Optical Illusions

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Sidewalk Crater 

Located in front of the Montparnasse Railway Station in Paris, this chalk drawing was created  by Julian Beever to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a 2001 accident at a petrochemical  plant. View the next slide to see the painting as a work-in-progress.

Something Fishy

This fish is easy to catch.

What appears to be a fish is actually a meticulous painting on a person’s hand

Crazy Carpet

Not your garden-variety floor

This weird carpet pattern appears on a videogame store in Paris. The floor is actually flat.

Weird Waterfall

Record-breaking sidewalk art.

3D artist Qi Xinghua painted this massive sidewalk illusion which earned him a Guinness Book of World Records entry as the largest 3D painting in the world.  Presented at a shopping mall in Guangzhou, the illusion is   100 feet long and took over a month to complete

 

Amazing stereo images by Dan Marker-Moore

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Amazing stereo images

You don’t need glasses to see into the third dimension with these tricky animated images http://games.yahoo.com/photos/amazing-stereo-images-slideshow/bicyclist-profile-photo-1335482364.html

Who needs 3D glasses? It turns out there’s more than one way to create a compelling stereoscopic illusion on a 2D surface. For instance, an animated image using just a few frames – 2 or 3, say – can create an astonishing sense of depth. By alternating rapidly between slightly-different perspectives, the picture recreates the feel of a stereoscope without any fancy gear. These examples were made by photographer Dan Marker-Moore, more of whose work can be seen on his blog.

by Dan Marker-Moore

by Dan Marker-Moore

Why does this blue stone have yellow light coming out of it?

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You’d expect this cloudy blue glass to throw a blue light onto its surroundings. The light it throws, though, is clearly a bright orange-yellow. Can you guess why?

Put a red vase up to a window and anything it its light will be covered in red. A blue piece of plastic should work the same. And yet it’s clear to see that this stone throws orange light behind it. How can a light change from blue to orange? For the same reason you can see a beam of light in a dusty room, or a laser through a cloudy glass of water solution. The Tyndall Effect shines through.

The Tyndall Effect, or Tyndall Scattering, is named for John Tyndall, the man who studied it in the nineteenth century. He studied it with much more modest tools, simple beams of light and glasses of water with powder in them. He was working with colloids, liquids with microscopic substances dispersed evenly through them. These microscopic substances didn’t dissolve, like salt in water. They just floated, more or less in perfect suspension in the solution. Make the colloid weak diffuse enough and the particles aren’t even visible. Until you shine a light on them. All those tiny particles catch the light and reflect it in many different directions, including back at the onlooker. (For those of you who are fond of spy movies, the Tyndall Effect is also happening when someone sprays aerosol across a room and suddenly you can see laser beams criss-crossing the thing.)

Of course, the light that gets bounced off the particles gets diverted from its final destination. That, in most cases, will only make the light at that final destination a little more dim. However, sometimes the particles are of the size that they only catch and reflect some of the light. For example, they might get the blue light, but the red light wavelengths are too big and just move past them. In this case, they reflect blue every which way, including back towards the onlooker, and so not much blue gets to its final destination. Take the blue out of white light, and you’ll get a yellowy-orange light. That’s what we’re seeing here. And yes, this is the kind of thing that makes the sky blue but the light hits the Earth yellow.

Top Image: Optick

33 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies that Could Rock Your Summer

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By Charlie Jane Anders

This year’s summer movies just won’t let up. There’s Joss Whedon’s Avengers, Chris Nolan’s third Batman film, and Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to space horror. Plus maybe a dozen other movies that look like they could be totally fantastic. Here’s our complete list of 32 movies coming out between now and September — including superheroes, aliens, time travel and the end of the world!

Minor spoilers ahead…

The Sound of My Voice (April 27) The Sundance 2011 hit finally reaches theaters. It’s an artsy tale about a cult founded by a woman who claims to be from the future, from Another Earth co-writer and star Brit Marling. Like Another Earth, this is a very character-focused, intimate story with a huge science fiction backdrop.

