Everywhere we look we see repeating patterns. Sometimes these patterns are coincidental and superficial. At other times they reveal a deep underlying principle or symmetry of some sort. This blog is a visual inquiry into the frivolous and the wondrous patterns in science.
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What am I looking at?
One is a Kuwaiti Sheep the other is a fossilized Ammonite shell.
What is interesting about it?
Ammonites, believe it or not, are extinct cousins of squids and octopuses. The structural similarities between the sheep’s horn and the shell are another example of nature’s repeating patterns.
What am I looking at?
One is an Emission spectrum and the other is a Radiation spectrum.
What is interesting about it?
Every element has its own unique spectral lines we can use to identify it. You are looking at the element Carbon’s ID card.
What am I looking at?
One is a wolf the other is a Tasmanian wolf, aka Tasmanian tiger.
What is interesting about it?
A wolf is a placental mammal like us. The Tasmanian wolf is a marsupial, with an external pouch. (Think Kangaroo).Which means that although they look similar, and are top predators in their respective food chains, they are very very distantly related. Placental mammals and marsupials diverged almost 50 million years ago. Similar characteristics and body structure of the two creatures evolved independently. This is a phenomenon is biology known as convergent evolution.
The Tasmanian wolf thrived on the Australian mainland and Tasmania. The Tasmanian wolf, like the Dodo is now extinct.
