Bones: They’re alive! Without bones, your body would be a slippery bag of organs. But the stiff models of a skeleton that you’ve seen in science class (or as Halloween decorations) tell only half the story. That’s because “the skeleton does more than just hold you up,” explains Laura Tosi Bones are made of living, breathing cells. And they play all sorts of important roles, says Tosi, who directs the Bone Health Program at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Tiny ear bones conduct sounds that help us hear. Bone marrow — a soft, jellylike substance that fills the hollow interior of the body’s long bones — produces blood cells, both red and white. And that’s just for starters. Cells called osteoblasts (gray blobs forming an oval) create new bone tissue. Robert M. The skeleton crew The framework that gives your body shape is surprisingly busy. The body’s skeleton changes constantly. Cells called osteoclasts break down old bone through a process called resorption. Wikimedia Commons Asja/Flickr
Great Horned Owl - Bird Cams The live owl cam features a Great Horned Owl: A powerful and adaptable bird of prey that has the most extensive range, the widest prey base and the most variable nesting sites of any American owl. Its large yellow eyes, pronounced ear tufts, and white bib distinguish the Great Horned Owl from related species, especially once its unmistakable multi-tone hoot is heard. Silently gliding from perch to perch, the Great Horned Owl hunts easily after dark. As observers of the live owl cam may witness, Great Horned Owls regularly consume small mammals and are also known to eat fish and even large prey such as other owls or raptorial birds. How is an owl a successful predator? An owl’s physiology is different than most birds’ as its eyes take up the majority of its face. Another reason that owls are so successful when hunting at night is due to the construct of their feathers. Mating and Early Life Owls are not pack creatures and in fact can be very territorial.
ARKive - Discover the world's most endangered species Wildscreen's Arkive project was launched in 2003 and grew to become the world's biggest encyclopaedia of life on Earth. With the help of over 7,000 of the world’s best wildlife filmmakers and photographers, conservationists and scientists, Arkive.org featured multi-media fact-files for more than 16,000 endangered species. Freely accessible to everyone, over half a million people every month, from over 200 countries, used Arkive to learn and discover the wonders of the natural world. Since 2013 Wildscreen was unable to raise sufficient funds from trusts, foundations, corporates and individual donors to support the year-round costs of keeping Arkive online. As a small conservation charity, Wildscreen eventually reached the point where it could no longer financially sustain the ongoing costs of keeping Arkive free and online or invest in its much needed development. Therefore, a very hard decision was made to take the www.arkive.org website offline in February 2019.
Earth Science Codex Earth Fish from acidic ocean waters less able to smell predators Posted By News On April 13, 2014 - 5:30pm "They can smell but they can't distinguish between chemical cues," Dixson said. Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is absorbed into ocean waters, where it dissolves and lowers the pH of the water. Warming climate has consequences for Michigan's forests Posted By News On April 11, 2014 - 5:00pm HOUGHTON, Mich., April 11, 2014 – In the last 100 years, Michigan has become warmer, with more rain coming through heavy downpours. Greenland ice cores show industrial record of acid rain, success of US Clean Air Act Posted By News On April 11, 2014 - 1:01pm The rise and fall of acid rain is a global experiment whose results are preserved in the geologic record. By analyzing samples from the Greenland ice sheet, University of Washington atmospheric scientists found clear evidence of the U.S. SU plays key role in search for elusive dark matter Posted By News On April 10, 2014 - 9:00pm
50 Ways to Help the Planet Molecules Creatures of Light Project Noah Planets