polymorph photos on Flickr

Partially devitrified rhyolitic obsidian with lithophysae (Roaring Mountain Member, Plateau Rhyolite, Upper Pleistocene, ~59 ka; Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA) 5 by James St. John

Obsidian in the Pleistocene of Wyoming, USA.

Obsidian is a glassy-textured, extrusive igneous rock. Glassy-textured rocks have no crystals at all. They form by very rapid cooling of lava or by cooling of high-viscosity lava. Most obsidians form by the latter. Obsidian can be felsic, intermediate, mafic, or alkaline in chemistry. Most are felsic to intermediate.

A famous locality in North America is Obsidian Cliff at Yellowstone, Wyoming. It is a Pleistocene-aged lava flow with the chemistry of rhyolite (= a light-colored, felsic, aphanitic, extrusive igneous rock). The cliff itself shows columnar jointing. The rocks principally range from aphyric rhyolitic obsidian to partially devitrified rhyolitic obsidian. Lithophysae are sometimes present. Extremely small, microscopic crystals are present - they can be seen in thin sections. Some samples are reported to have small olivine phenocrysts. Small clusters of crystals, composed of plagioclase feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine, are sometimes present.

Many of the whitish-colored spots and bands running through most Obsidian Cliff rock samples are areas of devitrification. Glass is unstable on geologic times scales and it slowly crystallizes. The light-colored spots and bands are now non-glassy. Spotted, partially devitrified obsidian is known by the rockhound term "snowflake obsidian" (see: www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/16561606417). The spots are composed of silica (SiO2), but are not quartz. Rather, they are composed of a polymorph of quartz - cristobalite.

The subrounded cavities are lithophysae - they formed before the rock completely solidified. The original lava flow had some subspherical structures known as spherulites, composed of glassy to cryptocrystalline material (many felsic extrusive igneous rocks have these). Expanding gases in the spherulites destroyed this material, resulting in partially empty spaces.

Stratigraphy: Roaring Mountain Member, Plateau Rhyolite, Upper Pleistocene, ~59 ka

Locality: loose boulder near the base of Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone National Park, northwestern Wyoming, USA

----------------------

Age & some lithologic info. from:

Wooton (2010) - Age and Petrogenesis of the Roaring Mountain Rhyolites, Yellowstone Volcanic Field, Wyoming. M.S. thesis. University of Nevada at Las Vegas. 296 pp.

Bargara - Loggerhead Turtle Laying Eggs at Nielson Beach by GavGTP

*

Turtle Eggs ready to be moved to a secure enclosure for hatching. Volunteers monitor the beaches for turtles laying then retrieve the eggs and place them in a caged off enclosure a few meters away.

The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around 90 cm (35 in) in carapace length when fully grown. The adult loggerhead sea turtle weighs approximately 135 kg (298 lb), with the largest specimens weighing in at more than 450 kg (1,000 lb). The skin ranges from yellow to brown in color, and the shell is typically reddish brown. No external differences in sex are seen until the turtle becomes an adult, the most obvious difference being the adult males have thicker tails and shorter plastrons (lower shells) than the females.

The loggerhead sea turtle is found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. It spends most of its life in saltwater and estuarine habitats, with females briefly coming ashore to lay eggs. The loggerhead sea turtle has a low reproductive rate; females lay an average of four egg clutches and then become quiescent, producing no eggs for two to three years. The loggerhead reaches sexual maturity within 17–33 years and has a lifespan of 47–67 years.

The loggerhead sea turtle is omnivorous, feeding mainly on bottom-dwelling invertebrates. Its large and powerful jaws serve as an effective tool for dismantling its prey. Young loggerheads are exploited by numerous predators; the eggs are especially vulnerable to terrestrial organisms. Once the turtles reach adulthood, their formidable size limits predation to large marine animals, such as large sharks.

The loggerhead sea turtle has a cosmopolitan distribution, nesting over the broadest geographical range of any sea turtle. It inhabits the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.

In the Atlantic Ocean, the greatest concentration of loggerheads is along the southeastern coast of North America and in the Gulf of Mexico. Very few loggerheads are found along the European and African coastlines. Florida is the most popular nesting site, with more than 67,000 nests built per year. Nesting extends as far north as Virginia, as far south as Brazil, and as far east as the Cape Verde Islands. The Cape Verde Islands are the only significant nesting site on the eastern side of the Atlantic. Loggerheads found in the Atlantic Ocean feed from Canada to Brazil.

In the Indian Ocean, loggerheads feed along the coastlines of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and in the Arabian Sea. Along the African coastline, loggerheads nest from Mozambique's Bazaruto Archipelago to South Africa's St Lucia estuary. The largest Indian Ocean nesting site is Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula, which hosts around 15,000 nests, giving it the second largest nesting population of loggerheads in the world. Western Australia is another notable nesting area, with 1,000–2,000 nests per year.

Pacific loggerheads live in temperate to tropical regions. They forage in the East China Sea, the southwestern Pacific, and along the Baja California Peninsula. Eastern Australia and Japan are the major nesting areas, with the Great Barrier Reef deemed an important nesting area. Pacific loggerheads occasionally nest in Vanuatu and Tokelau. Yakushima Island is the most important site, with three nesting grounds visited by 40% of all nearby loggerheads. After nesting, females often find homes in the East China Sea, while the Kuroshio Current Extension's Bifurcation region provides important juvenile foraging areas. Eastern Pacific populations are concentrated off the coast of Baja California, where upwelling provides rich feeding grounds for juvenile turtles and subadults. Nesting sites along the eastern Pacific Basin are rare. mtDNA sequence polymorphism analysis and tracking studies suggest 95% of the population along the coast of the Americas hatch on the Japanese Islands in the western Pacific. The turtles are transported by the prevailing currents across the full length of the northern Pacific, one of the longest migration routes of any marine animal. The return journey to the natal beaches in Japan has been long suspected, although the trip would cross unproductive clear water with few feeding opportunities. Evidence of a return journey came from an adult female loggerhead named Adelita, which in 1996, equipped with a satellite tracking device, made the 14,500 km (9,000 mi) trip from Mexico across the Pacific. Adelita was the first animal of any kind ever tracked across an ocean basin.

