tweed-eyes:

rhamphotheca:

Blood Falls, a Natural Time Capsule Containing a Unique Ecosystem

This five-story, blood-red “waterfall” pours ever so slowly out of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valley. Geologists first discovered the frozen waterfall in 1911, and believed the red color came from algae. Its true nature turned out to be more spectacular.

Roughly two million years ago, a small body of water containing an ancient community of microbes was sealed beneath the surface of the Taylor Glacier. Trapped below a thick layer of ice, the microbes have remained isolated inside a natural time capsule, in a place with no light, oxygen, or heat.

The trapped lake has very high salinity and is rich in iron, which gives the seepage its red color. A fissure in the glacier allows the microbial subglacial lake to flow out, forming the falls without contaminating the ecosystem within.

More photos of Blood Falls can be seen on Atlas Obscura

signorcasaubon:

Portrait of a 16th century Flemish gentleman; artist unknown

speciesbarocus:

Delle allvsioni, imprese, et emblemi del Sig. Principio Fabricii da Teramo sopra la vita, opere, et attioni di Gregorio XIII pontefice massimo (1588). [x]

> Engravings by Natale Bonifacio.

poete:

Yashô (1782-1825)

“Bat in Flight” Ink on paper

(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. In Maurice Coyaud ‘L’Empire du regard’- Mille ans de peinture Japonaise’ Ed. Phebus, 1981)

cravingdesires:

discardingimages:

the cat’s tower besieged by the mice

book of hours, London ca. 1320-1330.

British Library, Harley 6563, fol. 72r

goodolarthistory:

Artist: Thomas Benjamin Kennington

Title: The Goldfish Bowl

myimaginarybrooklyn:

Voltaire, Cadide, or The Optimist.

“You’re a bitter man,” said Candide. “That’s because I’ve lived,” said Martin.”

ancientpeoples:

Toy dog made from elephant ivory

The lever underneath the dog can be used to open and close the dog’s mouth. When the mouth is open, teeth and a red tongue can be seen. 

Egyptian

New Kingdom, 18th dynasty, Amenhotep III, 1390 - 1353 BC. 

3cm high, 18cm long

Source: Metropolitan Museum 

disturbthebookmites:

Young Night in a Landscape (detail of ermine and frogs), Vittore Carpaccio, 1510.