2426
In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps. It prevents erosion, benefiting the ecosystem while providing a livelihood for farmers buff.ly/2JL7h5H
2427
172 years ago #Today, the rotation of the Earth was experimentally proved by Leon Foucault. After weeks of work, he recorded in his journal that he made this discovery at 2:00 am working with a pendulum in the cellar of the house he shared with his mother buff.ly/2MEJlUM
2428
Gripping workpieces just as a chameleon's tongue grips insects – that is the operating principle of the adaptive shape gripper DHEF. The adaptive shape gripper grips energy-efficiently and reliably when combined with a pneumatic drive [full video: buff.ly/3aX2dGA]
2429
The falling green characters at the beginning of all of the Matrix films have become perhaps the most recognisable visual from the film. So what constitutes the code? An incredibly complex equation? Nope, it's just a load of recipes for sushi [read more: buff.ly/2KxytCB]
2430
“Optical Variations” is an exhibit by French artist Damien Bénéteau, featuring four of his illuminated, hypnotizing monochromatic mobiles
[read more: ow.ly/IXkk30n55Ku]
2431
Earth is the only planet in our Solar System where fire can exist. In fact, while we know about a lot of hot things existing in the universe, Earth is the only known celestial body that has enough oxygen to support a combustion
[read more: buff.ly/3pKKiMv]
2432
The lobster moth (Stauropus fagi), has an odd-looking caterpillar with a crustacean-like appearance.
This caterpillar can also shoot formic acid (most commonly found in ant venom) as a defense.
[learn more, video: buff.ly/3P2lY20]
2433
During thunderstorms, leaves from trees and other plants create mini electric discharges that can significantly alter the surrounding air quality through the emission of hydroxyl (OH) and hydroperoxyl (HO2)
[read more: buff.ly/3VWr0BK]
2434
A breathing Earth: the annual pulse of vegetation, land and ice in a populat gif by illustrator and data visualizer John Nelson [source, read more: buff.ly/3IttyjY]
2435
Since I don’t know when I’m back, I hope the account is not suspended while I’m absent. Today it was blocked for 12 hours after a tweet about universe expansion, marked as violating Twitter rules, for posting ‘non consensual nudity’. See the thread twitter.com/Rainmaker1973b…
2436
The commercial aviation industry has changed a great deal since it first became an integral part of the way we travel. This is what the Interior of an airliner looked like in 1926
[read more: buff.ly/2t4rERY]
2437
The southern cassowary has three-toed feet equipped with a lethal dagger-like claw up to 12 cm on the inner toe ow.ly/JusO30nm4e1. This photo by Sarah Davis shows a male southern cassowary's claws, possibly erasing any doubt that birds are dinosaurs buff.ly/2DCxsYg
2438
Sea wolves are genetically distinct from their inland cousin. Their diet consist of up to 90% seafood, 25% of which is fish. They are also great swimmers: the farthest record is to an archipelago 12 km from the nearest landmass [source, read more: buff.ly/3r037t9]
2439
Colletia Paradoxa has cylindrical triangular, spiny branches & small tubular, or bell-shaped flowers. A native of dry regions of Brazil & Uruguay, it is bizarre in its triangular cladodes, which earn it the common names ancho plant buff.ly/3Rb5wO7
2440
An excellent example of how air pumped into sand, turns sand into a liquid-like substance
[full video with explanation by Mark Rober: buff.ly/2IJ6QUM]
2441
A hand warmer generally contains a supersaturated solution of sodium acetate which releases heat upon crystallization when a nucleation center is formed by pressing on the metal disc [read more: buff.ly/3CUHm3R] [source: buff.ly/3BP1UJN]
2442
Only 9 years ago, the entire surface of planet Mercury was finally mapped by MESSENGER. This video is a compilation of thousands of images of Mercury rendered in exaggerated colors to better contrast different surface features [read more: ow.ly/wll630oyVvu]
2443
Albinism and melanism are genetic variations resulting from the mutation of different genes, causing two opposite pigmentation conditions buff.ly/3eiEb9A These are an albino and a melanistic alligators [video by Brian Barczyk: buff.ly/36xSHaD]
2444
'Vida' is a glass sculpture by Jack Storms made with 32% optical lead crystal, optical crystal and dichroic glass
[source, read more: bit.ly/2wVmE1M]
2445
A car-to-car test between a 2015 Nissan Tsuru and a 2016 Nissan Versa. Travelling at 64 km/h the test highlights the significant differences in safety standards between these two baseline models sold by the same manufacturer in different markets [video: buff.ly/2PlxsCg]
2446
PD6B-AW-ARM is a large-format drone equipped with two internally-developed robotic arms, enabling it to directly accomplish a variety of tasks
[source, full video: buff.ly/2KdIXa5]
2447
This now famous animation by Reddit user theotheredmund beautifully breaks down herd immunity in about 6 seconds [read more: buff.ly/2NSCgeE]
2448
75 years ago #Today, a moth was found in the Panel F of the Harvard Mark II calculator: the first computer bug [read more: buff.ly/3tre2xW]
2449
On June 7, 2011 the Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare with a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME). The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area almost half the solar surface [read more: buff.ly/3bTnu5i]
2450
Indonesia's Mount Semeru volcano has erupted, sending sending pyroclastic density currents and ash billowing into the sky, sparking evacuations on the country's main island, Java
[read more: buff.ly/3h1TCdd]
[video, HD: buff.ly/3P11AzZ]
Astronomy, astronautics, meteorology, physics. Engineer, trying to build the big picture of #science via selected & curated pics, videos & links