The Mediterranean Sea is a nursery for juveniles, as well as a common place for adults in the spring and summer months. Almost 45% of the Mediterranean juvenile population has migrated from the Atlantic. Loggerheads feed in the Alboran Sea and the Adriatic Sea, with tens of thousands of specimens (mainly sub-adult) seasonally present in the North-Eastern portion of the latter, above all in the area of the Po Delta. Greece is the most popular nesting site along the Mediterranean, with more than 3,000 nests per year. Zakynthos hosts the largest Mediterranean nesting with the second one being in Kyparissia Bay. Because of this, Greek authorities do not allow planes to take off or land at night in Zakynthos due to the nesting turtles. In addition to the Greek coast, the coastlines of Cyprus and Turkey are also common nesting sites.

*Wikipedia

Borboleta by Rodrigo Soldon Souza

As borboletas são insectos da ordem Lepidoptera classificados nas super-famílias Hesperioidea e Papilionoidea, que constituem o grupo informal Rhopalocera.

As borboletas têm dois pares de asas membranosas cobertas de escamas e peças bucais adaptadas a sucção. Distinguem-se das traças (mariposas) pelas antenas rectilíneas que terminam numa bola, pelos hábitos de vida diurnos, pela metamorfose que decorre dentro de uma crisálida rígida e pelo abdómen fino e alongado. Quando em repouso, as borboletas dobram as suas asas para cima.

As borboletas são importantes polinizadores de diversas espécies de plantas.

O ciclo de vida das borboletas engloba as seguintes etapas:

1) ovo→ fase pré-larval

2) larva→ chamada também de lagarta ou taturana,

3) pupa→ que se desenvolve dentro da crisálida (ou casulo)

4) imago→ fase adulta

_______________________

A butterfly is any of several groups of mainly day-flying insects of the order Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, butterflies' life cycle consists of four parts, egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. Butterflies comprise the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). All the many other families within the Lepidoptera are referred to as moths.

Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some, like the Monarch, will migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Butterflies are important economically as agents of pollination. The caterpillars of some butterflies eat harmful insects. A few species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.

Polymorphism v2 by Hugo Darras

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extrem case of worker polymorphism in an ant

Ants of Taiwan 2009

台灣螞蟻

Luminescence Open Day, Saturday 25th May, 2013 by Institute of Making

Bending neon tubing with Richard Wheater and Julia Bickerstaff

Luminescence Open Day, Saturday 25th May, 2013 by Institute of Making

The robotic eyes

Morph's Epic Art Adventure London: Polymorphism by Matthew Wells

The 56 Full Sized Morphs Are:

The 23 Mini Morphs Are:

Xylaria polymorpha (Xylaire polymorphe) by Faaxaal

8

Je pense à Xylaria polymorpha (Xylaire polymorphe)

Est-ce lui ?

Merci d'avance

Small concave diffuser by Stephen Smith

The concave shape was inspired by Steb1's small concave diffuser he created for his MT24 EX (Canon equivalent of Nikon's R1C1 macro flash system), you can see Steb1's equipment setup here - flic.kr/s/aHsjjHRWp5.

I molded some plastic around the end of the SB-R200 using polymorph which protuded enough to slot in a small plastic tube. The tube naturally bends into an oval shape when slotted into the plastic mold. A concave, oval shaped deodorant lid is placed in the end which has further diffusion by 2 layers of velum paper glued to the deodorant lid. Not ideal for lighting background but concentrates the light at the subject and is very portable and not clunky or oversized like previous designs.

Claudinette ou Narcisse poétique ... by Nicolas Xanthopoulos

Le Narcisse jaune ou Narcisse trompette (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) est une espèce de plantes monocotylédones à bulbe du genre des Narcisses et de la famille des Amaryllidacées. C’est le narcisse le plus commun d'Europe. Il a dans le langage courant de très nombreux noms vernaculaires en usage plus ou moins localement.

Ce narcisse est une plante herbacée qui est vivace grâce à un bulbe ovoïde.

La tige est glabre. Elle est assez aplatie, deux angles sont visibles le long de la hampe. La plante fait généralement entre 20 et 40 cm de haut.

Les feuilles sont plates et assez charnues. Leurs extrémités sont arrondies. Elles sont toutes linéaires, larges de 4 à 15 mm. Elles dépassent parfois la tige en longueur. Elles sont regroupées par 2, 3, 4 ou 5, toujours à la base de la plante. Elles sont de couleur bleu-vert.

La plante est assez polymorphe. Selon l’éclairage, le terrain, elle aura une touffe de feuilles plus ou moins dense, la fleur sera érigée plus ou moins haut.

La fleur jaune, qui ressemble à celle de la jonquille, est grande et mesure de 4 à 6 cm de diamètre ; elle entoure une couronne cylindrique crénelée de 2 cm de long. Chaque fleur, de couleur jaune, est solitaire au sommet d'une tige nue. La fleur sort d'une spathe membraneuse régulière, penchée, à tube soudée à l'ovaire, formée de six divisions soudées à leur base. Il se trouve parfois des échantillons à fleurs doubles, à étamines transformées en pièces florales. Sa floraison commence et se termine généralement au mois d'avril mais elle peut commencer dès le mois de janvier et se finir au mois de mai. La durée de vie de cette fleur est de deux ou trois semaines. (Wiki)

Back of Morph-Code by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Partially devitrified rhyolitic obsidian with lithophysae (Roaring Mountain Member, Plateau Rhyolite, Upper Pleistocene, ~59 ka; Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA) 4 by James St. John

1

Obsidian in the Pleistocene of Wyoming, USA.

