Aphid Captured Under A Student Microscope.

Anyone else love squids as much as we do? (Qeue slow-motion tentacle-raise) 🙋🏻

Galiteuthis phyllura, also known as the cockatoo squid, lives in the North Pacific from 200 to over 1,000 meters (660 to 3,280 feet) deep. This species has a transparent body and photophores, or light organs, under their eyes. We often encounter them hanging horizontally in the water column with their arms raised above their heads.

FROM PANAMA TO MARIANA TRENCH:  FEMALE WHALE SHARK MADE A RECORD!

For two and a half years, scientists followed the movements of Anne, a whale shark, during which she swam from the coast of Central America to the Mariana Trench.

In 2011, researchers put a transmitter on Anne near Coiba Island in Panama. In the following 841 days, Anne’s transmitter sent a signal to the ARGOS satellite when it swam close to the surface. These trasmitter allowed the team to follow its movements to the south to the Galapagos Islands and throughout the Pacific to the Mariana Trench, to the south of Japan and the east of the Philippines. She traveled a distance of 20142 kilometers.

-Whale shark route from Panama to the Mariana Islands (black track) tagged in September 2011, and old record from Mexico to the Marshall Islands (red track, tagged in September 1995).

The finding reinforces the position of the whale shark as one of the animals that travels most, along with leatherback turtle, gray whale and the arctic tern. In 2016, the IUCN cataloged the species for the first time as threatened. Biologists calculate that tropical and subtropical seas have less than half of whale sharks that they had 75 years ago, which increases the urgency of their protection.

Read also: This is why whale shark aggregate just in 20 sites!

Photo: A whale shark at Gladden Spit, Belize. Source Heyman et al.,2001. 

Reference (Open Access): Guzman et al., 2018.  Longest recorded trans-Pacific migration of a whale shark (Rhincodon typus). Marine Records

Annual Arctic sea ice minimum, 1979-2016

Greta Thunberg, international climate activist.

An icon. 

major traffic incident

Family 1

Family

Dogs

Friends

Girlfriend

Today marks the 13th day that I've been in Costa Rica (including the night I arrived at the airport). I'm adjusting to my second and permanent host family and to Heredia, and classes don’t start until tomorrow. Now that I'm here and mostly settled in, I have tried to make sure I contact friends and family in the U.S. on a regular, but not too frequent basis.

Aside from my first weekend here where I called home three days in a row (not everyone was available to talk at once) I've only texted my parents and my sister a few times or vice versa. The first time we Skyped (I did not have internet for a few days so it was not right away), our dogs were confused since they could hear me (an maybe see me) but I was not there. I miss all of the dogs, especially our new puppy, Vader, since he won't be small the next time I see him. The same is true for my family, but if I were not studying abroad, I would still be away from them since I'd be at college, and I usually don't come home until breaks. So currently, this doesn’t feel that different from a regular semester at Susquehanna, for me and them.

The same is also true for friends at home, however, not for friends at college. One of my closest friends is also studying abroad, so I would not see her even if I were at Susquehanna, but it is a bit odd not seeing my other friends. I have texted a few of them to see how their semester is going, but not too frequently. I think that at this point, this still does not feel like it will last until June, so it has not sunk in for me that I probably won't see a lot of them until August.  

Undoubtedly, the adjustment is hardest for my girlfriend. During the semester, we spend to most time with each other, so it's difficult for both of us to not see each other, including over long breaks. While the adjustment is difficult for my parents too, they have grown accustomed to not seeing me for a few weeks at a time. This is different for both of us. We've talked frequently through texting, but I am going to try to restrict calling/Skyping to a maximum of once a week (I'm going to try to do the same with my family). Since I'm still dealing with a completely new environment, it is currently harder for her, but as I grow accustomed to my routine and classes here or confront new difficult challenges, I could see it becoming more difficult for me too.

With all of that being said, I'm going to do my best to not focus on what I'm missing from the U.S. all of the time so I can focus on what I can experience here.

Höfn

When wood turns into glitter

Many moons ago, in the area that is now Nevada ancient woodlands were living through events that would result in some stunning pieces that grace museums around the world. Some 14 million years ago in the Miocene, the area was thickly forested rather than displaying the arid environment of today. It was also much closer to sea level, since the area has been extensively uplifted since then, due to tectonic stresses caused by the subduction of the Pacific and Farallon plates under the North American one. The area also saw intense subduction related volcanism (ongoing along the USA’s west coast to this day), which periodically covered the forests in silica rich ash. As groundwater interacted with the magma below, weathering the layers of ash into clays, it dissolved silica, precipitating it when conditions such as temperature and pressure changed, replacing the ash covered trees with opal, sometimes so clearly that every cell is visible. While not really suitable for jewellery use due to its tendency to crack as it dries out (called crazing in the trade), these rare logs from the Virgin Valley of Nevada make for stunning collector’s specimens

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