People in a macro world.
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Pelicans, Cormorants and a few others on the crowded sand bar in the Fiorenza reservoir, probably shrinking due to the recent rains. Houston, Texas.
Why spider webs glisten with dew
Two driving forces acting on wet spider silk help it to capture water.
Janet Fang
spiderweb
The spider's web captures a string of dewy pearls.Janet Fang
Researchers have puzzled out how spider silk is able to catch the morning dew. Their findings may lead to the development of new materials that are able to capture water from the air.
The study, published today in Nature1, examines the silk of the hackled orbweaver spider Uloborus walckenaerius. "Bright, pearl-like water drops hang on thin spider silk in the morning after fogging," says study author Lei Jiang from the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences. "It is unexpected and interesting. Human hair can't do that."
Dry spider silk forms a necklace-like structure. Two main fibres support a series of separate rounded 'puffs', each made up of tiny, randomly intertwined nanofibrils. When water vapour condenses onto these puffs, they shrink into densely packed knots, shaped like spindles (or two cones with their bases stuck together). Thinner connecting stretches of nanofibrils, separating the knots, become more apparent; these areas are called 'joints'.
The researchers studied the webs under both electron and light microscopes. They noticed that as water condenses on the web, droplets move towards the nearest spindle-knot, where they coalesce to form larger drops.
The spindle-knots have a rough surface, because the fibrils within them are randomly interweaved. But the joints between the knots have a smooth texture, because their constituent fibrils run parallel to each other. It is this difference in roughness that helps water drops to slide towards the spindle-knots, sticking when they arrive.
The cone shape of the spindle-knots also drives droplets towards their centre. Once they hit the edge of a cone, drops are propelled towards its base, the least curved region, because of the pressure difference caused by surface tension.
Mimicking nature
Guided by their findings, the team made their own artificial spider silk using nylon fibres dipped in a polymer solution that, when dried, formed spindle-knots similar to those in natural spider silk. They anticipate that their studies of these fibres could lead to new materials for collecting water from the air.
"It is impressive that they were able to produce an analogue of wetted [spider] thread that duplicated the properties that they observed," says spider silk expert Brent Opell of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
But it doesn't seem likely that natural selection has directed the evolution of this particular spider's silk for water collection, he adds. The spider's thread seems to have evolved to work best when it is dr
La rosada s'observa de matinada, amb nits serenes i encalmades, tot i que no és estrany veure-la tot just després del crepuscle. És més freqüent en llocs baixos i plans que en els cims de les muntanyes. La major part dels dies, quan surt el sol, el terra s'escalfa i les gotes d'aigua desapareixen ràpidament en evaporar-se. Quan l'observador disposa d'instrumental de mesura homologat i en bon estat de funcionament, pot constatar com un augment de la humitat absoluta i/o un descens de la temperatura en la capa d'aire més propera a terra són condicions necessàries per a la formació de la rosada. Cal insistir que la rosada no és un tipus de precipitació des d'un núvol. La rosada va associada a humitats relatives altes, habitualment superiors al 80%.[1]
Degut a la seva dependència del balanç de radiació, les quantitat de radiació poden arribar a un màxim teòric de 0,8 mm per nit, tanmateix, rarament excedeixen de 0,5 mm. i de 40 a 50 mm per any.[2] A la majoria dels climes del món la quantitat de rosada és massa petita per competir amb la pluja. En regions amb estació seca considerable plantes adaptades com els líquens o les plànules de pins es beneficien de la rosada. A gran escala regar sense pluja a llocs com el desert d'Atacama o el Namib es fan capturant la boira no pas la rosada.
Un aparell clàssic de mesurar la rosada és el drosòmetre encara que només proporciona el potencial de formació de rosades. Per a mesurar la quantitat real de rosada es fan servir petits lisímetres o altres mètodes.
According to the micrometer, the penny is not shrinking, it still measures 750/1000 inches or 3/4 of an inch.