Obsidian is a glassy-textured, extrusive igneous rock. Glassy-textured rocks have no crystals at all. They form by very rapid cooling of lava or by cooling of high-viscosity lava. Most obsidians form by the latter. Obsidian can be felsic, intermediate, mafic, or alkaline in chemistry. Most are felsic to intermediate.

A famous locality in North America is Obsidian Cliff at Yellowstone, Wyoming. It is a Pleistocene-aged lava flow with the chemistry of rhyolite (= a light-colored, felsic, aphanitic, extrusive igneous rock). The cliff itself shows columnar jointing. The rocks principally range from aphyric rhyolitic obsidian to partially devitrified rhyolitic obsidian. Lithophysae are sometimes present. Extremely small, microscopic crystals are present - they can be seen in thin sections. Some samples are reported to have small olivine phenocrysts. Small clusters of crystals, composed of plagioclase feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine, are sometimes present.

Many of the whitish-colored spots and bands running through most Obsidian Cliff rock samples are areas of devitrification. Glass is unstable on geologic times scales and it slowly crystallizes. The light-colored spots and bands are now non-glassy. Spotted, partially devitrified obsidian is known by the rockhound term "snowflake obsidian" (see: www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/16561606417). The spots are composed of silica (SiO2), but are not quartz. Rather, they are composed of a polymorph of quartz - cristobalite.

The subrounded cavities are lithophysae - they formed before the rock completely solidified. The original lava flow had some subspherical structures known as spherulites, composed of glassy to cryptocrystalline material (many felsic extrusive igneous rocks have these). Expanding gases in the spherulites destroyed this material, resulting in partially empty spaces.

Stratigraphy: Roaring Mountain Member, Plateau Rhyolite, Upper Pleistocene, ~59 ka

Locality: loose boulder near the base of Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone National Park, northwestern Wyoming, USA

----------------------

Age & some lithologic info. from:

Wooton (2010) - Age and Petrogenesis of the Roaring Mountain Rhyolites, Yellowstone Volcanic Field, Wyoming. M.S. thesis. University of Nevada at Las Vegas. 296 pp.

Rotköpfige Gouldamadine (Erythrura gouldiae) by Lothar Monshausen

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Die Gouldamadine (Chloebia gouldiae, auch Erythrura gouldiae) gehört zur Familie der Prachtfinken. Sie zählen zur Fauna Australiens und sind eine polymorphe Art. In der gleichen Population kommen meist zwei, gelegentlich sogar drei in der Färbung des Oberkopfes verschiedene Variationen nebeneinander vor. Sie verpaaren sich ohne Einschränkung untereinander, so dass sie nicht als Unterarten unterschieden werden.

Gouldamadinen sind in ihrer Heimat mittlerweile selten geworden und werden von der IUCN als gefährdet (vulnerable) eingestuft. Weltweit wird dieser farbenprächtig gefiederte Vogel, der auch in freier Wildbahn in drei unterschiedlichen Farbschlägen vorkommt, als Ziervogel gehalten.

Bei rot- und gelbköpfigen Vögeln setzt ein schwarzes Band rund um den Hinterkopf die Kopffärbung vom übrigen Gefieder ab. Bei allen Farbvarianten zeigt sich an Hinterkopf und Kehle außerdem ein hellblaues Band, das allmählich in das grüne Rückengefieder übergeht.

Das Gefieder der Flügeldecken ist bei Gouldamadinen ebenfalls grün gefärbt. Auffällig ist die lilafarbene Brust, die scharf gegen den gelb gefiederten Bauch abgesetzt ist. Dieser hellt sich in Richtung Schwanz fast bis zu einem Weiß auf. Der Bürzel sowie die obere Schwanzdecke sind hellblau. Hellblau ist auch der Lidring, der die dunkelbraunen Augen umgibt. Schnabel und Füße sind hornfarben.

Die Körperlänge der Vögel beträgt bei beiden Geschlechtern etwa elf Zentimeter. Vom Kopf bis zu den Enden der beiden mittleren Schwanzfedern beträgt ihre Länge zwischen 13 und 15 Zentimeter.

Common Pierrot by _AnjAnA_

4 6

Mmmmmmmoprh! by Marnie Maurri by Matthew Wells

The 56 Full Sized Morphs Are:

The 23 Mini Morphs Are:

Luminescence Open Day, Saturday 25th May, 2013 by Institute of Making

The epic queue outside when we opened the doors

AU by HEXAGONE SCÈNE NATIONALE ARTS SCIENCES - MEYLAN

AU

Christian Ubl | Kylie Walters

DANSE — JE 28 – VE 29 JANVIER 2016 20H

à l'Hexagone Scène Nationale Arts Sciences - Meylan

—

Au départ du projet AU, il y a la volonté du chorégraphe autrichien Christian Ubl et de la chorégraphe australienne Kylie Walters de travailler ensemble et d’interroger la notion d’altérité avec d’autres artistes, notamment le compositeur Seb Martel et le paysagiste Gilles Clément. Un projet porté par l’envie des deux chorégraphes de questionner avec humour les notions déjà présentes dans les précédents volets de ce cycle (notamment Shake it out joué à l’Hexagone en 2013) : la culture, le vivre ensemble et la tradition. L’intention est d’établir comment et pourquoi « la différence » est un élément constitutif de « l’identité ».

L’écriture de AU est protéiforme, polymorphe, bâtie autour de la posture du trois temps de la valse et des danses traditionnelles aborigènes. Elle ne donne pas à voir la représentation d’une mixité de cultures juxtaposées mais le résultat d’une refonte de racines autrichiennes et australiennes où subsistent les traces des temps anciens, les résidus de codes et de clichés connus. Le choc des représentations conduira à emprunter des chemins détournés, tantôt ceux de l’absurde, tantôt ceux du burlesque, permettant de questionner la généralisation des logiques de déculturation et d’adaptation.