The Raven (April 27) There’s a serial killer who’s killing people according to the works of pioneering horror author Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) — and only Poe can stop him. Quoth the Raven: WTF! Only really notable because it’s the closest we’ll ever get to the show about Poe being a detective that failed to get on the air last year.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (April 27) The latest stop-motion animated movie from the makers of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, and it’s easily as good as their earlier works. It’s honestly much better if you think of it as being called Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists, the title of the book and the U.K. version. Basically, pirates and Charles Darwin, in Victorian England.

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May

The Avengers (May 4) The culmination of four years of Marvel superhero movies, this film brings Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Incredible Hulk and S.H.I.E.L.D. together to fight Loki and his alien army. By all accounts, director Joss Whedon brings together this huge spandex mish-mash with surprising grace, and delivers a nice, craftsmanlike film. We can’t wait.

Dark Shadows (May 11) Tim Burton reunites with Johnny Depp for their 500th collaboration — a remake of the 1966-1971 soap opera featuring vampire Barnabas Collins, who wakes up in the early 1970s. Judging from the trailers, Burton has gone all-out comedy with this version, which could turn out to be an excellent choice — if he can recapture the old Beetlejuice spirit. Fingers crossed.

Battleship (May 18) Already out in the UK, and getting mixed reviews. It’s a movie based on a board game, in which aliens come down to Earth and imprison a bunch of naval vessels inside a dome, causing them to play a deadly game… of Battleship. By all accounts, it’s pretty similar to the Michael Bay Transformers films, so if you liked those, you’ll like this.

Hysteria (May 18) A romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator. Hugh Dancy plays a doctor in Victorian England who’s torn between the staid values of the medical establishment and his progressive new ideas. And then he gets a job working with a specialist who treats women with “hysteria,” and develops an electrifying new treatment. Meanwhile, he becomes entranced with his partner’s daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who’s a budding feminist.

Lovely Molly (May 18) A woman moves into her dead father’s house, and starts being haunted by painful memories — and that’s before a malevolent presence starts targeting her. By all accounts, this is a nice change from the usual “haunted house” movies, because Molly is working class (she’s a trucker’s wife and mall cleaning woman) and she’s also recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, and desperately trying to stay sober.

Chernobyl Diaries (May 25) The latest Oren Peli horror film isn’t, strictly speaking, “found footage” — although it still has a very DIY feel to it. Six young people take an “extreme” tour of Pripyat, a town that’s been deserted since that famous 1980s nuclear disaster. Except that they get trapped there, and maybe it’s not quite as deserted as they’d thought… because something is hunting them.

Men in Black 3 (May 25) Will Smith is back as Agent J, and this time he has to travel back to the 1960s to save his partner (Tommy Lee Jones/Josh Brolin) from being killed in the past by an alien (Jemaine Clement). On the plus side, the time travel element should open up some new storylines. Plus there’s Emma Thompson. On the minus side, they apparently had no script during some of the production, and it was kind of a mess. But it could still be fun.

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June

Piranha 3DD (June 1) This was supposed to come out last summer, wasn’t it? This sequel to Piranha 3D has the jokiest title of any movie this year, which also explains succinctly the main reason why anybody will want to see this monster fish epic. You can’t blame a movie for knowing its audience.

Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1) The second of the year’s Snow White movies could actually benefit from the failure of Mirror Mirror. This one features a more “badass” Snow White, played by Twilight’s Kristen Stewart (yes, I know). And the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) teaches Snow White the art of war, so she and her dwarves can overthrow the Queen (Charlize Theron). Dwarves include Nick Frost and Bob Hoskins, which is automatic win.

Prometheus (June 8) Even in a summer with The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, this might be the most hotly awaited film for science fiction fans. Sir Ridley Scott returns to science fiction, and to the world of 1979’s Alien, for a horrifying, unsettling new adventure. Every frame that we’ve seen from this movie thus far looks like it could be your favorite new artwork, and it also looks like it brings a massive new ambition to expanding the universe we glimpsed in Alien.

Safety Not Guaranteed (June 8) It’s that quirky indie comedy about three magazine employees who go to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking someone to go back in time with him. “I have only done this once before,” the ad warns. Based on an actual newspaper ad that caused an internet sensation back in 2005. The trailer looks pretty great and clever, in that “quirky indie” way.

