Glasswing Butterflies - KQED

Glasswing butterflies aren’t made of glass, but their transparent wings help them blend with their surroundings, protecting them from predators. This Deep Look episode from KQED takes the time to observe the life cycle of glasswing butterflies (Greta oto), as well as the special nanopillars responsible for their non-reflecting wings.

While camouflage is common in nature, actual attempts at invisibility are rare. “Glasswings excel at being dull, and that helps them hide in plain sight.”

File this video under biomimicry. From KQED.org:

By better understanding how these butterflies reduce glare, [Nipam Patel Lab doctoral candidate] Aaron Pomerantz and the other researchers hope that technologies might arise to increase the efficiency of solar panels by reducing the amount of light that bounces off the surface of the panel before it can be turned into electricity.

“Nature’s already figured out solutions to many of the problems that we have today,” he said."

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What would it take to become invisible? Have something fun cookin’ up on Glasswing butterfly research & a media project - can’t wait to share them soon! #gretaoto #glasswing #butterfly #transparency #invisible

A post shared by Aaron Pomerantz (@nextgenscientist) on Apr 17, 2020 at 5:05pm PDT

More from Pomerantz’s site TheNextGenScientist.com:

So, what’s the deal Glasswings? Are you transparent to go unseen? Are you bright to show off warning colors? Perhaps a bit of both? I think it’d be interesting if the dual nature serves to avoid a certain kind of predator under reflected light. Another possibility is that they’re showing off ultraviolet colors as warnings, which would be invisible to us, but clear as day to other animals such as birds, many of which contain opsins in their eyes capable of detecting UV. Either way, they’re a beautiful group of butterflies and it’s a beautiful scientific mystery to (attempt to) solve the evolution and development of transparency."

 

Squirrel Obstacle Course - Hilarious!

This man looked at squirrels defeating his anti-squirrel bird feeders, and turned them into quality entertainment.

Here is a still of all the squirrels!

Building a Giant Furry Electric Dog Car

When eleven-year-old Alex designed her Giant Furry Electric Dog Car, the team at Kids Invent Stuff rose to the challenge of making it real. In this how-it’s-made video, makers Ruth Amos and Shawn Brown team up to weld, wire, staple, tape, glue, and screw together the canine-themed vehicle, complete with a huge wagging tail.

Here’s the result of their month of work. See it in action when they take it out for a spin in the video below:

Interested in submitting your ideas? Check out their form here. From their site:

Kids Invent Stuff is the YouTube channel where 4-11 year olds have the chance to get their invention ideas built by real engineers. We do this to give more primary school kids the chance to engage with real engineering projects.

Their efforts are in support of the United Kingdom’s “Engineering: Take a closer look” campaign to inspire the next generation of innovators, inventors and problem solvers.

CalAcademy Nightlife Coloring Pages

Check them out HERE

Art Museum for Gerbils - Pandoro & Tiramisù Gerbils

London-based couple Filippo and Marianna's self-isolation project calls to mind artist (and museum curator) Bill Scanga's At the Met, exhibited nearly 20 years ago as part of the group show Almost Warm and Fuzzy: Childhood and Contemporary Art at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (now known as MoMA PS1).

Scanga's installation involved hanging mini-replicas of works from the Metropolitan Museum's American collection on extremely long wires that traveled from under-ceiling picture rail to the baseboard, where a collection of art-loving taxidermied mice waited expectantly. One rested on a familiar-looking, black vinyl upholstered bench, a tiny blue shopping bag from the Met’s gift store parked near its dainty, shoeless feet.

Orangutans Playing with Otters - CNN & Pairi Daiza Zoo

From CNN:

Otterly adorable: 24-year-old Ujian seems smitten with his little friends.

A zoo in Belgium has shared some amazing photos of a blossoming friendship between a family of orangutans and their otter neighbors.

The animals live together at Pairi Daiza zoo in Domaine du Cambron, as part of a program designed to maintain the primates' wellbeing in captivity.

Here, otter, otter!

According to zoo spokesman Mathieu Goedefroy, they "must be entertained, occupied, challenged and kept busy mentally, emotionally and physically at all times."

As part of the program, the family of Asian small-clawed otters were allowed to live in the river that runs through the enclosure that houses the orangutan family: 24-year-old father Ujian, 15-year-old mother Sari and Berani, their three-year-old son.

"The otters really enjoy getting out of the water on the orangutan island to go and play with their big, furry friends," said Goedefroy, adding that Berani and Ujian have developed a particularly strong bond with their neighbors.

You're never alone with an otter.