AU — Un code signifiant l’Autriche pour l’un, l’Australie pour l’autre où les erreurs d’acheminement de colis postaux sont fréquents. Un paradoxe, tant les deux pays sont différents.

The Treasure Map by Matthew Wells

The 56 Full Sized Morphs Are:

The 23 Mini Morphs Are:

Face of the Wheelie by Matthew Wells

The 56 Full Sized Morphs Are:

The 23 Mini Morphs Are:

Orchis de Fuchs, Dactylorhiza fuchsii by Jean-François Bousquet

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16 mai 2016, Aurignac (31), coteau calciare sec, espèce polymorphe très voisine de D. maculata de biotope plus humide

UCL Museums and Public Relations Away Day by Institute of Making

A couple of weeks ago Museums and Public relations department had an away day at the Institute of Making.

Composite materials station.

Les Sources Occultes 001/999 - 09 by thierry ehrmann

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Les Sources Occultes 001/999

blog.ehrmann.org/films2/les-sources-occultes-001999.html

Entre effroi et merveilles, une zone mouvante aux portes du futur et des enfers...

Les Sources Occultes vous entraînent au coeur d'un univers polymorphe dont les clés et les motifs se révéleront au fur et à mesure des épisodes de cette série de fictions.

En attendant un final apocalyptique, au sens premier du terme, qui révélera la structure générale sous la forme d'un long-métrage...

Les Sources Occultes offre aussi une nouvelle porte d'entrée dans le labyrinthe multidimensionnel de la Demeure du Chaos à celles et ceux qui postulent à notre casting, une occasion unique de pénétrer les arcanes de l'esprit de la Salamandre.

Réalisation : Laurent Courau

Scénario : thierry Ehrmann

Teapotty at the Chi-Tek Tea Party at the V&A by Rain Rabbit

Chi-TEK Tea Party of electronic / hacked teapots by women artists at the V&A, London www.mztek.org/programs/chi-tek/

Teapotty! is a teapot sitting on a servo which takes readings from a magnetometer which is influenced by neodymium magnets in a cup. The magnetometer takes the reading from the north position, plays a bit of something similar to the Tetley Tea tune and then moves to a new position - where the teacup moves to. BlinkM RGB LEDs indicate the new position of the teapot by changing colour based on the teapot's new position from 0-180 degrees. I made some polymorph diffuser covers for them & also added heart confetti to emphasise the feeling of heartwarming happiness a cup of tea can bring :-)

My videos & blog post about Teapotty are here: rainycatz.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/teapotty-electronic-te...

Mr Create by Jenny Leonard by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Back of the Astromorph by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura Mirabilis) by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The nursery web spider Pisaura mirabilis is a spider species of the family Pisauridae.

Striking characteristics of Pisaura mirabilis are its long legs (the fourth pair being the longest) and its slender abdomen (opisthosoma). The male is between 10 and 13 mm, while the female is 12 to 15 mm. After final ecdysis, the male spiders weigh on average 54 mg and females 68 mg.

The prosoma (cephalothorax) is variable in color, ranging from light to reddish brown and from gray to black. A lighter stripe is visible down the middle of the prosoma. The opisthosoma (abdomen) is long and narrow and tapered towards the rear end.

The female spiders has a dark patch (epigyne) on the underside of her abdomen that includes the copulatory organs. Male genital openings can be found at the same location, but remain inconspicuous.

Patterning and coloration varies due to polymorphism. These patterns, which can be caused by hair and pigments, change with the growth of the spider (ontogenesis).

Male spiders exhibit a stronger contrast than females and appear black, especially when compared to the white nuptial gifts. Females tend to get paler towards the end of summer. The stripe along the back of the body can be found in all spiders and can be seen as crypsis, a protective measure against predators.

The pedipalps in nymphs and females look similar to legs. In males, this structure gets thicker towards the end and is used to store sperm until reproduction (bulbus). The outer chelicerae segment consists of three teeth. They catch their prey during the day and at night and are also active on warm winter days.

Pisaura mirabilis has a palearctic distribution, and can be found all over Europe. These spiders inhabit the Canary Islands and Madeira, the Asian part of Russia, China and North Africa.

P. mirabilis lives in all habitats, but prefers wet environments, such as wet meadows, lowland moors, salt marshes, dunes, the edge of forests, and wet hedges. It inhabits all strata, from the ground to the top of trees, but are not found under rocks or in caves. These spiders can be found at altitudes up to 1100 m.

The spider develops from a fertilised egg inside a cocoon into an embryo. After inversion, the embryo enters the prelarval stage. A few hours later, the prelarva moults into a larva. At this stage, the spiders are colorless but mobile, and can detect sensory signals from its surrounding. They do not have any eyes yet and their chelicerae are short and sharp. A few fine hairs can be found on their feet.

Depending on the temperature, the larvae moult after 4.5 – 7.5 days into the first nymphal stage. Once leaving the cocoon through an opening, they live in a protective web made by the mother, where they feed on the leftover yolk from their eggs and drink from water droplets. After about a week, the nymphs start suspending themselves from their own spider silk and start preying on fruit flies. This usually happens in the sixth or seventh nymphal stage. Cannibalism does not occur in the first few days, but occurs in later stages. The whole nymphal stage is divided into 12 stages at most. Male spiders become sexually mature in the 9th to 11th stages, females in the 10th to 12th stages. Temperature can influence the development and number of stages, with colder temperatures slowing down the process. Under good conditions, spiders can complete their nymphal development in fewer than 12 stages.[11] The duration from prelarval stage to final moult (maturity) typically lasts 257 days for males (stage 10) and 289 days for females (stage 11). Adulthood is the period after final moult till death. Females live longer than males, the record being 247 days for females and 186.5 days for males.