This is a focus stack image created using 11 separate images and then stacked using AFFINITY Photo Software. It did all the work, I just pressed the shutter.
Wer ihn nochmal sehen will sollte sich beeilen,es fehlen nur noch ein paar Meter bis er in die Nordsee stürzt !
Who wants to see him again should hurry, it lacks only a few meters until he crashes into the North Sea!
Die dänische Naturbehörde rechnet im November 2017 aufgrund der inzwischen nur noch 8 Meter betragenden Entfernung des Turmes zum Meer mit dem baldigen Sturz des Gebäudes in die Nordsee. Sollte die Entfernung auf 5 Meter schrumpfen, wird aus Sicherheitsgründen der Zugang zum Turm gesperrt. Ein Wintersturm kann schon diese Situation herbeiführen. Die Naturbehörde als Eigner will dem Sturz ins Meer zuvorkommen und das Gebäude abbauen.[6] Politiker der Gemeinde Hjørring beschlossen im Herbst 2018, den Turm 60–80 Meter in das Landesinnere zu versetzen. Die Dänische Regierung stellt dafür 5 Millionen Kronen zur Verfügung. Es fehlt noch eine Firma, die für diese Summe den Auftrag annimmt.
The Danish nature authority expects in November 2017 due to the now only 8 feet amount of the tower to the sea with the impending fall of the building in the North Sea. Should the distance shrink to 5 meters, access to the tower will be blocked for security reasons. A winter storm can bring about this situation. The nature authority as owner wants to forestall the fall into the sea and dismantle the building. Politicians of the municipality Hjørring decided in autumn 2018 to move the tower 60-80 meters into the interior of the country. The Danish government is providing 5 million kroner. There is still missing a company that accepts the order for this sum.
Wikipedia
I am mad at myself this morning, I trusted the card that failed the other day and it did it again. A total kick in the gut! Shame on me! Also, my heart isn't in this, the realization that my son is moving out of state in three days has hit me hard today. He moved out 6 years ago, has graduated from college and got married last week but all of this happened in state. I got to witness it all and be in his life but now I'll have to learn how to be without having him around. Ever feel like your world is shrinking?
May you shine brightly wherever you are today!
The Pickens Anderson Job pulls out of the large First Quality Paper Company's mill located south of Anderson. This mill opened in 2010 to produce bath tissue, paper towels, and was later expanded to make shrink film, printed rolls and compression bags.
Humpback whales normally travel alone. But in southeast Alaska, some occasionally work as a team to capture fish. With "bubble-netting," a group of humpbacks come together and rapidly circle in an upwardly shrinking spiral. The whales blow bubbles beneath a school of fish, commonly herring. The herring gets corralled into the net, produced by the whales’ precise, fine-scale movements and finely tuned teamwork. Then they efficiently scoop up lunch with their mammoth-sized mouths, gulping thousands of fish at once. It’s over in a flash and you never know the exact spot where the whales will engage in the behavior.
Not all humpbacks do this. Estimates are that only 60-100 whales out of approximately 4000 in southeast Alaska engage in this learned activity.
It was truly a treat to witness this.
There was an April snow storm moving in, but I wasn't about to pass up CN A402 with a C40-8M leading.
As the CN C40-8M fleet continues to shrink seeing them in the lead is always a treat.
Pictured is 2443 leading A402 over the Grand River at Caledonia.
Calgary, AB
Linear and inexorable, the shelf of ice grows from the banks of the Bow River to encroach upon a family of ducks.
Great and Snowy Egrets take advantage of the dead fish at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware, USA. The pond shrunk due to a prolonged drought, so the water loses its oxygen, and the fish suffocate. This is good for the birds, as it gives them a bonanza to feed on.
Alp Grüm, eastern Switzerland.
