Friday, December 2, 2011
73 years of photos of one woman doing the same thing every year
Shooting Gallery, 1936-2009
"In 1936, 16-year-old Ria van Dijk from Tilburg, Holland, fires a gun in a fairground shooting gallery. She hits the target, triggering a camera to take her portrait as a prize.
At the age of 88, Ria van Dijk still makes her annual pilgrimage to the Shooting Gallery."
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Gorgeous Dinosaur Nest Found Full of Babies
A nest full of fossilized dinosaur babies has been discovered in Mongolia, and the find has paleontologists reexamining styles of parental care among the ancient reptiles.
The approximately 75-million-year-old nest shows 15 juvenile members of Protoceratops andrewsi—a relative of Triceratops—entombed in ancient sand dune deposits. The nest was recently discovered by Mongolian paleontologist Pagmin Narmandakh in the region's Djadokhta formation.
The 2.3-foot-wide (0.7-meter-wide) nest is breathtaking, according to David Fastovsky, a co-author on a paper about the dinosaur nest published in the November edition of the Journal of Paleontology.
Unlike other dinosaur nests found with fossil eggs, the babies in this nest appear to have been about a year old when they died.
"We think there's good evidence for some sort of parental care, because these animals are growing together at the nest," said Fastovsky, a paleontologist at the University of Rhode Island. "They did not come fresh out of eggs two minutes ago."
Protoceratops
Above, a reconstruction of a previously found Protoceratops andrewsi fossil shows the herbivore's distinctive head frill and beaklike mouth. Protoceratops is a primitive member of Ceratopsia, the dinosaur group that includes Triceratops. Adults could grow to around six feet (two meters) long.
Protoceratops andrewsi lived in a sand sea that existed some 75 million years ago in the center of Asia, where the Gobi is found today.
"Think Lawrence of Arabia—that is the environment that these animals were living in," Fastovsky said. While the landscape was rugged, it must have been biologically productive, as it apparently provided Protoceratops with enough plant life to survive.
Crowded Nest
The fossil dinosaurs huddle together in the ancient nest.
Scientists once believed that dinosaurs generally followed a crocodile-like model of child care—they would lay their eggs and leave their nests for good. This idea was replaced by the view that dinosaurs raised their young for a time after hatching, the way many birds do.
Now, Fastovsky explained, people understand that the ancient reptiles had parenting styles unlike those of any animals alive today.
Fifteen babies, as seen in the newfound fossil nest, is an unusually large number of offspring for any animal to nurture at once, Fastovsky said. Modern animals tend to have a few young, in which they invest heavily, like humans, or they have a "zillion babies" and show no parental care, like mosquitoes.
"So these [dinosaurs] seem to be something else."
Sandy Death
As seen above, all of the young Protoceratops in the newfound nest are facing the same direction, giving scientists a clue to how they died.
"Our scenario is that these things were pointed away from the wind as it was blowing during a sand storm, and then they were catastrophically buried by an encroaching dune," Fastovsky said.
"I think in this particular case, it really was dramatic—this fossil really records the last, bug-eyed, terrified minutes of their little lives."
Beaked Baby
A close-up view shows the head of one of the young Protoceratops with its tiny beaked mouth.
Another fossil discovered in the same region shows an adult Protoceratops and a velociraptor locked in an apparent death grip. "So you have two stunning examples of dinosaur behavior frozen for us to see some 75 million years later," Fastovsky said.
It's likely that velociraptors preyed on Protoceratops young, he added: "The desert environment where they lived just had to be hard, and possibly there were relatively high mortality rates."
Last Looks
A side view shows the jumble of bones in the fossil dinosaur nest. Overall, the newfound nest is "an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous fossil," Fastovsky said.
"I think there's room in the world for really amazing fossils [like this one] to really bring home to people the significance of ancient life on Earth."
The approximately 75-million-year-old nest shows 15 juvenile members of Protoceratops andrewsi—a relative of Triceratops—entombed in ancient sand dune deposits. The nest was recently discovered by Mongolian paleontologist Pagmin Narmandakh in the region's Djadokhta formation.
The 2.3-foot-wide (0.7-meter-wide) nest is breathtaking, according to David Fastovsky, a co-author on a paper about the dinosaur nest published in the November edition of the Journal of Paleontology.
Unlike other dinosaur nests found with fossil eggs, the babies in this nest appear to have been about a year old when they died.
"We think there's good evidence for some sort of parental care, because these animals are growing together at the nest," said Fastovsky, a paleontologist at the University of Rhode Island. "They did not come fresh out of eggs two minutes ago."
