Panoramic view of Calhoun Beach, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Lake Calhoun has been a popular swimming hole ever since swimming became popular, itself. There are multiple beaches along the lake that are still used to this day.
1915 gelatin silver plate panoramic photograph.
US Library of Congress Digital Archives, Panoramic Collection.
Mechanism of HIV membrane fusion with a CD4-expressing immune cell:
1. Initial interaction between gp120 and CD4.
2. Conformational change in gp120 allows for secondary interaction with a cell-type specific chemokine, e.g. CCR5.
3. The distal tips of gp41 are inserted in to the cellular membrane.
4. gp41 undergoes significant conformational change; folding in half and forming coiled-coils. This process pulls the viral and cellular membranes together, fusing them.
Following fusion, the viral core is released into the cell cytoplasm.
(via fyeahmedlab)
(Source: faunasworld, via religionisbullshit)
American Flamingo - Phoenicopterus ruber
Flamingos aren’t naturally pink! They get their coloration from beta carotene found in the blue-green algae they consume. The flamingos that consume blue-green algae directly are much pinker than flamingos that primarily consume the blue-green algae secondhand (via zooplankton/brine shrimp).
Flamingos are also unique in their method of eating - their bills are designed to scoop the bottom sediment and then filter out the mud and silt, leaving only the blue-green algae or the brine shrimp in their mouth. They shake their head back and forth under the water after scooping up the sediment. The big, fleshy tongue of the flamingo pushes water back and forth in the mouth and facilitates the filtering of all that mud. They also swallow their food while their head is upside-down! The meaty tongue used to be considered a delicacy among the Roman elite.
Images:
Nature Neighbors: Embracing Birds, Plants, and Minerals. Nathanial Moore Banta for the American Audubon Association, 1914.Osteologia Avium; or, A sketch of the osteology of birds. T.C. Eyton, 1867.
Just look at that tiny tiny little body. Oh, Flamingo. How do you hold your heavy head up on that skinny little neck? You look so unfeasible and I love you.
Love,
Emily
Is it wrong that I squee when Emily, SciFri, StuffToBlowYourMind, or Radiolab reblogs my stuff? No, no, I think it’s alright. I accept my nerdery.
jaw3:
This collection of zooids (dactylozooids (the hunters), gastrozooids (the eaters), gonozooids (the reproducers) and the pneumatophores (the sailors) are more commonly known as the Portuguese Man o’ War. Not much is known about these creatures except that they sting. Aaron Ansarov turned them into beautiful works of psychedelic art, yet remains unharmed. Ansarov and his wife collected them from the shores of south Florida, transported them in a cooler full of sea-water to his nearby studio, photographed them on light tables (mirrored their image in Photoshop), and returned them to the shore, unharmed. To be clear, however, these creatures are on their death bed once they hit the beach. “When they drift ashore,” says Ansarov, “it is rare for them to survive the tide and be pulled back out to sea…sometimes they may get pulled back out, but it’s up to nature’s design.” To see more of Ansarov’s work, visit his website.
(via geologise)
Photos: Kyrgyz People Cling to Tradition in Forbidding Corner of Northern Afghanistan
Photographer Matthieu Paley spent more than a decade photographing the Afghan Kyrgyz people, who live in one of the world’s most remote and inhospitable areas.
Read the full story here
(via drtuesdaygjohnson)
