A brinicle, also commonly known as “ice stalactite” forms under
the sea ice when a flow of cold water is introduced to ocean water. It
is known as an ice stalactite because it is the undersea equivalent of a
hollow stalactite. It freezes everything it touches, including sea
creatures.

The first audio recordings from the bottom of the Mariana Trench are creepy as hell

Scientists have released the first audio recordings taken from the deepest point on Earth’s surface, Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Filled with strange moans, low rumbles, and the occasional
high-pitched screech, the soundbites below shed rare light on the dark
world that lies 10.9 km (6.7 miles) below the crushing weight of the
Pacific Ocean… and they’re somehow both haunting and beautiful at the
same time.

On the whole, we know very little about what goes on inside the
Mariana Trench, located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean around 322 km
(200 miles) southwest of Guam, mostly because it’s so difficult for us
to get to.

Wasps creating colored nests when given construction paper by amateur zoologist
Mattia Menchetti.
Menchetti gradually introduced a variety of coloured paper to this European wasp colony

at let them create this vibrant nests.

“Be like the flower 
who even gives it’s fragrance
 to the hand that crushes it”

— Imam Ali

Today the Department of Phenomenal Papercraft delves into the world of entomological
artwork. Paper wasps gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems and
mix them with their saliva to create a gray or brown papery material
which they use to construct their water-resistant nests. When Italian biological science student Mattia Menchetti provided a captive colony of European paper wasps with colored paper, the insects created awesomely colorful nests.

“He started by feeding his captive wasps yellow paper,
and then gradually began introducing more shades. The insects soon
created a technicolor home for their larvae. In addition to making for
some unusual eye candy, the nest is sturdy as well. A protein in the
saliva of European paper wasps is so effective in making their nests
waterproof that it’s been used by scientists for a biodegradable drone.”

Visit Mattia Menchetti’s website to check out more of his research projects. (by mental_floss)

This breadth of rain names are specific, descriptive and highly nuanced—a reminder of how keenly and thoughtfully ancient Hawaiians observed and were connected to their environment. With these words they distinguished Hawaii’s rains in a multitude of ways: by color, intensity, duration, at what times they would arrive, the angles or paths they’d fall in, how a certain rain is linked to a place or area throughout the Islands.

There’s the kili noe, a fine, light rain, but it’s not to be mistaken for the kili ʻohu, which was even finer and lighter. Depending where you lived on Oʻahu, when the rain fell in a shape that would circle your home, that was a pōʻaihale rain. The island of Niʻihau has a special rain, the kulu pākakahi, which appears in November.

What’s amazing is how nothing about these names are arbitrary.

There’s a rain named called Hukiheʻenehu, given to a Hilo rain for when the nehu fish was running. When this misty rain fell off the south-east coast of Hawaii Island, Hawaiians knew it meant to pull up their nets and catch them.

Rain names like hoʻopala ʻōhiʻa indicated when the native ʻōhiʻa would ripen, and the Hoʻopuluhīnano indicated where on Kauaʻi the hīnano grew.

The kuāua is a name given to a rain without wind extending over a small area. The ʻuala (Hawaiian sweet potato) farmer would count this rain to help determine when it was time to plant.

In addition to recognizing how integral rains are to survival, Hawaiians are also informed spiritually and emotionally by them. Apo pue kahi is a name given to a rain that’s felt after a loved one passes.

“Our kūpuna (ancestors) were so attuned to their environment that they assigned individual names to the multitude of winds and rains occurring throughout the archipelago,” says Collette Leimomi Akana, author of “Hānau Ka Ua – Hawaiian Rain Names,” the most comprehensive record of its kind that compiles this extensive part of Hawaiian’s vocabulary, sourcing its oral tradition, mele (song), oli (chants), moʻolelo (stories), ʻōlelo noʻeau (proverbs) and written literature. “I believe they named each wind and rain because they encountered them almost daily and felt a kinship with them.