At 4,841 years old, this ancient bristlecone pine is the oldest known non-clonal organism on Earth. Located in the White Mountains of California, in Inyo National Forest, Methuselah’s exact location is kept a close secret in order to protect it from the public. (An older specimen named Prometheus, which was more than 5,000 years old, was cut down by a U.S. Forest Service graduate student in 1964.) Today you can visit the grove where Methuselah hides, but you’ll have to guess at which tree it is. Could this one be it?
The world’s 10 oldest living trees
“For the last 500 years, the locals of Nongriat in Meghalaya, India have grown several hundred bridges across the region’s numerous water channels, using just the roots of local ribber trees. Some of the bridges extend over 100 feet in length and are strong enough to support more than 50 people at a time.”
Still going strong
Pelagic Hydromedusae of the Arctic Ocean
by Russ Hopcroft
Hydromedusae form the largest group of cnidarians and are generally smaller then the true jellyfish (typically only a few mm to cm at maximum size). Hydromedusae are distinquished from true jellyfish by producing their eggs and sperm under the bell, but on the outside of the animal, while true jellyfish produce eggs inside the gut.
Cnidarians can be found all the way from the surface to the bottom of the oceans, although most species have a specific range of depth over which they are found. Within the water column, hydromedusae can be common, frequently being a large but variable proportion of the volume of zooplankton collected by nets. All Hydromedusae are predatory and eat smaller zooplankton. Some species have relatively few predators, while others are preyed on heavily by other cnidarians, and fish such as mackerel and chum salmon.
Like all cnidarians, they swim by contracting their bell which pushes them forward. This swimming activity whips the tentacles around the bell through the water where they may hit food. Longer tentacles are pulled along behind the animals like sticky fishing line. Once stung, prey are passed to the mouth and eaten whole…
(read more: Arctic Ocean Diversity)
(photos: TL, BR - Hopcroft, UAF/CoML; NOAA, TR,M, BL - Raskoff, MPC)
Photo grid of famous atheists
Mark Twain, Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, Keira Knightley, Stephen Hawking, Bill Maher, John Lennon, Ricky Gervais, Julianne Moore, Keanu Reeves, Bill Shatner, Johnny Depp, Janeane Garofalo, James Cameron, Billy Joel, Jack Nicholson, John Malkovich, Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Richard Branson, Sir Ian McKellan, Albert Einstein, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Jodie Foster, Hugh Laurie, Lance Armstrong, George Carlin, Morgan Freeman, Fred Armisen, Angelina Jolie, Gene Wilder, Penn Jillette, Teller, Dylan Moran, Patton Oswalt, Seth Green, Norm MacDonald, Eddie Izzard, Cillian Murphy, Jeremy Clarkson, and George Clooney.
via boingboing