All rights reserved - © Judith A. Taylor
More mountain photos on my web site All rights reserved - © Judith Taylor
The world beneath our feet holds boundless secrets, and macro photography is the key to unlocking them. This intimate photographic style shrinks the viewer down to the scale of the subject, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Here, a cluster of delicate, golden-capped toadstools emerges from a tapestry of vibrant green moss. The slight frost or dusting on the caps, coupled with the soft, diffused light, highlights the texture and subtle curves of each fungus. The shallow depth of field is essential in macro work, blurring the busy background into a painterly wash of browns and oranges, compelling the eye to focus solely on the fragile life at the center. It's a testament to the fact that the most compelling and detailed subjects often require us to pause, kneel down, and look closely at the miniature landscapes that thrive just out of our everyday focus. Macro photography challenges us to see the world not as it appears from a distance, but as a rich, detailed ecosystem demanding our attention and admiration.
Adrienne landed hard, back in the same spot at her place—heart pounding as her vision blinked from the double jump. The jolt still echoed in her head. She gripped her pistol, sweeping the scene.
She didn’t expect Kayla to be standing there, staring down at the dead reptilian sprawled on the floor.
Kayla's voice snapped through the tension. “Why are you here? I told you to jump.”
“I did! But I didn’t mean to leave you—something went wrong, I came back as soon as I could. Why are you still here? Why didn’t you jump?”
“I did. But then I jumped again—straight behind it. Took it down before it knew I was back.” Her expression softened, then hardened again. “Adrienne, coming back was reckless. If that thing wasn’t dead, if it had seen you while you were still recovering from the jump… it would've killed you. I appreciate the gesture, but please don’t do that again.”
Adrienne nodded that she understood.
“Hurry. Grab whatever you need,” Kayla continued, wiping the blood from her blade. “We jump back to the shelter. Clean up there.”
Adrienne hesitated, looking down at the reptilian. “The creature is shrinking in size. Are you sure it’s dead?”
Kayla didn’t look back. “It’s dead. Trust me. Just hurry.”
Adrienne stepped past the creature, careful not to touch its twisted limbs. She stuffed clothes into a backpack, slipped her pistol into the side pocket of her computer bag, and snagged a box of ammunition.
“Ready.”
Kayla nodded. They jumped.
—
The shelter greeted them with flickering light and silence. Only their ragged breathing disturbed the hush. They stood for a moment, studying each other—both smeared in thick, pungent green blood, dark and viscous.
Kayla’s grimace was faint but sincere. “You were lucky today.”
Adrienne glanced down and froze. Her shirt bore three perfect slashes, clean as razor cuts, right where the creature had almost reached her.
She swallowed the rush of nausea.
________
The shower room was carved into the stone and left almost entirely natural. A spring-fed waterfall poured into a shallow pool, its runoff streaming through a channel beneath the floor. The water was warm—surprisingly warm—and Adrienne let it wash over her, the day slipping off her skin.
Soon Kayla stepped in, arms full—towels, and a bottle of red. She grinned. “Wine for survival. And we got the computer.”
They eased into the pool, steam rising between them as the glasses clinked.
Kayla sipped and leaned back. “So… where do we find internet around here?”
Adrienne considered. “Most restaurants or a library should have it. Shouldn’t be hard.”
Kayla tapped her glass against Adrienne’s. “I think I know a spot to try.
We’ll have to keep sharp, though. Just in case.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can view Quantum Fold episodes in order from the beginning in her album titled, Quantum Fold:
www.flickr.com/photos/199076397@N02/albums/72177720326169...
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Only an hour after sunrise, East Midlands Railway Intercity liveried 43102 'The Journey Shrinker: 148.5mph The Worlds Fastest Diesel Train' heads 1C15 0519 Leeds - London St Pancras service passed Cossington with 43295 trailing on Tuesday 6th April 2021.
Took this photo as the sun's rays were fading quickly into the night skies. Taken from Prout's Island in Lake Sesekinika in Sesekinika Grenfell Township Northeastern Ontario Canada
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"A society defined by fences
And talking of violence
Shrinks to miniature.
When stupidity is exposed
It may become explosive."