Above, a reconstruction of a previously found Protoceratops andrewsi fossil shows the herbivore's distinctive head frill and beaklike mouth. Protoceratops is a primitive member of Ceratopsia, the dinosaur group that includes Triceratops. Adults could grow to around six feet (two meters) long.
Protoceratops andrewsi lived in a sand sea that existed some 75 million years ago in the center of Asia, where the Gobi is found today.
"Think Lawrence of Arabia—that is the environment that these animals were living in," Fastovsky said. While the landscape was rugged, it must have been biologically productive, as it apparently provided Protoceratops with enough plant life to survive.
The fossil dinosaurs huddle together in the ancient nest.
Scientists once believed that dinosaurs generally followed a crocodile-like model of child care—they would lay their eggs and leave their nests for good. This idea was replaced by the view that dinosaurs raised their young for a time after hatching, the way many birds do.
Now, Fastovsky explained, people understand that the ancient reptiles had parenting styles unlike those of any animals alive today.
Fifteen babies, as seen in the newfound fossil nest, is an unusually large number of offspring for any animal to nurture at once, Fastovsky said. Modern animals tend to have a few young, in which they invest heavily, like humans, or they have a "zillion babies" and show no parental care, like mosquitoes.
"So these [dinosaurs] seem to be something else."
As seen above, all of the young Protoceratops in the newfound nest are facing the same direction, giving scientists a clue to how they died.
"Our scenario is that these things were pointed away from the wind as it was blowing during a sand storm, and then they were catastrophically buried by an encroaching dune," Fastovsky said.
"I think in this particular case, it really was dramatic—this fossil really records the last, bug-eyed, terrified minutes of their little lives."
A close-up view shows the head of one of the young Protoceratops with its tiny beaked mouth.
Another fossil discovered in the same region shows an adult Protoceratops and a velociraptor locked in an apparent death grip. "So you have two stunning examples of dinosaur behavior frozen for us to see some 75 million years later," Fastovsky said.
It's likely that velociraptors preyed on Protoceratops young, he added: "The desert environment where they lived just had to be hard, and possibly there were relatively high mortality rates."
Last Looks
A side view shows the jumble of bones in the fossil dinosaur nest. Overall, the newfound nest is "an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous fossil," Fastovsky said.
"I think there's room in the world for really amazing fossils [like this one] to really bring home to people the significance of ancient life on Earth."
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Abandoned Catalina seaplane 50 years between the sea and the desert
It's a beautiful seaplane abandoned between the sea and the desert of Saudi Arabia and it's been left there for almost 50 years. The plane is a PBY-5A Catalina, a military American seaplane from the 1930's. It's is located on a beach off the Strait of Tiran on the Saudi Arabia side of the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. Thanks to Adam, we get to know about it and it's story (You too can propose a story to us) :
"The aircraft is a PBY-5A model and was bought from the US Navy by Thomas W Kendall, a retired businessman who converted it to a luxury flying yacht.
The PBY-5A Catalina was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II.
In the spring of 1960 Mr Kendall took a pleasure trip around the world with his wife and children together with his secretary and her son. A photographer joined the group to cover part of the trip for life magazine.
On the 22nd March 1960 they landed at the Strait of Tirana and anchored the aircraft a short distance from the shore to spend the night there. They heard someone shouting but did not pay any attention.
In the afternoon of the following day they were attacked with machine guns and automatic firearms from a headland nearby. The children were able to swim back to the aircraft. Mr Kendal and his secretary were wounded while trying to start the Catalina but moved it about 800 metres, unfortunately it ran aground on a coral reef.
The firing lasted 30 to 40 minutes and no fewer than 300 shots hit the aircraft. The fuel tanks were perforated and 4000 litres of fuel poured from the holes but miraculously the aircraft did not catch fire. The sea was only about 1.5 metres deep and all aboard managed to leave the aircraft and reach the shore.
"The aircraft is a PBY-5A model and was bought from the US Navy by Thomas W Kendall, a retired businessman who converted it to a luxury flying yacht.
In the spring of 1960 Mr Kendall took a pleasure trip around the world with his wife and children together with his secretary and her son. A photographer joined the group to cover part of the trip for life magazine.
On the beach they were captured by a group of Bedouins attached to the Saudi Arabian army, who had taken them to be Israeli commandos. They were eventually taken to Jeddah, interrogated and finally set free with the help of the American Ambassador. The Ambassador protested to the Saudi Arabian government but they refused to accept any liability for the attack and consequent loss of the aircraft." Incredible story. Thank you Adam.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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