Depending on habitat, nursery web spiders hibernate once or twice during the nymphal stage. The period of hibernation (diapause) is spent in ground vegetation under leaves, moss, and stones. They can be found in garages and houses, as well. Some individuals in the south of France have been found under loose bark of the plane tree. The nymphs in stages 6 to 8 start hibernating in November and continue with their development towards the end of February to the beginning of March.

Pisaura mirabilis in Western and Central Europe reach sexual maturity in May, when sperm uptake, the search for females, offering of nuptial gifts, and courtship and mating takes place. In Northern and Eastern Europe, spiders reach sexual maturity only in June, while in Southern Europe, they become sexually mature in April.

Nursery web spiders have a one-year annual cycle in southern Europe. They grow in summer, hibernate in winter, reach adulthood in spring, and reproduce and then die in autumn. Their offspring are sexually mature in the following spring. Spiders from the north have a two-year cycle, having to go through two hibernations before reaching sexual maturity. Spiders in Western and Central Europe have a mix of both one- and two-year cycles. Males have a two-month period to reproduce; females three and a half.

Males of this species offer a nuptial gift to potential female mates. Some Pisaura mirabilis specimens have also been observed to use thanatosis during courtship. After presenting the nuptial gift to the female, she bites on to the gift and the male moves to her epigyne to deposit sperm with his pedipalps. Throughout copulation, the male keeps a leg on the gift so as to be ready if she tries to escape with it or attack him. At this time, the male may feign death – his limbs become straight and he is dragged along with the female while holding on to the gift. When the female stops, the male slowly "resurrects" and continues attempting to mate. Thanatosis in P. mirabilis has been observed to significantly increase the male's odds of successfully copulating from less than 30% to 89%.

Predators of Pisaura mirabilis includes spider wasps, tree frogs, lizards, and song birds during the day, and toads, shrew mice, and bats at night. Other spider species, as well as from the same species (cannibalism), consider P. mirabilis as prey.

Nursery web spiders are often parasitised by nematodes, parasitic wasps, and Acari. These parasites infect the spider and its eggs and cocoons, which can lead to destruction of a whole clutch of eggs.

Baculoviridae and Rickettsia species infect nursery web spiders, as well. They most likely enter the gastrointestinal tract via the spiders' prey. Not only can nymphs and adults be infected, but different stages in the cocoon are infected, as well.

Are you ready? - Taken by wade by KayVee.INC

When impulse happens.

From 12g to 4g in one go. Both ears.

Polymorph - Enmore

The Morph and the Lighthouse by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Polymorph diffuser by Karsten Schmidt

No. 2/20: The Starry Night by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Lords-and-Ladies, Arum maculatum, Oaks Wood, Cambourne showing hairs for containing pollinating midges DSC_8985 by Brian Eversham

Unique among the British flowers, the bulbous base of the flower heats up, and emits a strong scent, which attracts midges, which fly past the hairs but are unable to fly out again. They spend the night inside, feeding on the nectar, and in the morning, the hairs wilt, and the midges, covered in pollen, fly out and look for another flower, taking pollen with them.

No. 4/20: Meandering Morph by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Meadow Brown - Maniola jurtina by Wesly van Batenburg

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The Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina, is a butterfy found in the Palearctic ecozone. Its range includes Europe south of 62 N, Russia eastwards to the Urals, Asia Minor, Iraq, Iran, North Africa and the Canary Islands.The larvae feed on grasses.

Similar species are Gatekeeper (which prefers to rest with its wings open) and Small Heath (which is smaller).

There is marked sexual dimorphism in this species. Males are less colorful, with smaller eyespots and much reduced orange areas on the upper forewings. They are also much more active and range far about, while females fly less and often may not away from the area where they grew up.

A variable number of smaller eyespots are usually found on the hindwing undersides. These may number up to 12 per individual butterfly, with up to 6 on each wing. The factors that govern polymorphism in this trait are not resolved, although a number of theories have been proposed (Stevens 2005). On the other hand, the evolutionary significance of the upperwing eyespots is more obvious: The more active males have a markedly more cryptic upperside pattern, whereas the females have more often opportunity to present their eyespots in a sudden display of colors and patterns that presumably make neophobic predators hesitate so that the butterfly has better chances of escaping.

Teapotty at the Chi-Tek Tea Party at the V&A by Rain Rabbit

Chi-TEK Tea Party of electronic / hacked teapots by women artists at the V&A, London www.mztek.org/programs/chi-tek/

Teapotty! is a teapot sitting on a servo which takes readings from a magnetometer which is influenced by neodymium magnets in a cup. The magnetometer takes the reading from the north position, plays a bit of something similar to the Tetley Tea tune and then moves to a new position - where the teacup moves to. BlinkM RGB LEDs indicate the new position of the teapot by changing colour based on the teapot's new position from 0-180 degrees. I made some polymorph diffuser covers for them & also added heart confetti to emphasise the feeling of heartwarming happiness a cup of tea can bring :-)

My videos & blog post about Teapotty are here: rainycatz.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/teapotty-electronic-te...

Mr Create at Royal Quays Outlet Centre by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Reddish Crystalline Melt Meteorite by RockSteadyGlitter

I believe this is a polymorph form of diamond similar to Carbonado

Butterfly by Achuthanand Ravi

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. Butterflies comprise the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). All the many other families within the Lepidoptera are referred to as moths. The earliest known butterfly fossils date to the mid Eocene epoch, between 40–50 million years ago.

Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some, like the Monarch, will migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; however, some species are agents of pollination of some plants, and caterpillars of a few butterflies (e.g., Harvesters) eat harmful insects. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.

