🌍🧵 I'd like to tell you a story about a very special rock: A rock that broiled, gushed, and bloomed; that learned to spin sunlight into substance—a rock that came to life and became our cosmic oasis—a miraculous green wet fiery clamorous gorgeous living rock we call Earth
~4 billion years ago, Earth was unrecognizable: the sky was likely orange and hazy; the nascent ocean shallow; no continents, only scattered volcanic islands; little to no green.
Life changed everything. Many of Earth's defining features came from, or evolved with, life.
Microbes, the smallest & earliest organisms to emerge, were responsible for some of the most profound changes.
Photosynthetic cyanobacteria (and, later, algae and land plants) oxygenated Earth's oceans & atmosphere, revolutionizing the planet's chemistry
For @TheAtlantic I wrote about how climate change is warping the seasons, why it's important to remember that the 'Four Seasons' have never been standard/universal, and how much we can adapt our concept of the seasons on a rapidly changing planet theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Those of us who grew up in the temperate midlatitudes often learn about only one seasonal cycle—Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall—and assume it applies just about everywhere. But the experience & perception of the seasons vary greatly by place, time, & culture
The Larrakia people of northern Australia, for ex, have a particularly diverse seasonal vocabulary, incl: Balnba (early rains), Mayilema (“speargrass, goose egg, and knock ’em down” season), Dinidjanggama (heavy-dew time) & Gurrulwa guligi (big-wind time) csiro.au/en/research/in…
Lately I've been learning how to make simple digital art in various styles with an iPad and stylus. I made these by following online tutorials (links in thread)
I'm astonished by the power of the Procreate app, and by the generosity of all the creators sharing their expertise
The American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), aka water ouzel, is North America's only truly aquatic songbird—the "hummingbird of blooming waters" as Muir wrote
Dippers flit about rocky streams, diving and swimming through the currents to feed on aquatic larvae and tiny tadpoles/fish
American dippers are named for their habit of rhythmically bobbing when perched
But why do they dip?
Theories incl: blending in w/ turbulent water as camouflage; enhanced scoping of underwater prey; visual communication in noisy environment
📹@spqchan
Cornell Lab describes the dipper's burbling song as "evocative of the rushing whitewater streams this species calls home in western North and Central America"
I recently had the opportunity to go night snorkeling with reef manta rays off the coast of Hawai’i. A thrilling experience with amazing creatures. They eat plankton and somersault like this to maximize the amount of food they funnel into their mouths from a given area
We also saw a rippling, bristling fireworm (which you definitely don’t want to touch)
Manta ray night snorkeling/diving tours began several decades ago when people realized lights from nearby hotels attracted photosynthetic plankton, which in turn drew rays. Today,snorkeling tours use modified floating boards with lights, whereas divers use lights on the seafloor
Tree ferns, which have existed for more than 300 million years and were some of the first plants to evolve tree-like forms, can also grow more than 60 feet tall and live for centuries
A Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is a type of yucca, a grass-like member of the Asparagus family, that can reportedly reach heights of 70+ feet, circumferences of 9+ feet, and live close to 1,000 years