The Woman in the Fifth (June 15) Ethan Hawke stars in the adaptation of a novel about a writer and professor who goes to live in Paris, then falls on hard times and gets ensnared in some dirty business. It’s basically your standard “Ethan Hawke goes to Paris” movie that we’ve all seen before — except that it also turns into a freaky ghost story, at least judging from the novel.

Extraterrestrial (June 15) Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo is back, with another weird little science fiction movie. Sadly, it’s not the one he was planning to make about the guy who builds a ramp to jump his car onto a UFO. But it does have aliens — basically, a guy has a one-night stand with a woman who’s out of his league, and just when things are getting awkward, aliens invade and everybody has to stay indoors. This movie hits select theaters in the U.S. (including your town, if you register via Tugg.com) on June 15.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (June 22) Director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Night Watch) returns to vampires — with a strange alt-history take in which Abraham Lincoln not only freed the slaves, he slew the vamps as well. It’s written by Seth Grahame-Smith, based on his book of the same name. With Bekmambetov involved, the action should at least look pretty sweet.

Brave (June 22) Pixar hopefully returns to form after Cars 2, with the story of Merida, a princess who defies an age-old custom and unleashes chaos on the kingdom. Everything we’ve seen thus far on this film looks totally gorgeous, including some beautiful shots of the Scottish countryside. Seeing Pixar tackle fairytales, and a female lead character, should be ultra-rewarding. Plus Kevin McKidd voices Lord MacGuffin and his son, the Young MacGuffin.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (June 22) It’s Melancholia, only it’s a fun romantic comedy. Steve Carrel stars as a guy who connects with a young woman (Keira Knightley) and searches for his childhood sweetheart, before an asteroid destroys the world. The trailer is pretty hilarious, especially the bit where Patton Oswalt explains that the impending doom of the planet means that women will sleep with him without worrying about diseases — or even whether you’re related to them.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (June 28) So yeah, nobody was especially impressed with the first G.I. Joe. But the good news is, this time around it’s directed by Jon M. Chu, who created the insane dance-superhero webseries The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. Plus it looks like this film picks up right where the first one left off, with the evil Zartan impersonating the U.S. President — and a movie about an evil president is always welcome.

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July

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3) A mere five years after Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy concluded, Spidey’s being rebooted — but at least the new director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) seems likely to bring a very different feel than Raimi. And non-organic web-shooters and non-CG swinging seem like an improvement. Plus a more quippy Peter Parker. The trailers we’ve seen so far look surprisingly cool. And yet, do we need a new Spidey origin? Especially one which focuses so much on the mystery of Peter Parker’s parents? We’ll see.

Ted (July 13) The Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane directs his first big-screen movie. Mark Wahlberg plays John, who wished for his teddy bear to come to life when he was a kid. Now, John’s a grown-up — and his sentient teddy bear is still following him around, hindering his attempts to have a normal life. Mila Kunis plays the love interest, and MacFarlane voices the teddy bear.

Red Lights (July 13) It’s pretty much your standard “paranormal investigators butt heads with a man who claims to be a psychic” movie — except that the paranormal investigators are Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy. And the psychic is played by Robert De Niro. Sadly, we called it “this year’s biggest Sundance letdown.” Apparently it’s De Niro’s “Not the bees” movie.

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20) The third movie in Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy, this one features Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane. By the look of things, we’ll be seeing an older, less assured Batman, and a Gotham that’s gotten complacent after eight years of peace after the death of Harvey Dent. We’ve already seen a football field implode, and it sounds like that’s just the beginning of the insanity.

Ruby Sparks (July 25) A young writer struggles with writers’ block, until he starts inventing his ideal woman so he can write about her… until one day, she appears in the flesh in his apartment, apparently called into being by the force of his imagination. From the directors of Little Miss Sunshine, this film looks pretty fascinating. (Thanks to nekowrites for the reminder!)

