Nature Unveiled Blog
Beauty exists in nature but also in the scientific understanding of nature, yet the science is often mistakenly perceived to be dry, nerdy, boring, the antithesis of beauty. The blog Nature Unveiled revels in the beauty of both as it explores natural phenomena from bioluminescence to carnivorous plants to seal whiskers.
Nature Unveiled is a collaboration of father and son, Edwin Barkdoll and Forest Barkdoll-Weil.
Mice-capades
Mice-capades Mice1 live in a gray zone between the heroic and charismatic mini-fauna that star in Disney movies, children’s stories, and cartoons2 and the reviled, disease-infested rodents that a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry is dedicated to eliminating. It’s no wonder that mice seem nervous all the time. As we shall see, however, despite their tiny physical stature,
Crystalline Entities – Snow, Hoarfrost and Rime Ice
Crystalline Entities – Snow, Hoarfrost, and Rime Ice Hoarfrost under a snow covered mountain Waking up after the first heavy snowfall has always been a magical experience for me – a white cloak transforms familiar objects into alien shapes that look like lumbering snow-creatures. Snowfalls present us with macroscapes (a scene we can view with
Jewels from Slime
Slime molds are diamonds in the rough, and the closer you look, the more they shine. You may have encountered them as amorphous blobs on a lawn or a walk in the woods. They are on leaves, in the soil of Antarctica, and in deserts, to name a few habitats.
Fantastic Feathers
Birds have perfected the fine-tuned ability to fly over millions of years. In fact, some geese have been observed flying over Mount Everest. Their enviable ability to fly relies upon several factors, the first and foremost being the engineering marvels called feathers.
Night Eyes
Picture ancestral humans huddled around a fire, peering beyond the edge of the firelight into a nighttime world dotted with the golden eyes of other animals. Welcome to the gleaming world of eyeshine, where wildlife, or perhaps your dog caught in the beam of a flashlight on the last walk before bed, stares at you with glowing eyes.
Mining for Gold – in a Leaf
Leaf miners are often overlooked and don’t get no respect. Yet they are everywhere and
offer a fascinating look at life inside a leaf and the subtle communication between the miner and the host plant.