DSC04801 by Carsten Olsen

NWA 11805

Achondrite-Diogenite-pm

Northwest Africa

Find: 2018

TKW: 109,4 g / OBJ: 4,33 g

NWA 11805 is a minimally weathered Polymict Diogenite that was originally submitted for classification and brought to market by my good friend, and fellow IMCA member, Chris Colvin. Chris and I have been friends since he first started collecting, and we have shared many bits of knowledge together over lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. When he told me he was working on his first classification I was excited to see what would come of it, but little did I know that it would be such a fascinating and rare petrology of an HED.

Chris had bought a ~110g lot of HED specimens from another merchant we are both familiar with, who had himself acquired it from a Moroccan merchant soon before this. Tony Irving performed the classification, revealing an interesting brecciated combination of both angular mineral debris, lithic diogenite clasts and microgabbroic eucrite. The bulk of the mineral debris composition (>90%) is diogenitic, with the rest being minor eucritic exsolved pigeonite, calcic plagioclase, silica polymorphs and titanium-rich chromite and troilite.

Eucrites and diogenites are both igneous rocks, and as you may know, they both originate from the crust of Vesta; with diogenites thought to originate deeper within the crust. It is not unexpected therefor that NWA 11805 would be something of an amalgam between the two petrologies. Examining the cut surfaces closely you can easily make out the distinction between the breccia components, particularly of note are a smattering of lovely green orthopyroxene clasts.

When Chris decided to bring NWA 11805 to market I wanted to acquire a specimen, and ultimately I ended up buying the main mass with the intention of cutting slices. This was an awkwardly shaped specimen with something of a dome shape, one side having near complete coverage by a brown weathered fusion crust. As a result, cutting the mass in order to produce specimens with some good surface area was somewhat tricky. I needed to angle the specimen in the vice grip just right so that the cut went along the meat of the curved specimen. Even with the ultra-low kerf of my blade this resulted in an expensive 9g of cutting and polishing loss out of a 50.3g mass, but the specimens came out pretty good. Each specimen is a full slice of the main mass with some crust on at least one surface. All of them have enough surface area to produce an appreciable specimen and they have been polished to 2500 grit in order to best reveal those features. If you have an optical loupe you, and can get your hands on a specimen, you are in luck because the interior is even more stunning under the loupe.

When Polymict Diogenites are on the market they tend to be priced at the 40$/g range, making this specimen a relatively affordable example of the classification. This is a relatively rare classification with only 34 specimens classified, and 33 of them having very low total known weights. Only four Polymict Diogenites have been found outside of the hot dessert region. I have always said that the greatest gift that Northwest Africa gave us collectors is a plentitude of rare petrological types to enjoy. This classification is a fine example of that…

Gentlemorph by Tabita Harvey by Matthew Wells

The 56 Full Sized Morphs Are:

The 23 Mini Morphs Are:

Polymorph diffuser by Karsten Schmidt

4

Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) juvenile by Brian Carruthers-Dublin-Eire

2

Measurements

spanwidth min.: 54 cm

spanwidth max.: 60 cm

size min.: 32 cm

size max.: 36 cm

Breeding

incubation min.: 11 days

incubation max.: 12 days

fledging min.: 17 days

fledging max.: 17 days

broods 15

eggs min.: 1

eggs max.: 25

Status: Widespread summer visitor to Ireland from April to August.

Conservation Concern: Green-listed in Ireland. The European population is currently evaluated as secure.

Identification: Despite its obvious song, relatively infrequently seen. In flight, can be mistaken for a bird of prey such as Sparrowhawk, but has rapid wingbeats below the horizontal plane - ie. the wings are not raised above the body. Adult male Cuckoos are a uniform grey on the head, neck, back, wings and tail. The underparts are white with black barring. Adult females can appear in one of two forms. The so-called grey-morph resembles the adult male plumage, but has throat and breast barred black and white with yellowish wash. The rufous-morph has the grey replaced by rufous, with strong black barring on the wings, back and tail. Juvenile Cuckoos resemble the female rufous-morph, but are darker brown above.

Similar Species: Sparrowhawk

Call: The song is probably one of the most recognisable and well-known of all Irish bird species. The male gives a distinctive “wuck-oo”, which is occasionally doubled “wuck-uck-ooo”. The female has a distinctive bubbling “pupupupu”. The song period is late April to late June.

Diet: Mainly caterpillars and other insects.

Breeding: Widespread in Ireland, favouring open areas which hold their main Irish host species – Meadow Pipit. Has a remarkable breeding biology unlike any other Irish breeding species.

Wintering: Cuckoos winter in central and southern Africa.

To minimise the chance of being recognised and thus attacked by the birds they are trying to parasitize, female cuckoos have evolved different guises.

The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. On hatching, the young cuckoo ejects the host's eggs and chicks from the nest, so the hosts end up raising a cuckoo chick rather than a brood of their own. To fight back, reed warblers (a common host across Europe) have a first line of defence: they attack, or ‘mob’, the female cuckoo, which reduces the chance that their nest is parasitized.

To deter the warbler from attacking, the colouring of the grey cuckoo mimics sparrow hawks, a common predator of reed warblers. However, other females are bright rufous (brownish-red). The presence of alternate colour morphs in the same species is rare in birds, but frequent among the females of parasitic cuckoo species. The new research shows that this is another cuckoo trick: cuckoos combat reed warbler mobbing by coming in different guises.

In the study, the researchers manipulated local frequencies of the more common grey colour cuckoo and the less common (in the United Kingdom) rufous colour cuckoo by placing models of the birds at neighbouring nests. They then recorded how the experience of watching their neighbours mob changed reed warbler responses to both cuckoos and a sparrow hawk at their own nest.

