The Platypus
Platypus are also the only mammals known to have a sense of electroreception: they locate their prey in part by detecting electric fields generated by muscular contractions.
The platypus: proof that, if God exists, he has a weird sense of humor.
Encounter with a Wheel Bug
Alternate title: "How to unknowingly expose your kids to a potentially dangerous bug and live to tell the tale."
This past weekend we went to pumpkin fest - it was a gorgeous, perfect day to spend sliding down a hay slide and playing in some corn pits. Near the end of the afternoon we came upon a large bug which the kids loved to (carefully) play with and investigate:
- A wheel bug hanging onto the edge of a finger
- The wheel bug slowly crawls from hand to hand
- Letting a wheel bug climb up Sam's arm
- Libby posing with a wheel bug on her sleeve
We did not know at the time, but that bug was a Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus):
The [wheel] bug plunges its beak into its victim, pinning its prey with its front legs. It then injects enzymes into the victim, paralyzing it and dissolving its insides, and proceeds to drain all of the victim's bodily fluids. The bite of a wheel bug is painful and may take months to heal (sometimes leaving a small scar), so caution is highly advised when handling them.
Yikes! Guess we won't be handling these bugs in the future (at least not with kids 
).
Whoa… Seamlessly Inserting Objects into Pictures
This is very impressive work - I had to keep reminding myself while watching that the background was a photograph and the objects were NOT real:
Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographs from Kevin Karsch on Vimeo.
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