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5:06 AM
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Why is it that Greenland isn’t called Iceland and vice versa? After all, we know that Greenland is nearly entirely covered in ice and Iceland, well, isn’t!
Iceland had a few other names throughout history, including “Snæland” (snowland) and Garðarshólmur ("Garðar's little island"). Iceland current name came from a Norwegian Viking called Flóki Vilgerðarson. He chose the name after seeing a distant fjord full of sea-ice from a mountain. He didn’t think very much of Iceland, and that may be why he chose this uninviting name. You sometimes hear the story that Iceland was so named to discourage excessive immigration, but there seems to be no basis for this claim as thousands of people did in fact immigrate from Norway.
Greenland is said to have gotten its name from the Viking Erik the Red. After being banished from Norway and then Iceland, he settled in what is now Greenland. When his term of banishment expired, he returned to Icleand to invite his neighbors and friends to settle the new country with him. He purposely chose the pleasant name Grænland ("green land") to attract settlers, and he wasn’t really lying. Some parts of Greenland, especially where they settled, really are green, as these pictures from the tourist board attest (www.greenland-guide.dk/outdoor_life_photo.htm).
Mystery solved!
9:10 AM
Unknown
In this incredible macro photograph of a human eye, we see the stitches that resulted from a recent corneal transplant. The surgery was used to treat a patient suffering from Keratocnus, a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve.
3:11 PM
Unknown
The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) is a deep sea fish of the family Psychrolutidae. Inhabiting the deep waters off the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania, it is rarely seen by humans.
Blobfish live at depths between 600–1,200 m (2,000–3,900 ft) where the pressure is several dozen times higher than at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient for maintaining buoyancy.Instead, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. Its relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats in front of it. Blobfish eat invertebrates like crabs and sea pens.
Blobfish can be caught by bottom trawling with nets as bycatch. Such trawling in the waters off Australia may threaten the blobfish in what may be its only habitat.
The blobfish is currently facing extinction due to deep-sea fishing or bottom trawling.
2:51 PM
Unknown
This table made by Jay Watson Design is one on which you're guaranteed to leave fingerprints. Made of solid oak painted with thermochromic paint, its surface temporarily changes color when heat is applied.
11:50 AM
Unknown
Knabstrupper horses were bred in Denmark as far back as 1671 when they were called "The Tiger Horses." In 1750, this royal breeding line came to an end. The spotted horse returned in 1812, not as the "Tiger Horses," but with a new bloodline. A mare was purchased of Spanish origin with unusual markings. She was covered by a Frederiksborg Stallion in 1813 and had a colt. The colt was the foundational Sire for the new spotted breed.
10:38 AM
Unknown
The Mir diamond mine in Siberia is the deepest ‘proper’ man-made hole. It’s 525m deep and 1,200m across. There’s a no-fly zone above it because the downdraft created by the hole had caused several helicopters to crash.
10:33 AM
Unknown
In 1995 a group of NASA scientists repeated and refined some earlier tests on the effect that various drugs have on the web building abilities of the common garden spider. They tested the the effect of caffeine, benzedrine, marijuana and chloral hydrate and as you can see the results were pretty extreme!
Noever, R., J. Cronise, and R. A. Relwani. 1995. Using spider-web patterns to determine toxicity.
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