Lifeboat Foundation

Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory photo ambassador, a member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical “skyscapes” that connect Earth and the night sky. Join him here as he takes us through his photograph “Light Trails in Israel Desert.”

Star trails circle over Ramon Crater in this long-exposure photo of the night sky over Israel’s Negev Desert.

I captured this photo from inside Ramon Crater (also known as Makhtesh Ramon), the world’s largest erosion cirque. The Ramon Crater geological formation has nothing to do with a meteor strike, despite its name. Rather, this “crater” formed about 220 million years ago when the ocean that once covered the area dried up. The eroding ocean floor then gave way to the crater-like valley we see there today.

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When Jeff Bezos and his first Amazon staff began selling books from his garage, they started an enterprise that is now the largest online retailer in much of the world. As Amazon celebrates its 25th birthday, it’s the world’s most valuable public company and Bezos is the richest person on the planet.

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• By Jeff Carbeck on July 1, 2019

Ultimately, things didn’t go as he had planned.

Talented wildlife photographer David Weiller has captured absolutely gorgeous footage of a beautiful markia hystrix, better known as a lichen katydid as it delicately walked along the branch of a tree covered in the distinctive white filamentous lichen for which the graceful insect was named. The insect-focused blog Nature and Moretells has more information on these beautiful creatures.

Katydids comprise a diverse group of insects particularly well adapted to survival in rainforest because of their exceptional camouflage. Most katydids are well camouflaged with brown or leaflike green markings. The Lichen Katydid, Markia hystrix (Orthoptera – Tettigoniidae), however, has one of the most incredible camouflages of all. It resembles the pale greenish-white lichens on which it lives in rainforest treetops. Not only does the color match the lichens, but the body and legs have a bizarre assortment of spines and points that blend well with lichens, in fact, so well that this insect is extremely difficult for predator to find.

Continue reading “Gorgeous Footage of a Camouflaged Lichen Katydid Delicately Walking Along Its Matching Branch” »