They found that reed warblers increased their mobbing, but only to the cuckoo morph that their neighbours had mobbed. Therefore, as one cuckoo morph increases in frequency, local host populations will become alerted specifically to that morph. This means the alternate morph will be more likely to slip past host defences and lay undetected. This is the first time that ‘social learning’ has been documented in the evolution of mimicry as well as the evolution of different observable characteristics - such as colour - in the same species (called polymorphism).

From the University of Cambridge “When mimicry becomes less effective, evolving to look completely different can be a successful trick. Our research shows that individuals assess disguises not only from personal experience, but also by observing others. However, because their learning is so specific, this social learning then selects for alternative cuckoo disguises and the arms race continues.”.

“It’s well known that cuckoos have evolved various egg types which mimic those of their hosts in order to combat rejection. This research shows that cuckoos have also evolved alternate female morphs to sneak through the hosts' defenses. This explains why many species which use mimicry, such as the cuckoo, evolve different guises.”

Back of Mr Frosty by Matthew Wells

The 56 Full Sized Morphs Are:

The 23 Mini Morphs Are:

DSC04792 by Carsten Olsen

NWA 11805

Achondrite-Diogenite-pm

Northwest Africa

Find: 2018

TKW: 109,4 g / OBJ: 4,33 g

NWA 11805 is a minimally weathered Polymict Diogenite that was originally submitted for classification and brought to market by my good friend, and fellow IMCA member, Chris Colvin. Chris and I have been friends since he first started collecting, and we have shared many bits of knowledge together over lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. When he told me he was working on his first classification I was excited to see what would come of it, but little did I know that it would be such a fascinating and rare petrology of an HED.

Chris had bought a ~110g lot of HED specimens from another merchant we are both familiar with, who had himself acquired it from a Moroccan merchant soon before this. Tony Irving performed the classification, revealing an interesting brecciated combination of both angular mineral debris, lithic diogenite clasts and microgabbroic eucrite. The bulk of the mineral debris composition (>90%) is diogenitic, with the rest being minor eucritic exsolved pigeonite, calcic plagioclase, silica polymorphs and titanium-rich chromite and troilite.

Eucrites and diogenites are both igneous rocks, and as you may know, they both originate from the crust of Vesta; with diogenites thought to originate deeper within the crust. It is not unexpected therefor that NWA 11805 would be something of an amalgam between the two petrologies. Examining the cut surfaces closely you can easily make out the distinction between the breccia components, particularly of note are a smattering of lovely green orthopyroxene clasts.

When Chris decided to bring NWA 11805 to market I wanted to acquire a specimen, and ultimately I ended up buying the main mass with the intention of cutting slices. This was an awkwardly shaped specimen with something of a dome shape, one side having near complete coverage by a brown weathered fusion crust. As a result, cutting the mass in order to produce specimens with some good surface area was somewhat tricky. I needed to angle the specimen in the vice grip just right so that the cut went along the meat of the curved specimen. Even with the ultra-low kerf of my blade this resulted in an expensive 9g of cutting and polishing loss out of a 50.3g mass, but the specimens came out pretty good. Each specimen is a full slice of the main mass with some crust on at least one surface. All of them have enough surface area to produce an appreciable specimen and they have been polished to 2500 grit in order to best reveal those features. If you have an optical loupe you, and can get your hands on a specimen, you are in luck because the interior is even more stunning under the loupe.

When Polymict Diogenites are on the market they tend to be priced at the 40$/g range, making this specimen a relatively affordable example of the classification. This is a relatively rare classification with only 34 specimens classified, and 33 of them having very low total known weights. Only four Polymict Diogenites have been found outside of the hot dessert region. I have always said that the greatest gift that Northwest Africa gave us collectors is a plentitude of rare petrological types to enjoy. This classification is a fine example of that…

Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) juvenile (2 spot) by Brian Carruthers-Dublin-Eire

1

Measurements

spanwidth min.: 54 cm

spanwidth max.: 60 cm

size min.: 32 cm

size max.: 36 cm

Breeding

incubation min.: 11 days

incubation max.: 12 days

fledging min.: 17 days

fledging max.: 17 days

broods 15

eggs min.: 1

eggs max.: 25

Status: Widespread summer visitor to Ireland from April to August.

Conservation Concern: Green-listed in Ireland. The European population is currently evaluated as secure.

Identification: Despite its obvious song, relatively infrequently seen. In flight, can be mistaken for a bird of prey such as Sparrowhawk, but has rapid wingbeats below the horizontal plane - ie. the wings are not raised above the body. Adult male Cuckoos are a uniform grey on the head, neck, back, wings and tail. The underparts are white with black barring. Adult females can appear in one of two forms. The so-called grey-morph resembles the adult male plumage, but has throat and breast barred black and white with yellowish wash. The rufous-morph has the grey replaced by rufous, with strong black barring on the wings, back and tail. Juvenile Cuckoos resemble the female rufous-morph, but are darker brown above.

Similar Species: Sparrowhawk

Call: The song is probably one of the most recognisable and well-known of all Irish bird species. The male gives a distinctive “wuck-oo”, which is occasionally doubled “wuck-uck-ooo”. The female has a distinctive bubbling “pupupupu”. The song period is late April to late June.

Diet: Mainly caterpillars and other insects.

Breeding: Widespread in Ireland, favouring open areas which hold their main Irish host species – Meadow Pipit. Has a remarkable breeding biology unlike any other Irish breeding species.

Wintering: Cuckoos winter in central and southern Africa.

To minimise the chance of being recognised and thus attacked by the birds they are trying to parasitize, female cuckoos have evolved different guises.

The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. On hatching, the young cuckoo ejects the host's eggs and chicks from the nest, so the hosts end up raising a cuckoo chick rather than a brood of their own. To fight back, reed warblers (a common host across Europe) have a first line of defence: they attack, or ‘mob’, the female cuckoo, which reduces the chance that their nest is parasitized.

