you literally captured whats called “ball lightning” which is the rarest form of lighting
its so rare that we dont even know how it forms other than by heat, static electricity, and humidity
storm elemental it is
look guys this is how nature-based deities and spirits come about this is ridiculous
Are you aware that the first-ever video footage of ball lightning outside a laboratory was taken in 2014 and there are only like 3 or 4 videos like this in existence and this might be the most close-up one
i took a pic of me watching the pickle rick episode to piss people off but like somehow i managed to take the pic so that the frame on the tv was…. a different frame to the reflection on the desk?
cursed image
this is the most fucked up scenario that accurately depicts that movement of photons through space and time
Einstein would be so upset that you proved his theory in one moment, cause in his day it took fuckin months to setup an eclipse pic to prove relativity n you did it by accident, in ur living room. congrats.
I want you all to know that an Arab Muslim from Tunis proposed the Theory of Evolution near 600 years before Charles Darwin even took his first breath. Don’t let them erase you.
Also, it was not the apple falling from a tree that made Issac Newton “discover” gravity. He was reading the books of Ibn Al Haytham, an Arab Muslim from Iraq, who pioneered the scientific method, discovered gravity and wrote about the laws governing the movement of bodies (now known as Newtons three laws of motion) some 600 years before Newton existed. Without him, modern science as we know it wouldn’t exist. Read on him. His achievements are far greater than what I’ve just mentioned here.
We fucking replaced a Muslim scientist with an apple?
In the middle ages, THE place to go for an education was the middle East, or, failing that, Spain. The Muslim world didn’t have the same limits placed on scientific inquiry that the Christian world did, and since they were willing to look at more than just Aristotole and actually compare texts to the observable world, they had some incredible scientific and mathematical advancements. And street lights and toilets. I mean theories and algebra are great and all, but street lights and toilets. In the 12th century. Also medical advancements, and fewer rules against women studying. Hell, women *should* be the ones studying the female body, would you rather a woman see your female relatives, or some old man? Would you rather have someone who lives in the same kind of body, or one who has no first hand idea what the parts can do?
Europeans erased centuries of knowledge from the East because of fear. When we “rediscovered” it, we were still too egotistical to admit that non-whites could have been smarter, so we invented our own mythology.
Bring credit back where it’s due. Honor the true pioneers.
Remember this the next time you want to complain about GMO’s, we may not have done it in a lab but they still are that.
Bananas looked like lemons wtf
Isn’t this more of a combination of selective breeding and GMOs? Not just GMOs?
Yes. But people talk about how GMO’s are “unnatural”, yet for centuries humanity has been exploiting mutations in animals and plants to produce food for themselves.
GMO’s are simply the process of inducing these mutations reliably.
People hear “Lettuce being modified with scorpion DNA” and think that we’re now eating scorpions. But, in reality, they’re taking a tiny bit of scorpion DNA and splicing it into the plant. Why? So the plant will produce poison that is not harmful to humans but will deter insects, reducing the use of pesticide, which CAN be harmful to humans and the environment.
GMOs are producing rice that can survive flooding, which makes rice more reliable yields and will prevent food shortages in poor nations that rely on said crops for staple food.
GMOs are also creating spider-goat hybrids. Why? So we can splice web production into the goat’s udders. We’ll be able to spin huge quantities of spider silk, enough to reliably create spider silk cables and ropes, which have more tensile strength than steel.
I for one am glad I live in a time where watermelons aren’t giant tomato abominations
Are we gonna ignore the whole spider goat thing or what
Harvard has a pigment library that
stores old pigment sources, like the
ground shells of now-extinct insects,
poisonous metals, and wrappings from
Egyptian mummies, to preserve the
origins of the world’s rarest colors.
A few centuries ago, finding a specific color might have meant trekking across the globe to a mineral deposit in the middle of Afghanistan. “Every pigment has its own story,” Narayan Khandekar, the caretaker of the pigment collection, told Fastcodesign. He also shared the stories of some of the most interesting pigments in the collection.
Mummy Brown
“People would harvest mummies from Egypt and then extract the brown resin material that was on the wrappings around the bodies and turn that into a pigment. It’s a very bizarre kind of pigment, I’ve got to say, but it was very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
Cadmium Yellow
“Cadmium yellow was introduced in the mid 19th century. It’s a bright yellow that many impressionists used. Cadmium is a heavy metal, very toxic. In the early 20th century, cadmium red was introduced. You find these pigments used in industrial processes. Up until the 1970s, Lego bricks had cadmium pigment in them.”
Annatto “The lipstick plant—a small tree, Bixa orellana, native to Central and South America—produces annatto, a natural orange dye. Seeds from the plant are contained in a pod surrounded with a bright red pulp. Currently, annatto is used to color butter, cheese, and cosmetics.”
Lapis Lazuli “People would mine it in Afghanistan, ship it across Europe, and it was more expensive than gold so it would have its own budget line on a commission.”
Dragon’s Blood “It has a great name, but it’s not from dragons. [The bright red pigment] is from the rattan palm.”