Een samenleving bepaald door hekken
En door praten over geweld
Krimpt tot een miniatuur.
Als stompzinnigheid wordt blootgelegd
Kan het explosief worden.
more: dragermeurtant.com/2025/06/25/under-threat-onder-bedreiging/
43102 The Journey Shrinker 148.5MPH The Worlds Fastest Diesel Train and 43274 power 1D66 19.04 St. Pancras International - Leeds past Milton Ernest, north of Bedford. [Pole, 3.5/6 sections (~4.7m)]
I'd originally gone for this set (with purple 43274 leading) on its southbound run at Great Bowden (just north of Market Harborough) - a spot I'd yet to get in sun with an HST - but, for the second day running, the train's passing missed a sunny spell by less than five minutes. With clearer skies further south I decided to head for Millbrook (south of Bedford) for the northbound run (and possibly the other HST heading south), but the sun was on the edge of a bank of cloud and went into it just after I arrived. However, it looked like it was still sunny north of Bedford, so I made the move (having watched the southbound HST go past in the dull)... and got here to find the sun behind a narrow strip of thin cloud, but looking like it was about to drop into a strip of blue just below it (although with a bank of cloud below that). The blue strip appeared to be closing up but miraculously the sun appeared as the train was approaching Bedford and then held for long enough. The photo was taken just after 7.45pm, and the sun is low enough that the far rail under the leading bogie is lit. Definitely worth the effort!
To see my non-transport pictures, visit www.flickr.com/photos/137275498@N03/.
43102 'The Journey Shrinker' leads 1B63 16:45 Nottingham-St.Pancras, photographed at Harrowden Junction on the 30th of March 2021. My first shot on this section of line since 2019, and my 'Massive' journey here of less than 30 miles, is actually the furthest I have driven for well over a year!
This plant is growing in a neighbor's yard in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. Taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max set to macro and raw.
An unusual remodel. Remove windows, shrink the entryway but leave an overlarge porch roof. Looked striking in late afternoon light, though. And I like molded plastic chairs that give a teeth-like finish to the eyes-and-nose array of the windows.
The shorelines of PEI are eroding faster due to effects of climate change. Weather events like storm surges and rising sea levels are causing many structures to be at risk. These causes hit the island hard because the coastline is made up mainly of sandstone and sand which does not stand up to the increased weathering. There used to be more ice in the winter which would act as a buffer from some of the erosion but there hasn’t been much ice in recent winters. Experts say the province loses about 28 cm of land every year. In some spots the shore breaks off in large chunks. One of the vulnerable structures on the island are the lighthouses. This lighthouse at Seacow Head was already moved back from the bank in 1979. Other structures that are at risk are the wind turbines and of course, many homes.
A beautiful sunset among the mountains of southeast Alaska. Yet the trace of glacier is frustrating, from glacier to waterfall to stream. It is unfortunate to see glacier keep shrinking over the years.
Hills composed of multicolored bentonite clays in Capitol Reef National Park- The rough texture of the surface is due to the shrinking and swelling of the clays from wetting and drying cycles. This and the chemistry of the soils makes them a difficult medium for plant growth, contributing to the barren look. Driving through this area after it rains is difficult due to the slick and sticky nature of the soil. In the distance Factory and Caineville Buttes stick up on the horizon.
For Macromondays' "Crack Theme." This is a small section of a vase I turned out of very green wood just to see what would happen. It shrank and twisted quite a bit. The area shown is about a 1 1/4" square.
Val-d'Isère, Savoie, Auvernia-Ródano-Alpes, France.
Val d'Isère es una comuna francesa situada en el departamento de Saboya, en la región Auvernia-Ródano-Alpes.
Val-d'Isère es una famosa estación de esquí a tan solo 5 kilómetros de la frontera con Italia. Se encuentra en el extremo del parque nacional de la Vanoise, en pleno corazón de los Alpes.