Neighborhood Watch (July 27) A zany comedy in which Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn are suburban dads who join a neighborhood watch group to get some excitement — only to find themselves the only line of defense against an alien invasion. More importantly, though, the film features The IT Crowd’s Richard Ayoade in a major role. And it’s apparently trying for a Ghostbusters vibe. Fingers crossed!

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August

Total Recall (August 3) Colin Farrell stars in this quasi-remake of the 1990 Schwarzenegger classic, in which the hero never goes to Mars. By all accounts, Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) is trying to get closer to the Philip K. Dick source material, and delve more into the weirdness of not knowing who you really are. At the very least, let’s hope there’s some good action sequences in a cool-looking future dystopia.

The Awakening (August 10) This movie came out in the U.K. last fall, but it’s finally getting a U.S. release. It’s another “supernatural debunker confronts real supernatural phenomena” film — except that it’s set in 1921 and the debunker is a woman, Florence Cartwright (Rebecca Hall). It’s gotten some good reviews, and the heroine wears an awesome Captain Jack Harkness coat.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (August 15) The creeptastic Disney movie about a childless couple (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) who write down their wish for a child and bury it in the yard… and then their dream child shows up, already aged 10. From an idea by Frank Zappa’s son Ahmet Zappa. It honestly looks kind of disturbing, but it’s clearly trying to be heartwarming — and maybe it’ll be cooler than the trailers look.

ParaNorman (August 17) In the latest stop-motion animated film from the studio behind Coraline, Norman can speak with the dead — which comes in handy after zombies start attacking. He also has to save his town from an ancient witch’s curse.

The Apparition (August 24) A supernatural presence gets unleashed during a college parapsychology experiment, and starts haunting a young couple (Ashley Greene and Sebastian Stan.) They have to call on a supernatural expert — played by Draco Malfoy himself, Tom Felton — to help deal with it. But it may already be too late to save them! The combination of “college parapsychology experiment” and “Draco Malfoy, ghost hunter” seems like a promising one.

7500 (August 31) Get these motherfuckin’ ghosts off this motherfuckin’ plane! Seriously, if Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t at least get a cameo where he says that, we’ll feel cheated. Basically, in this film, Jason Stackhouse is on a flight over the Pacific when a supernatural presence invades the plane. Director Takashi Shimizu previously made seven of the Grudge movies.

The Possession (August 31) Previously known as Dybbuk Box, this movie has been delayed for ages and ages. And yes, it’s a welcome addition to the tiny genre of “Jewish horror,” alongside that Odette Yustman movie a couple years ago. A young girl buys a box at a yard sale, unaware the box holds a malevolent presence. This August, Yiddish is the language of terror. This film features Jeffrey Dean Morgan, so you can pretend it’s a Supernatural prequel.

Sources: Film-Releases.com, The-Numbers.com, Entertainment Weekly.

 

Mysterious Balancing Rocks Resist Quakes’ Shakes

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Andrea Mustain, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer –         Apr 20, 2012        12:49 PM ET

A Precariously Balanced Rock, or PBR. CREDIT: James Brune

   SAN DIEGO — In the western San Bernardino Mountains, near the highway that links Los Angeles and Las Vegas, scientists recently discovered a geological mystery: colossal rocks perched in precarious poses right next door to the San Andreas Fault.It’s not the rocks’ balancing act that is perplexing, said Lisa Grant Ludwig, a scientist who presented this puzzle to colleagues this week here at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America. It’s how the rocks have managed to stay that way with such an aggressive maker of powerful earthquakes just a few miles away.

Rocks with seemingly acrobatic balance are seen all over the world. Meteorological and geological forces wash away the material around them, leaving the giant rocks balanced like a top. There’s even a term for them: Precariously Balanced Rocks, or PBRs for short, said Ludwig, an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine.

When you start to get into seismically active areas there are fewer and fewer,” Ludwig told OurAmazingPlanet. “And you don’t expect to see them right next to active faults —and you don’t, generally.” [Images: One-of-a-Kind Places on Earth]

Still standing

In fact, PBRs are used to verify earthquake hazard maps. “Quite some time ago it was recognized that wherever you see these things, it’s an indication there haven’t been a lot of really strong earthquakes because they haven’t been shaken down,” Ludwig said.

