archiemcphee:

This is awesome creature is the caterpillar form of Phylllodes imperialis, the Imperial Fruit Sucking Moth. The moth is found in parts of Australia and a few neighbouring island countries. The markings on its head that resemble a mask sporting giant eyes and a wonderfully freaky skeletal grin are used to frighten off potential predators.

Photos by plant.nerd

[via Geekologie]

WHOA.

theatlantic:

To Snap A Predator: The Patented Tech That Helps Photographers Go Nose-to-Nose With Sharks

Michael Muller is fascinated with sharks. Ever since he was a kid, surfing in Northern California, he’s loved the creatures — Great Whites, in particular. And Michael Muller, fortunately for us, is also a professional photographer. He has snapped pictures of sharks from all around the world, including the seas of the Galapagos, South Africa, Fiji, and Guadalupe Island.

But how do you actually capture the kind of amazing — and tantalizingly, terrifyingly close-up — images that Muller has? In a Q&A with the blog Feature Shoot, Muller described the self-developed technology that allows him to conduct photo shoots with some of the most frightening, and beautiful, subjects on the planet. To get pictures like his, you may not need a bigger boat. But you will need a better camera. 

Read more. [Images: Michael Muller]

ikenbot: kiplinger: The U.S. suffers from staggering economic inequality — as staggering, in some places, as Nigeria, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Richard Florida ran the numbers and compared cities in the U.S. to highly unequal foreign countries. That colorful map might look pretty, but its implications for U.S. income inequality are not.  Most of my family members from the Dominican Rep. after busting their asses to get here to the U.S. say ‘I don’t see the difference’ shortly after the bright lights and fake dreams fade,
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ikenbot:

kiplinger:

The U.S. suffers from staggering economic inequality — as staggering, in some places, as Nigeria, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Richard Florida ran the numbers and compared cities in the U.S. to highly unequal foreign countries. That colorful map might look pretty, but its implications for U.S. income inequality are not. 

Most of my family members from the Dominican Rep. after busting their asses to get here to the U.S. say ‘I don’t see the difference’ shortly after the bright lights and fake dreams fade,

Source: kiplinger

Obama’s Secret Weapon In The South: Small, Dead, But Still Kickin’ Would you believe that this image has as much to do with plankton and slavery as the 2008 presidential election? I know people are up in arms about “binders full of women” (or in stitches due to the resulting meme barrage), but this is so much more interesting, I promise. Politics and history and paleobiology and agriculture all in one!
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Obama’s Secret Weapon In The South: Small, Dead, But Still Kickin’

Would you believe that this image has as much to do with plankton and slavery as the 2008 presidential election?

I know people are up in arms about “binders full of women” (or in stitches due to the resulting meme barrage), but this is so much more interesting, I promise. Politics and history and paleobiology and agriculture all in one!

jtotheizzoe:

Coral Reef Eye Candy

Who needs Finding Nemo 3D* when the real thing is so much better? Take a moment to TGIF and watch this collection of coral reef footage shot around Fiji and Tonga. These exotic forms and immeasurable beauty are an always-needed reminder to the awesome power of evolution.

In case you missed it yesterday, you can help catalog the upper Atlantic coast’s marine species with Seafloor Explorer, a citizen science game/project from the Galaxy Zoo folks.

*I’m still gonna see it, no matter how great this video is :)

(via Deep Sea News)

Absolutely brilliant.