These are the latest articles and videos I found most interesting.
- Millions of Salmon Return Home
- Building Amazing
- Deadly Disguised Orchids
- Winners of the 2014 Olympus BioScapes Competition
- Unexpected Shark Gives Explorer Shock of His Life
- From the River to the Sea
- The First Feast of the Year
- Baby’s First Dip
- Russian Jet Fighter – Sukhoi Su-37
Millions of Salmon Return Home
Every four years, millions of sockeye salmon journey thousands of miles from the ocean back to their native spawning grounds in Canada’s Fraser River. There, after eggs are laid, the parents die. Then the cycle begins anew as the next generation of salmon makes its way down the river and into the ocean.
Building Amazing
Exploring the universe and working to better understand our Earth is fundamental to what we do. Working with NASA, we are now on the brink of a monumental leap of space exploration capability; one where astronauts and robots will work together as we venture out into deep space. Since the beginning of the Space Race, we’ve been redefining what is possible by using innovative technologies to build amazing things will further open the universe to discovery.
Deadly Disguised Orchids
Like a Venus Fly Trap, orchid mantises lure their prey in and devour them.
Winners of the 2014 Olympus BioScapes Competition
Each year the Olympus BioScapes Competition honors outstanding images and movies of life science subjects captured through microscopes. Here’s a look at the top five winners in 2014. Photo: Igor Siwanowicz
Unexpected Shark Gives Explorer Shock of His Life
A National Geographic researcher is startled to see a Greenland shark where none has ever been seen before: off Russia’s Franz Josef Land. An underwater camera captured images of the shark, a species scientists know very little about.
From the River to the Sea
A pulse of water released down the lower reaches of the Colorado River last spring resulted in more than a 40 percent increase in green vegetation where the water flowed, as seen by the Landsat 8 satellite. The March 2014 release of water – an experimental flow implemented under a U.S.-Mexico agreement called “Minute 319” – reversed a 12-year decline in the greenness along the delta. Landsat 8 is a joint project of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The First Feast of the Year
A mother bear shows her cubs how to catch salmon and they all enjoy a summer feast.
Baby’s First Dip
Harbor seals arrive by the hundreds in the spring to give birth. They have to fight for room on the ice and survive the many dangers that confront the moms and their newborns.
Russian Jet Fighter – Sukhoi Su-37
This is the Sukhoi Su-37, a Russian experimental single-seat, super-manoeuvrable multirole jet fighter, designed by Sukhoi. It looks like any other fighter, but it can perform impossible manoeuvres. A further development of the original Su-27 “Flanker”, it was modified from the first-generation Su-35 prototypes. The Su-37 features an upgraded avionic suite and fire-control system, but its most notable additions are the thrust-vectoring nozzles.
Fighter aircraft are traditionally fast but very heavy, which makes them difficult to turn. The Sukhoi Su-37 can perform heart-stopping manoeuvres that defy gravity. For any other fighter these manoeuvres would be well beyond their flight envelope. They would stall and crash. Thrust vectoring and small carnard wings allow the pilot to throw the Su-37 around the skies like an aerobatics plane. Twenty tonnes of military metal can reverse direction instantly. This amazing agility would give it a decisive edge in combat. On its first public appearance its pilot issued and open challenge to dogfight against all comers, no one took up the offer.
Clip from the documentary “Extreme Machines – Flight of the Future”.
Alan Tatourian 