That’s what makes the San Bernardino PBRs so very strange. There are two pockets of more than a dozen of the gracefully balancing rocks, and some are only 4 miles (7 kilometers) from the fault.

Ludwig said that when a colleague brought her pictures of the rocks — and asked how they could possibly withstand the earthquakes that tear along the San Andreas Fault — she had to go see them for herself.

“I have spent most of my career documenting large earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault,” Ludwig said. “I could rock some of [the PBRs] with my hand.”

Seismic mystery

Subsequent dating research revealed that the rocks had been standing in their positions for millennia — in some cases as long as 18,000 years. “That’s a long time for something that is so close to a big fault,” Ludwig said.

It’s not clear why violent shaking has apparently spared the two small pockets near the fault where the rocks still stand. “I think it shows an area of complexity in the fault rupture,” Ludwig said, “and that is what a lot of my colleagues seem to agree on in the discussion.”

She said it’s something that researchers will be pursuing next. “We don’t have a good explanation,” she said.

Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

Anti-Poaching Efforts Pay Off in Thailand

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OurAmazingPlanet Staff –

Anti-Poaching Efforts Pay Off in Thailand

OurAmazingPlanet Staff –

A Night CapCredit: DNP-Government of Thailand/WCS Thailand Program.A tigress drinks with her cubs from a watering hole inside Thailand’s Western Forest Complex.

Out For A StrollCredit: DNP-Government of Thailand/WCS Thailand Program.A Malayan tapir pauses as it trips the infra-red beam of a camera trap in Thailand.

Peek-A-BooCredit: DNP-Government of Thailand/WCS Thailand Program.An Asian elephant calf peeks out from the middle of a herd of adults.  The Western Forest Complex of Thailand contains one of Southeast Asia’s largest and most important elephant populations.

Who’s There?Credit: DNP-Government of Thailand/WCS Thailand Program.A green peafowl eyes the camera.

Look Out, Poachers!Credit: DNP-Government of Thailand/WCS Thailand Program.An anti-poaching team on patrol.

Past Preserved: The Petrified Forest

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OurAmazingPlanet Staff –         Feb 13, 2012        06:05 AM ET

 

Petrified WoodCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherPetrified wood is a fossil that is the remains of ancient vegetation, most commonly ancient trees. It occurs by a natural action known as permineralization, a process in which mineral deposits take on the shape within the cells of organic tissue. These minerals replace all the organic materials of the ancient trees, most commonly with a silicate such as quartz.

3-D FossilsCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherPetrified wood is a 3-D fossil representation of the original living organism. The petrification process occurs deep underground where the wood has become buried by sediments, blocking off any source of oxygen and thus stopping the oxygen-fueled decomposition or the organic matter. Petrification requires four basic materials: water, wood, mud and volcanic ash.

Petrified Forest National ParkCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherPetrified wood is found in all 50 states of the United States as well as many countries around the world. In northeastern Arizona, one of the world’s greatest concentrations of petrified wood has risen to the surface as a result of thousands of years of plateau uplifting and erosion. This great collection of petrified wood is protected within the boundaries of the Petrified Forest National Park.

Foundations LaidCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherThe story of this land that is now within the national park boundary begins some 226 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period when the Chinle Formation found here was laid down. Sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone, are most common here and buried deep within these sedimentary layers are found the petrified remains of ancient forestsa

Pangaea – SupercontinentCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherWhen all the Earth’s land was once joined together into the supercontinent called Pangaea, this land of northern Arizona was located only a few degrees north of the Earth’s equator, on the southwest shores of Pangaea. The climate was tropical and a great, sediment-filled river system, maybe as large as today’s Amazon or Mississippi Rivers, constantly flowed toward the ancient sea.

