Mt. St. Helen's Smoking Caldera 1980, Washington
Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is 96 miles south of Seattle, Washington and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. The volcano is located in the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows.
Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetle Cicindela sexguttata
Adult beetles are fast runners and fliers. When they fly, they usually stay within three feet of the ground. Tiger beetles catch prey on the ground and in the air. Six-spotted Tiger Beetles eat small insects, spiders, and other arthropods. Favorite foods include other beetles, springtails, sawflies, caterpillars, flies, ants, and grasshoppers.
Spined Soldier Bug, Podisus spp.
Podisus maculiventris, the spined soldier bug is a species of insect common in North America. They are predators of gypsy moth caterpillars and the larvae of beetles such as the Colorado potato beetle and the Mexican bean beetle. Because they eat Mexican bean beetles, they are regarded as good things to have in the garden.
Badlands National Monument, South Dakota
Badlands National Park, in southwest South Dakota, preserves 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States.
Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio glaucus
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is a species of swallowtail butterfly native to North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are diurnal, and are usually solitary. Adults are known to fly high above the ground, usually seen above the tree canopy. Males seek females by patrolling habitats containing the larval host plants. During courtship, the male and female fly about each other prior to landing and mating. The male releases perfume-like pheromones during courtship to entice the female into mating.
Water Strider, Gerris sp
The family Gerridae contains insects commonly known as water striders, water bugs, magic bugs, pond skaters, skaters, skimmers, water scooters, water skaters, water skeeters, water skimmers, water skippers, water spiders, or Jesus bugs. These are predatory insects, which rely on surface tension to walk on top of water.
Yellow Aphids on Milkweed Leaf - Aphis nerii
Aphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the super family Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions. The damage they do to plants has made them enemies of farmers and gardeners the world over, but from a zoological standpoint they are a very successful group of organisms. Their success is in part due to the asexual reproduction capability of some species.
Green Frog (Rana clamitans)
The Green Frog (Rana clamitans) is a species of frog native to the eastern half of the United States and Canada. Adult green frogs range from 2–4 inches in body length. Males have a tympanum twice the diameter of the eye and a bright yellow throat. Female tympanum diameter is about the same as that of the eye.
Braided River, Skeidararsandur, Iceland
BraidedBasinAerialSkeidararsandurIcelandgeologyRiverVatnajokullGlacier
Red Parafoil Parachute
A parafoil is a non-rigid (textile) airfoil with an aerodynamic cell structure that is inflated by the wind. Ram-air inflation forces the parafoil into a classic wing cross-section. Parafoils are most commonly constructed out of rip-stop nylon.
Parafoils see wide use in a variety of windsports such as kite flying, powered parachutes, paragliding, wingsuit flying and skydiving.
Hickory Horned Devil - Citheronia regalis
Citheronia regalis is an impressive creature in all stages of development. The adult moth is the largest (in mass, not wing area) north of Mexico, as are the spectacular larva and the substantial pupa.
Primordial Earth
Because the Earth lacked an atmosphere immediately after the giant impact, cooling must have occurred quickly. Within 150 million years, a solid crust with a basaltic composition must have formed. The felsic continental crust of today did not yet exist. Within the Earth, further differentiation could only begin when the mantle had at least partly solidified again. Nevertheless, during the early Archaean (about 3.0 bya) the mantle was still much hotter than today, probably around 1600°C. This means the fraction of partially molten material was still much larger than today.
The Starship Enterprise Chasing the Borg Across the Galaxy
Fossil Crinoids, Morocco
Fossil Scyphocrinites Crinoids, Sea Lilies, Morocco
Upper Silurian (420 million years ago)FossilCrinoidsMoroccofossilsScyphocrinitesUpper Silurian420 MYASea Lilieslilyseainvertebrate
Halite
Pink Halite Crystals, Mojave Desert, California
HaliteshpPinkCrystalssaltsodium chlorideMojave DesertCalifornia
The Greatest Firefly
Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey. Fireflies produce a "cold light." This chemically produced light .