La ladera de Bellavarde fue el escenario de cuatro de las cinco pruebas del descenso masculino de esquí alpino en los Juegos Olímpicos de Albertville 1992. Además, Val-d'Isère fue la sede del Campeonato Mundial de Esquí Alpino del año 2009, siendo también sede habitual de eventos de la Copa del Mundo de esquí alpino.
Val-d'Isère se encuentra ubicada en una de las zonas esquiables más populares en Europa. Junto a su localidad vecina de Tignes forma parte del llamado Espacio Killy, llamado así por el esquiador francés Jean-Claude Killy, y se autotitula como "La zona de esquí más bonita del mundo". Aparte de la belleza del lugar, la zona es uno de los espacios de esquí más extensos del mundo.
El esquí en Val-d'Isère se remonta a los años 1930, cuando se construyó un elevador en las laderas del monte Solaise. A este elevador siguió la instalación de un teleférico.
El Glaciar de Pissaillas hace posible el esquí también en verano, aunque en los últimos tiempos se ha restringido la temporada estival debido a la reducción del glaciar como consecuencia de la subida de temperaturas producida por el cambio climático. Las pistas de esquí están equipadas con cañones de nieve y un gran número de telesillas, además del funicular que conecta la zona de La Daille con la cima del Bellavarde. La estación también cuenta con dos pistas para practicar freeride, esquí extremo por rutas realmente escarpadas.
Gran parte de los esquiadores que hacen uso de la estación proceden de las zonas orientales de Francia, así como de otros países como Italia, Suiza o Alemania, debido a la popularidad y la cercanía a la frontera francesa. La economía de la localidad depende claramente de la actividad de la estación, con un alto protagonismo del sector terciario.
Val d'Isère is a French commune located in the Savoy department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Val-d'Isère is a famous ski resort just 5 kilometers from the Italian border. It is located at the edge of the Vanoise National Park, in the heart of the Alps.
The Bellavarde slope was the setting for four of the five men's downhill alpine skiing events at the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games. In addition, Val-d'Isère was the venue for the 2009 Alpine Ski World Championships, also hosting regular for alpine skiing World Cup events.
Val-d'Isère is located in one of the most popular ski areas in Europe. Together with its neighboring town of Tignes, it forms part of the so-called Killy Space, named after the French skier Jean-Claude Killy, and calls itself "The most beautiful ski area in the world". Apart from the beauty of the place, the area is one of the largest ski areas in the world.
Skiing in Val-d'Isère dates back to the 1930s, when a lift was built on the slopes of Mont Solaise. This lift was followed by the installation of a cable car.
The Pissaillas Glacier also makes skiing possible in summer, although in recent times the summer season has been restricted due to the shrinking of the glacier as a result of rising temperatures caused by climate change. The ski slopes are equipped with snow cannons and a large number of chair lifts, in addition to the funicular that connects the La Daille area with the top of Bellavarde. The station also has two slopes to practice freeride, extreme skiing along really steep routes.
A large part of the skiers who make use of the resort come from the eastern parts of France, as well as from other countries such as Italy, Switzerland or Germany, due to its popularity and proximity to the French border. The economy of the town clearly depends on the activity of the station, with a high role of the tertiary sector.
43102 The Journey Shrinker 148.5MPH The Worlds Fastest Diesel Train and 43274 power 1B63 16.45 Nottingham - St. Pancras International across Radwell Vaiduct over the River Great Ouse, north of Bedford. [Pole, 3/6 sections (~4m)]
To see my non-transport pictures, visit www.flickr.com/photos/137275498@N03/.
© All Rights Reserved. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my prior permission.
In this shot you can see how low the marsh has gotten this summer. That little patch of land the seagulls are using is usually under water.
We’re still in the first week of Spring so we’re slowly saying good-bye to the snow on our lawn.
Past month this shows massive snow, below…
Image ©Philip Krayna, all rights reserved. This image is not in the public domain. Please contact me for permission to download, license, reproduce, or otherwise use this image, or to just say "hello". I value your input and comments.
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