Thick Sedimentary Rock LayersCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherCommon flooding spread the continental sediment across great flood plains, laying down thick layers of sedimentary rock along with the remains of animals and plants, including great trees. The petrified remains of those trees are scattered today across the national park’s landscape

Discovered SpeciesCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherOver 200 species of plants have been discovered within this Chinle Formation, including lycopods, ferns, horsetails, cycads, conifers and several types yet to be classified. Most of the petrified wood found here is from an extinct conifer given the scientific name Araucarioxylon arizonicum. Modern botanists are still not in agreement that all these ancient logs are of the same species and study into the variety of petrified trees is ongoing.

Submerged Trees Begin to PetrifyCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherSubmerged deep beneath the sediments of silt, mud, sand and volcanic ash deposited by the ancient rivers, the buried forest of trees remained for millions of years. Percolating ground water carried silica and other trace minerals downward, saturating the deeply buried ancient trees. Slowly, quartz crystals grew within the porous cell walls and the slow process of petrification began.

Giant Quartz CrystalsCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherPetrified wood is basically a giant quartz crystal. Quartz crystals tend to be clear in color and yet petrified wood can be all the colors of the rainbow. These brilliant colors are due to impurities found in the quartz. For example, if iron oxide is present, the petrified wood will be red, brown and yellow. Cobalt results in hues of green and blue. Manganese creates shades of pink, while carbon creates streaks of black

Natural SectioningCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherSince quartz is very hard, yet very brittle, the Petrified Forest often looks as if ancient lumberjacks had come through the forest cutting the large logs into smaller sections. In fact, this fracturing is a result of the natural breaking of the logs from ground stress as the Colorado Plateau began to rise some 60 million years ago

Rising PlateausCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherWhile Colorado Plateau slowly rose, the forces of erosion and weathering removed the softer sedimentary layers leaving exposed an incredible forest of petrified logs scattered across the current high desert landscape.  Some of these petrified logs are over 100 feet (30.5 meters) long, 10 feet (3 m) in diameter and weigh up to 44 tons.

Newspaper RockCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherWithin the boundary of the national park is found evidence that early man lived in and among the ancient forest of stone.  Here, on a sandstone boulder known as “Newspaper Rock,” early Native Americans left many petroglyphs carved into the large stones.

Impressive SightCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherThe variety in size and colors of petrified wood found in the Petrified Forest National Park is impressive for all who take the time to travel through this most unusual geological landscape. The ancient forest of tropical trees that now lie as stone upon the high desert ground is proof of the ever-changing forces that continue to shape the earth.

Imagine the Treasure TroveCredit: Linda & Dr. Dick BuscherOne can only imagine the treasure trove of Triassic fossils that are still buried deep within the sedimentary rocks of the Chinle Formation of the Petrified Forest National Park. There is little doubt that an even greater forest of petrified wood will be exposed on the surface of the barren land some time in the far distant future. [Top 10 Least Visited National Parks]

Hold Your Nose: 7 Foul Flowers

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Brett Israel, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer –         Nov 12, 2010        02:23 AM ET

   

Above TitanCredit: Jeff Hillyer/WIU.How’s this for an evolutionary strategy? Develop such a rancid odor that you lure flies and beetles — critters that would normally feed on decaying flesh — and hold them hostage until they’re smothered with your seeds so that when you release them, they can’t help but to spread your genes.

Here are 7 fetid flowers that have followed that path. From the various corpse flowers to the western skunk cabbage, these amazing, stomach-turning flowers will have you begging for fresh air

Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum)Credit: Jeff Hillyer/WIU.

When it comes to creating a big stink, the titan arum does it in style. Not only is it one of the biggest flowers in the world, it’s also one of the smelliest. Dubbed the “corpse flower” after the putrid smell of its bloom, these flowers are huge draws at greenhouses around the world. Though their blooms are rare, the smell of rotten flesh lingers in the air for days.

The titan arum bloom is actually not a single flower, but thousands of tiny flowers, which botanists call an inflorescence. The titan arum’s inflorescence is the largest in the world, typically stretching past 10 feet (3 meters) tall.

Native to the equatorial rainforests of central Sumatra in western Indonesia, the titan arum’s scientific name, Amorphophallus titanum, translates to “giant misshapen phallus.” The plant evolved its horrendous odor and darkly colored collar-like structure, called a spathe, to attract pollinators such as carrion beetles and flesh flies, which normally feed on rotting flesh. [See the stages of the corpse flower’s bloom.]