To deter the warbler from attacking, the colouring of the grey cuckoo mimics sparrow hawks, a common predator of reed warblers. However, other females are bright rufous (brownish-red). The presence of alternate colour morphs in the same species is rare in birds, but frequent among the females of parasitic cuckoo species. The new research shows that this is another cuckoo trick: cuckoos combat reed warbler mobbing by coming in different guises.

In the study, the researchers manipulated local frequencies of the more common grey colour cuckoo and the less common (in the United Kingdom) rufous colour cuckoo by placing models of the birds at neighbouring nests. They then recorded how the experience of watching their neighbours mob changed reed warbler responses to both cuckoos and a sparrow hawk at their own nest.

They found that reed warblers increased their mobbing, but only to the cuckoo morph that their neighbours had mobbed. Therefore, as one cuckoo morph increases in frequency, local host populations will become alerted specifically to that morph. This means the alternate morph will be more likely to slip past host defences and lay undetected. This is the first time that ‘social learning’ has been documented in the evolution of mimicry as well as the evolution of different observable characteristics - such as colour - in the same species (called polymorphism).

From the University of Cambridge “When mimicry becomes less effective, evolving to look completely different can be a successful trick. Our research shows that individuals assess disguises not only from personal experience, but also by observing others. However, because their learning is so specific, this social learning then selects for alternative cuckoo disguises and the arms race continues.”.

“It’s well known that cuckoos have evolved various egg types which mimic those of their hosts in order to combat rejection. This research shows that cuckoos have also evolved alternate female morphs to sneak through the hosts' defenses. This explains why many species which use mimicry, such as the cuckoo, evolve different guises.”

Dactylorhiza sambucina by Luciano Dionisi

3 16

Il nome generico (Dactylorhiza) è formato da due parole greche: “dito” e “radice” e si riferisce ai tuberi suddivisi in diversi tubercoli (tuberi a forma digito-palmata). Il nome specifico (sambucina) deriverebbe dall'odore di sambuco che emanano alcune piante di questa specie.

È una pianta erbacea glabra alta 10 - 40 cm. È un'orchidea terrestre in quanto contrariamente ad altre specie, non è “epifita”, ossia non vive a spese di altri vegetali di maggiori proporzioni.

Le foglie, da 4 a 7 in tutto, quelle inferiori sono oblungo-obovate ovvero oblanceolate-lineari con apice ottuso, mentre le foglie superiori sono lanceolate con apice acuto.

I fiori sono riuniti in infiorescenze dense e multiflore a forma cilindrico-ovoidale. I singoli fiori inoltre sono posti alle ascelle di brattee fogliacee a forma lanceolata, acute all'apice; le inferiori sono più lunghe dei fiori e avvolgono l'infiorescenza, le altre più lunghe dell'ovario. Lunghezza dell'infiorescenza: 5 - 10 cm. Lunghezza delle brattee: 4 cm.

Dactylorhiza sambucina (Elder-flowered orchid) is a widespread European orchid with a boreal-alpine distribution. The orchid species shows a stable and dramatic flower-color polymorphism, with both yellow- and purple-flowered individuals present in natural populations throughout the range of the species in Europe. The evolutionary significance of flower-color polymorphisms found in many rewardless orchid species has been discussed at length, but the mechanisms responsible for their maintenance remain unclear. The mean frequency of yellow-flowered D. sambucina across natural populations in Europe is 53% ± 2.6. Any differences did not find between the two morphs for other traits such as plant height or the number of leaves and flower size, and the two morphs are identical for floral scent. (Gigord LD, Macnair MR, Smithson A., 2004)

it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylorhiza_sambucina

Back of Meandering by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Morph and Friends by Jessica Perrin by Matthew Wells

Shortcuts to All 20 Morphs:-

Heavy Bassline (Stockholm Syndrome) Ring by Poppy Porter

Ring based on my synesthetic response to the bassline from Stockholm Syndrome by Muse. Ferro-Fluid like bassline with clear drips forming as pulled by some invisible force and carnelian and tourmaline guitar distortion. Polymorph thermoplastic, Auto-Air Colours, resin.

Associate Dean for Research for the School of Engineering and Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University Fiorenzo Omenetto explains Silk Polymorphism by Arts at MIT

In recent decades, developments in software and hardware technologies have created dramatic shifts in design, manufacturing and research. Software technologies have facilitated automated process and new solutions for complex problems. Computation has also become a platform for creativity through generative art and design. New hardware platforms and digital fabrication technologies have similarly transformed manufacturing, offering more efficient production and mass customization. Such advances have helped catalyzed the maker-movement, democratizing design and maker culture. This influx of new capabilities to design, compute and fabricate like never before, has sparked a renewed interest in material performance.

We are now witnessing significant advances in active matter, 3D/4D Printing, materials science, synthetic biology, DNA nanotechnology and soft robotics, which have led to the convergence of software, hardware and material technologies and the growing field of programmable materials.

This conference was about the emerging field of active matter and programmable materials that bridges the worlds of art, science, engineering and design, demonstrating new perspectives for computation, transformation and dynamic material applications.

If over the past few decades we have experienced a software revolution, and more recently, a hardware revolution, this conference aims to discuss the premises, challenges and innovations brought by today’s materials revolution. We can now sense, compute, and actuate with materials alone, just as we could with software and hardware platforms previously. How does this shift influence materials research, and how does it shape the future of design, arts, and industrial applications? What tools and design processes do we need to advance, augment and invent new materials today? What are the key roles that industry, government, academic and public institutions can play in catalyzing the field of programmable materials?

This two-day conference consisted of a range of talks and lively discussion from leading researchers in materials science, art & design, synthetic biology and soft-robotics along with leaders from government, public institutions and industry.

Learn more at activemattersummit.com

lbarryhetherington.com/

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