely evolved such unusual optical anatomy to help it hunt both terrestrial and aquatic prey. Talk about the best of both worlds!”
Cuttlefish is using its very long tongue to catch a tiny shrimps Mila 2023-07-01 | On two ovations I used a slow motion. If you watch closely you will see not only the tongue but also the shrimps.
Yuma mushrooms fighting Mila 2023-06-30 | By the end if you look closely you might see some kind of weapon the one on the right hand side deployed. It is shown in a slow motion.
Sea horses in love Mila 2023-06-28 | While sea horses were mating, another sea horse was trying to separate them (shown in a slow motion).
Unusual Australian opal Mila 2023-06-21 | This opal is from Lightning Ridge, Australia and it is an unusual one because the host rock looks as a breccia or a conglomerate.
American coot chasing mallard duck out of his nest Mila 2023-06-16 | For some reason the coots still keep renovating their nest although the chicks hatched a few days ago and are out of the nest by now. Maybe they are spending nights in the nest. Today a mallard duck entered the nest and spent there some time until the homeowner chased the intruder away. Part of the video is shown in a slow motion.
American coots chicks feeding close up Mila 2023-06-14 | One clip is shown in a slow motion. A parent brings something big to feed the chicks, and the chick who got it had difficulties swallowing. In another case no chick is ready to risk chocking and the parents ends up eating it itself,
