Tag Archives: photos

What Are Flowers For?

What Are Flowers For? by D. Wheat

flowers serve two basic purposes:

they package genetic material (into pollen and ovules) and help move it around so it can combine to produce the seeds for the next generation, and
they enclose those seeds in a fruit to help them successfully grow into a new plant

Photo: by John Hunter aka curiouscat -from Glaicer National Park

Rare “Rainbow” Over Idaho

Rainbow like clouds

Rare “Rainbow” Spotted Over Idaho by Victoria Gilman:

The arc isn’t a rainbow in the traditional sense—it is caused by light passing through wispy, high-altitude cirrus clouds. The sight occurs only when the sun is very high in the sky (more than 58Â° above the horizon). What’s more, the hexagonal ice crystals that make up cirrus clouds must be shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground.

When light enters through a vertical side face of such an ice crystal and leaves from the bottom face, it refracts, or bends, in the same way that light passes through a prism. If a cirrus’s crystals are aligned just right, the whole cloud lights up in a spectrum of colors.

Ocean Life

Iridescent nudibranch

Photo: This iridescent nudibranch looks like a creature from another planet. Larger photo.

The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (part of the U.S. Department of Commerce?) includes a huge photo and videocast gallery including: invertebrates, vertebrates and seafloor.

Also see an exploding volcano under the sea for the first time ever, from the:Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program.