"It makes life more fun and interesting for both animal species, which makes it a very successful experiment," he said.

The orangutan family arrived at the zoo in 2017. Another two orangutans also live there: Gempa, a male, and Sinta, a female.

Peekaboo! Three-year-old Berani has formed a strong bond with the otters.

Orangutans share 97% of their DNA with humans and as a result require a lot of attention to keep them occupied, Goedefroy said.

"Our keepers entertain them all day long with mind games, riddles, puzzles, and other stuff to train their intelligence," he added.

Orangutan populations are threatened by palm oil plantations in their native Borneo and Sumatra. Goedefroy told CNN that the zoo has raised funds to plant 11,000 trees to restore a forest in Borneo.

Cats and Domino - Cat Navi Desk

Line after line of dominoes fall in front of, around, and sometimes because of two calm bell-ringing cats in Cats and domino, a beautifully composed screen-link video by Japan-based YouTuber Cat Navi Desk. See each cat watch and interact with the domino chain reaction that ultimately leads them to their prize: Freshly-dispensed cat food.

You can follow Cat Navi Desk on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Evelyn Lambart Shorts

The Lion and the Mouse is a classic fable that highlights how huge contributions can come from unexpected places, that a kindness is never wasted, and that even when you’re the king of the forest, you can be in need of help.

This 1976 version of the story was created by National Film Board technical director and ‘First Lady of Canadian Animation’ Evelyn Lambart in her signature style: “…paper cutouts transferred to lithograph plate which she would then paint and animate.”

In this short animation by Evelyn Lambart, a greedy little blue jay carries away whatever his beak can grasp. Berries, birds’ eggs (nests and all), and even the sun in the sky go into his secret cache. Nothing is safe from his consuming avarice. But, as in Lambart’s film Fine Feathers, there is a moral tucked away. The blue jay learns a lesson about the importance of sharing, and he and his friends are all the merrier for it.

Canadian animator Evelyn Lambart is celebrated for her trailblazing contributions to animation and her beautifully illustrated work with cut outs of construction paper and painted zinc. In 1942, she was the first woman animator to join the National Film Board of Canada where she worked for more than 25 years. The Hoarder, shown above, was created in 1969.

Fine Feathers (1968)

From Evelyn Lambart, renowned Canadian animator and technical director with the National Film Board of Canada, this is Fine Feathers, a 1968 cut paper animation about two rival birds that trade their plumage for green cedar and red oak leaves. Of her beautifully illustrated animation work, Lambart said:

“I loved to do the whole job myself, you know, figure out what you need to tell your story, and then to make it myself, to design the character and paint it and draw it and then to sit under the camera and move it. I did all the shooting myself too. I used to hope I was making films that were simple enough for children but still interesting to adults.”

Only Slightly Exaggerated... - Travel Oregon

Scored by the Oregon Symphony, Only Slightly Exaggerated is a fantastical tourism commercial created for Travel Oregon by Portland-based advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy. The video celebrates the state’s magic and natural wonders, including its forests, coasts, colors, culture, and more. But please be aware, per Oregon Live‘s Lizzy Acker:

In Oregon, it must be noted, frogs cannot and do not sit in chairs, nor do they read. Please, don’t come to Oregon looking for frogs who care about the news.

Later in the video, an elephant-sized rabbit bounds through a field of tulips, carrying children on its back. The tulips are accurate but do not attempt to ride the rabbits.

Animated by Psyop and Sun Creatures Studio, the commercial’s anime-style and imaginative exaggerations are also an ode to Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, creators of My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and other classic animated films.

For comparison, here are a couple of my photos from the Woodburn Tulip Festival in 2014.

The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse (Short) - ESMA

A lonesome fox hunts a small mouse in the snow, as foxes do, until two owls get involved and change the dynamic of this Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse. Presented by CGMeetup, this 2017 CGI animation was created by École Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques (ESMA) student directors Camille Chaix, Hugo Jean, Juliette Jourdan, Marie Pillier, and Kevin Roger.

Old Flip Flops Recycled into Art - Ocean Sole

Ocean Sole turns millions of discarded flip-flops into art pieces and other useful products in an effort to promote ocean conservation and reuse beach pollution from along the East African coast. See how these Kenyan flip flop artists collect, wash, sort, cut, glue, carve, and sand this waste material into colorful lions, elephants, whales, giraffes, pandas, dinosaurs and other animals—and how smaller pieces are used for beads and kids’ playground padding—in this BBC video. 

Learn more about their work at oceansole.co.ke and follow Ocean Sole on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.