Cochineal “This red dye comes from squashed beetles, and it’s used in cosmetics and food.”
Emerald Green “This is made from copper acetoarsenite. We had a Van Gogh with a bright green background that was identified as emerald green. Pigments used for artists’ purposes can find their way into use in other areas as well. Emerald green was used as an insecticide, and you often see it on older wood that would be put into the ground, like railroad ties.”
happy Friday everyone, you’ve made it through the week and now it’s time for an all-new episode of Weird Biology!
this week, we’ll be learning about a horrifically lethal insect whose very name makes you cringe. it’s that special bug buddy that I want to stay very far away from me forever,
I’m of the opinion that the words “giant” and “hornet” should never be combined, but maybe that’s just me.
the Asian Giant Hornet has a perfectly descriptive and terrifying name. it’s the largest hornet on the planet, and is also known as the “Yak-Killer Hornet” because of its incredibly painful sting. (‘Yak-Killer Hornet’ is not a set of words that I ever wanted to type, but I got myself into this.)
as the name suggests, the Asian Giant Hornet is found, uh, in Asia. specifically, the lowlands and forests of East Asia. this unfortunately means the Hornet shares elbow space with hundreds of millions of humans, so if you live in East Asia you have my condolences.
I am so, so sorry.
and like the name suggests, the Asian Giant Hornet is, well. Giant. (though basically anything over half an inch is Too Damn Big when we’re talking about the wasp family.)
but we’re shit out of luck in this case, because this hornet is almost 2inches long. it’s upsetting to find a spider that large, never mind what’s basically an overpowered and permanently angry wasp. and if that weren’t enough, they make underground hives that they share with 30+ of their brethren. jesus.
that is TOO MUCH HORNET. PUT IT BACK.
their stingers are only 6 mm long, which might not seem that bad! but like a lot of things in life, it’s what they do with it that counts. in this case, what they do with it is inject a large amount of corrosive venom into your helpless flesh. fun! (don’t…. google this. just don’t.)
the sting of the Asian Giant Hornet is considered to be one of the worst insect stings in the world. a single sting can really fuck up a human, and multiple stings can be lethal. which really sucks, because a hive of these things is more than enough Hornet to kill your face right off. right off.
but normally, Asian Giant Hornets aren’t using their stings to kill humans. they use them to kill the living fuck out of other insects, which they then eat.
no joke, Wikipedia describes them as “intensely predatory”.
Asian Giant Hornets will eat any insect they can get the drop on, including praying mantises and smaller wasps. they’re like a pack of hungry and extremely toxic wolves.
and one of their favorite foods is… honeybees! (in case you didn’t think these things were awful enough, they especially love baby honeybees.)
when an Asian Giant Hornet scout finds a honeybee hive, they leave a scent marking outside. the scout then retreats to its own hive and returns with a Giant Hornet invasion force. an entire bee hive can be destroyed in hours by as few as 30 Hornets. the honeybees fall trying to defend their queen and then the hornets steal their larva. the poor bees have absolutely zero defenses against them.
this is the saddest picture I’ve ever put in a Weird Biology article.
well. MOST honeybees, anyway.
the Asian Giant Hornet has exactly one counter, but it’s a fucking good one. it’s-
that’s right, it’s a two-for-one special! hurray, time for bees!
the Japanese Honeybee is pretty identical to the European Honeybee, down to being kept commercially for their honey. but there is one major difference.
if an Asian Giant Hornet scout approaches a Japanese Honeybee hive, the entire beehive is immediately on alert. the Honeybees respond to the Hornet by creating a diabolical and kind of insane trap: they abandon the entrance of the hive, which attracts the Hornet scout into investigating.
and once the Hornet scout is inside the beehive, it’s TIME FOR BEE MOSH.
LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOOOOR
the secretly-metal-as-fuck bees dogpile the Hornet, immobilizing it. the bees then vibrate their flight muscles, generating a massive amount of heat. this causes the mosh pit temperature to skyrocket over 115 F, literally cooking the Hornet scout alive. the bees escape relatively unharmed because they can tolerate much higher temps than Asian Giant Hornets, probably because Metal fills their tiny bee souls.
with the Hornet scout disposed of, the main invasion force will never arrive. this strategic assassination keeps the beehive safe for another day, and it’s all thanks to murder! yay, bees!
yeah that’s right, RUN, MOTHERFUCKER.
the relationship between Asian Giant Hornets and Japanese Honeybees is a case of ongoing biological warfare. we might learn things from observing, orrr we might not. whatever the case, you have to admit that it’s cool as shit.
so long, Asian Giant Hornet! I hope I never have to type your name again!
–
thanks for reading! you can find the rest of the Weird Biology series here.
if you enjoy my work, maybe buy me a coffee or check out my Patreon to see extra content and support Weird Biology.
–
IMAGE SOURCES
img1- India Today img2- dnevnik.ba img3- Lazer Horse img4- YouTube img5- Termirepel img6- The Fox Gazette img7- ABC img8- The Telegraph
rip tumblr 