Several titan arums have recently bloomed, including Titan 3, Metis and an unmanned plant at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England.

Stinking Corpse Lily (Rafflesia arnoldii)Credit: Jeremy Holden.

Another carrion flower that is often referred to as a “corpse flower” is Rafflesia arnoldii, native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. These plants look and smell like a rotting carcass. These stinkers are big too: Rafflesia flowers are the largest individual flowers on Earth.

The flower, with several petal-like structures around a large opening, can weigh up to 24 pounds (11 kilograms) and grow as large as a person’s torso.

Rafflesia is a parasitic flower. It has no leaves, stems, roots or chlorophyll (the chemical that helps plants photosynthesize). Any water or nutrition is siphoned from its host, the Tetrastigma vine. This makes Rafflesia very tricky to find in the wild because it grows as thread-like fibers within this vine. When it’s ready to reproduce it will form a cabbage-like lump that bursts through to the outside. About a year later, the lump will open but only for a few days. Rafflesia will then grow round fruit, filled with thousands of seeds that are spread by forest animals.

Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus)Credit: Dreamstime.

This flower might not look so bad, but it’s called a skunk cabbage for a reason. Native to the swamps of the Pacific Northwest, the plant releases a rotten odor that flies and beetles can’t resist.

The Western Skunk Cabbage is tiny in comparison to the corpse flowers. But much like the titan arum, the Western Skunk Cabbage produces a relatively large spadix and surrounding spathe, but they are only a few dozen inches tall. The flower has is rare feature — its blooming stem will get hot. This heat will melt the snow around the plant to give pollinators easy access.

Another fun tidbit: Bears will eat the skunk cabbage after hibernating because it’s a laxative.

Carrion Flower (Stapelia gigantea)Credit: R.A. Howard, courtesy of Smithsonian Institution/USDA.

No matter the nickname — carrion flower, toad flower, Zulu giant, starfish flower — these native South African plants are like road kill to flies.

The plant itself resembles a cactus, with clumps of 4-sided spineless stems. In September, the flower blooms (see above), producing large, flesh-looking, 5-pointed stars. The flowers have the characteristic rotten smell of carrion plants, but if you find one outside it’s not likely to make you gag.

The flesh-colored flower is covered with little white hairs, and attracts flies and maggots to the male and female sex organs inside its central orifice.

Stinking Root Parasite (Hydnora africana)Credit: Lytton John Musselman.

The parasitic plant Hydnora africana, native to the arid deserts in southern Africa, grows entirely underground.

These parasites live off the roots of the shrubby Euphorbia genus of plants. The red, flesh-colored flowers sprout from the sand, jam-packed with black beetles due to the flower’s dung scent. The beetles are trapped inside the flower by downward pointing hairs, but they spill out when the flower opens.

Dead Horse Arum Lily (Helicodiceros muscivorus)Credit: Frederick Depuydt.

This rare, heat-producing plant can raise its temperature to help lure flies into its flower. Of course, the dead horse smell and dark-colored spathe also help.

On a warm and sunny day, the flower will unroll and release its stench while only the female flowers are receptive. Flies are lured deep within the hairy spadix, where they get trapped for an entire day. The next day, the male flowers shed their pollen. The pollen-coated flies then leave the plant, ignoring the inactive female flowers on the way out, and go on to cross pollinate another Dead horse arum lily

Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)Credit: Sue Sweeney.

Like the similarly named plant on the West Coast, the Eastern Skunk Cabbage is a stinky plant at home in swampy wetlands. The plant may be foul, but in Tennessee it’s protected due to its status as an endangered species.

In the spring, Eastern Skunk Cabbage will flower and grow a 4-inch- long(10-centimeter) spadix and 6-inch- tall (15-cm) deep purple spathe. The plant will grow several green leaves above ground after the flower. Crushing the leaves will release the skunky odor.

