Tag: odd

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.

A mysterious, four-mile long river, deep in the heart of the Amazon,
is so hot that it boils. The river has long been a
legend in Peru, but when geoscientist Andrés Ruzo’s heard about it, he
thought such a phenomenon was impossible. Runzo discovered a four mile
‘boiling river’ in the sacred geothermal healing site of the Asháninka
people in Mayantuyacu. At
its widest, it is 82ft(25m), and around 20ft (6m)
deep. The water is hot enough to brew tea, and in some parts, it boils
over. The river boils because of fault-fed hot springs. Parts of the
river are so hot that any animals that falls in boils instantly.

Photo credit: (top & bottom) Devlin Gandy, (middle left) Sofia Ruzo, (middle right) Andrés Ruzo

“Object, said to be a toad, stuck with
thorns for witchcraft purposes; found with the heart here exhibited. 1892. E.B.T. coll. d.d. Lady Tylor 1917. 1917-53-601”

This thing literally oozes magic. I’m guessing it’s from the British
Isles, like other pieces from Sir Edward Burnett Tylor’s donation to
the Pitt Rivers Collection (note the onion above the toad, from
Somersetshire, the archaic name of Somerset County). That being said,
nails driven into objects to imbue them with magical power, or activate
that power for good or ill, is a practice that can be seen in various
cultures, from Somerset to the Congo.

Deep-Sea Animal Species Look Like Mushrooms but Defy Classification
The new animal species Dendrogramma enigmaticaI, shown here, was pulled from the deep sea off Australia in 1986 but has only now been scientifically described. The opaque portion is its highly branched digestive canal. Two species are recognised and current evidence suggest that they represent an early branch on the tree of life, with similarities to the 600 million-year-old extinct Ediacara fauna.