The Daily Croissant

Fluorite - Berbes Mining area, Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Collections Crystals Fluorite Minerals Specimens
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"Gorgeous gem quality purple transparent glassy lustrous cubic crystals of fluorite to 3.5 cm on edge are forming an aesthetic 5.3 x 5.0 x 5.0 cm cluster. Tiny light chipping is present on two crystal edges on the back of the piece, right side. These are not visible when the piece is display properly, and are really barely visible when looking at this side. A light "feather" is present on the interior of the crystal when looking at the left side, not atypical of these gem quality fluorites of any size. Neat color zoning. This is a very pretty specimen with high luster, great color and gem quality".

via danweinrich.com
Layered Deposits on Southern Mid-Latitude Crater Floor
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Astronomy Mars
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Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Written by: Kelly Kolb

"Layered Deposits on Southern Mid-Latitude Crater Floor :

This image features the floor of a crater in the southern highlands of Mars. The light-toned layered deposits (LTLD) are located in the center of the image; they are exposed along the edges of the high-standing mesa.
LTLD are found in many places on Mars, including impact craters and canyons near the equator. They may have been deposited by sedimentary processes involving wind and/or water.

Dunes or ripples surround the mesa. The orientation of the dunes indicates that the direction of the dominant wind at the time of the dune/ripple formation was along the troughs that surround the mesa.

The terrain near the bottom of the image has a texture that geologists call "etched.".The etched texture is a result of differential erosion as some materials being eroded more easily than others. One possible scenario is that the region was buried by a soft sedimentary deposit that is now being removed by wind erosion."

via triggerpit.com
Jumping Spider Eyes
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Eyes Macrophotography Spiders
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by *Blepharopsis

"Projection of confocal microscope optical sections showing three out of eight (but you may flip it along the vertical axis and you end up having six - 75% success rate!) eyes of a jumping spider.

It's funny how the eyes of the spider remind rather those of vertebrates than insects - they are simple, as opposite to compound, have single large lens and a retina.

The two big Anterior Median eyes in the middle are long and tubular and hence have longer focal length, something akin to a telephoto lens, but which means they have a narrow field of view.

The narrow field of view means that the spider has to move its body to see in different directions, however, the eyes can move as well - or rather the retina, since the eyes are build in the carapace. You can see the retina, composed of 4 layers of tiny sensory cells, in the middle of the image. The muscles thatt accoplish its movement are visible below the lens as two bright blue tripes.

Nuclei - red (also, autofluorescence of the lenses' "coating")
Actin - blue"

via blepharopsis.deviantart.com
A Pileus Iridescent Cloud Over Ethiopia
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Africa Clouds Ethiopia Iridescence
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Image Credit & Copyright: Esther Havens

"Yes, but how many dark clouds have a multicolored lining? Pictured, behind this darker cloud, is a pileus iridescent cloud, a group of water droplets that have a uniformly similar size and so together diffract different colors of sunlight by different amounts. The above image was taken just after the picturesque sight was noticed by chance by a photographer in Ethiopia. A more detailed picture of the same cloud shows not only many colors, but unusual dark and wavy bands whose origins are thought related to wave disturbances in the cloud."

via apod.nasa.gov
How to grow a Rainbow Rose, Naturally
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Flora Rainbows Technique art
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"In 2004, two dutch companies, River Flowers and F.J. Zandbergen, experimented and successfully grew a rose that had its petals rainbow colored. As petals get their nourishment through stem, the idea is to split the stem into several channels and dip each one in a different colored water. This way all the colors will be drawn by the stem into petals and resultant rose will have all the colors in it. The same method can be applied to other flowers especially to Chrysanthemum and Hydrangea. You can use the same idea to color any flower, anyway you like."

via pickchur.com
Patterns in the Sand
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Sand art
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"Jim Denevan loves to draw designs on it unprecedented, and, with mathematical precision. Take a look of a simple but really creative and interesting art."

via oddstuffmagazine.com
ColorAnts
- 4 Sep 2011
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- 03September11 Ants art color
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Ants turn all colours of the rainbow in these amazing photos, taken as they eat specially dyed sugar drops.

"Dr Mohamed Babu set up the shots after his wife Shameem noticed that ants turned white when they sipped spilled milk.

The scientist mixed sugar drops with edible colours red, green, blue and yellow and placed them in his garden to attract the insects. As the eager ants scoffed the sweet treats the colour of the sugar they had chosen could be seen in their transparent abdomens. Some varied their choice, creating different colour combinations inside them."

via kaleidoscope.cybertranslator.idv.tw

Fluorite - Berbes Mining area, Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain

Layered Deposits on Southern Mid-Latitude Crater Floor

Jumping Spider Eyes

A Pileus Iridescent Cloud Over Ethiopia

How to grow a Rainbow Rose, Naturally

Patterns in the Sand

ColorAnts

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