An Evolutionary Success, Hidden in the Dark
An Evolutionary Success, Hidden in the Dark Because bats are nocturnal, most people only infrequently see them -- a glimpse here, a flicker there. The night obscures just how widespread they are. Their...
View ArticleEven Bats Have Friends
Bats are among the world's most successful mammals. Found on six continents, they do at night what birds do in daytime -- but except for a bit of Halloween lip service, they go largely unnoticed, and...
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On Our Radar
On Our Radar Bat echolocation works much like radar. As it happens, Mexican free-tailed bats, live in colonies so large that when they emerge at night, they show up on human radars (below). Images: 1)...
View ArticleA Leafy Green Cave
A Leafy Green Cave Though bats are stereotyped as living in caves, many live among vegetation for much of the year. Hardwicke's woolly bats do both: they roost inside pitcher plants. Over evolutionary...
View ArticleLove Songs
Love Songs Bats use such a rich repertoire of vocalizations that some researchers think they may have a rudimentary language. If so, they speak the language of love. In the video above, a Mexican...
View ArticleAdapted to Vampires
Adapted to Vampires Rabies, a disease sometimes carried by vampire bats, is thought to be almost universally fatal. In Peru, however, some people who live where vampire bat attacks are frequent appear...
View ArticleOct 26, 2012
Hubble's Crab Nebula This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion....
View ArticleOct 27, 2012
Family Portrait, Inside Out NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has constructed the first portrait of our solar system by combining 34 images taken by the spacecraft’s Wide Angle Camera on Nov. 3 and 16, 2010....
View ArticleWhite Nose Syndrome
White Nose Syndrome North American bats are sadly threatened by the most virulent disease outbreak ever seen in animals. White Nose Syndrome was first detected in a New York cave in 2006; since then...
View ArticleLooks Like Googly Eyes
David Millard, Austin, TX Technique: Diffuse Incident Illumination, Focus Stacking Magnification: 6x Click here to find out what it is: Butterfly Eggs on Mistletoe Leaf
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Looks Like a Brain
More Microscope Images: Incredibly Small: Best Microscope Photos of 2012 Creepy Close-Ups: Best Microscope Critter Photos Mini Motion: Award-Winning Microscope Videos Sometimes a closer look doesn't...
View ArticleLooks Like Evil
Nikola Rahme, Budapest, Hungary Technique: Reflected light Magnification: 21.2x Click here to find out what it is: Parasitic Wasp (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae)
View ArticleLooks Like Hair
Michael Shribak and Irina Arkhipova, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA Technique: Orientation-independent Differential Interference Contrast Magnification: 40x Click here to find out what it...
View ArticleLooks Like Eye of Sauron
Paul Simmonds, California NanoSystems Institute, Univeristy of California, Los Angeles Technique: Brightfield Magnification: 50x Click here to find out what it is: A Semiconductor Sample Thinned Down...
View ArticleLooks Like Cactus
Donna Beer Stolz, Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh, PA Technique: Confocal Stack Reconstruction of Autofluorescence Magnification: 100x Click here to find out what it is: Moth Antenna
View ArticleLooks Like Slinky
Philippe Verrees, Knokke, Belgium Technique: Rheinberg illumination Magnification: 5x Click here to find out what it is: Butterfly Tongue
View ArticleLooks Like Las Vegas
Haris Antonopoulos, Athens, Greece Technique: Brightfield and Polarized Light Magnification: 10x Click here to find out what it is: Soap Bubbles
View ArticleLooks Like Carpet
Tomasz Kozielec, Department of Paper and Leather Conservation, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland Technique: Reflected light Magnification: 40x Click here to find out what it is: Surface of Tanned...
View ArticleOct 28, 2012
Colorful Bubble Colour composite image of RCW120. It reveals how an expanding bubble of ionised gas about ten light-years across is causing the surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps where...
View ArticleOct 30, 2012
Degas on Mercury Though many craters are visible in this color view of Mercury's limb, Degas gets noticed. Located near the center of the image, the distinctive blue color of the low-reflectance...
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