Images: Species of the Maya Biosphere Reserve

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OurAmazingPlanet Staff –         Mar 27, 2012        12:56 PM ET

 

maya-biosphere-reserveCredit: Melvin Mérida/WCSThe heart of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which will be protected under a new agreement between local communities, the Guatemalan governments and conservation groups

scarlet-macaw-120327Credit: Melvin Mérida/WCSA scarlet macaw in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The bird is one of the most endangered species of parrots in the world, threatened by the destruction of their habitats

black-howler-monkey-120327Credit: Melvin Mérida/WCSThe Maya Biosphere Reserve is also home to the black howler monkey (Alouatta caraya).

jaguar-pantera-onca-120327Credit: Melvin Mérida/WCSJaguars, the largest living cats in the Americas, are also found in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Jaguar populations still exist in 18 countries in Latin America.

A Crash of Rhinos: See All 5 Species

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OurAmazingPlanet Staff –         Apr 26, 2012        04:45 PM ET

RhinocerosCredit: Tim_Booth | ShutterstockA group of rhinoceroses is known as a crash, though these endangered creatures are often solitary.Rhinos are found in parts of African and Asia, depending on the species.

Some rhinos have one horn, while others have two, and they vary in size from the smallest (the Javan rhino), to the largest (the white rhino)

Here are the five species of rhino. Learn more rhino facts here.

Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis)Credit: Piotr Gatlik | Shutterstock(or Prehensile or hook-lipped rhinoceros)

The black rhino lives in the grasslands and savannahs of Africa, where all four of its subspecies are listed as critically endangered. One subspecies, D. bicornis longipes (Western Black Rhinoceros), was declared extinct in 2011.

Black rhinos have two horns on their heads, with the front one being larger. They typically weigh between 1,750 – 3,000 pounds (800 – 1,350 kg) and are about 4.5 – 5.5 feet (1.4 – 1.7 meter) tall at their shoulder.

They have a prehensile lip that is good at grasping grasses and leaves (hence the other names they are known by).

Black rhinos aren’t actually black. Their name likely differentiates them from white rhinos, whose name is a corruption of the Afrikaans word “weit,” which means “wide” and describes the mouth of the rhinos.

White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum)Credit: Francois van Heerden | Shutterstock

There are two subspecies of the white rhino, the Southern White Rhino (C. simum simum) and the Northern White Rhino (C. simum cottoni), which is presumed to be extinct. The Southern White rhino is considered “near threatened,” and is the least endangered of the rhino species.

The white rhino is the largest of the rhino species, weighing about 4,000-6,000 pounds (1,800 – 2,700 kg) and standing about 5 – 6 feet (1.5 – 1.8 m) tall at the shoulder. They have two horns, with the front one being larger.

The largest populations of white rhinos are found in South Africa. White rhinos’ name comes from

Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus)Credit: ©WWF-Greater Mekong

(or Asian lesser one-horned rhinoceros)

The Javan rhino is the rarest of the rhino species, with only between 27 and 44 individuals thought to live in the wild. They are believed to have been poached from their former habitat in Vietnam and are now found only in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park. They are listed as critically endangered.

Javan rhinos are also the smallest of the rhinos, weight about half of what white rhinos do (about 2,000 – 5,060 pounds (900 – 2,300 kg)) and standing 5 – 5.5 feet (1.5 – 1.7 m) tall at the shoulder. They have only one horn on their head.

These solitary rhinos are very rarely seen.

Greater One-Horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis)Credit: Kenneth Keifer | Shutterstock.com

(or Indian Rhinoceros)

As its name suggests, the Greater One-horned rhino has only one horn. It is generally between 8 to 24 inches (20 to 61 centimeters) long. They are similar in size to white rhinos.

Greater one-horneds are the most amphibious of the rhino species and will immerse themselves in water and munch on aquatic plants

Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis)Credit: International Rhino Foundation

(or Hairy Rhinoceros)

The Sumatran rhino differs from its cousins by the shaggy hairs on their body and ears. It has two horns and typically weighs between 1,300 – 2,000 pounds (600 – 950 kg).

The species is considered critically endangered and is threatened by poaching in its habitats in Borneo and Sumatra. They exist only in protected areas.