Tree Encyclopedia 2 clicks to really open Trees have three principle features that distinguish them from all other plants. First, they have a woody stem, roots and branches which do not die back in winter, but continue to grow year after year. From the moment of its germination, a tree remains visible; from the tallest Sequoia to the smallest garden fruit tree, this principle of growth remains constant. Trees live longer than any other organism on earth. Trees commonly live more than 1,000 years, and many grow considerably older. A bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva, at Schulman Grove in California has been documented both by core drilling (a pencil-thin core is taken from the tree’s trunk, and the rings are counted) and by carbon-dating as being 4,700 years old. Pando (Latin for “I spread”), aka “the trembling giant,” is a clone colony of male quaking aspen, (Populus tremuloides) a single living organism identified by identical genetic markers. Family Aceraceae: Maples are some of our most familiar and beloved trees.
Japanese Traditional Music | Culture | Articles Traditional Japanese music usually refers to Japan's historical folk music. One of the defining characteristics of traditional Japanese music is its sparse rhythm. Regular chords are also absent. It is impossible for a person to beat time to the music. All of the rhythms are ma-based, and silence is an important part of the songs. Traditional Japanese music has three main types, instrumental, court music, and theatrical. Some traditional Japanese music originated in other countries. which are popular in Japanese music first came from China. Japanese music has a long tradition and great diversity.
10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Fireflies Taking a walk after dark in the Catskill mountains of New York state last fall, I was fascinated by the number of bright blinking lights flashing all around me. I grew up in England, and now live in California, and had never witnessed such a magical display of fireflies. Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about these fascinating creatures. 1. 2. 3. 4. Photo Credit: thinkstock 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. You can find out even more about fireflies by watching this video: The Ancient Japanese | History | Articles Jomon Period: 10,000 B.C. – 400 BC Stable living patterns began to appear in Japan with the arrival of the Jomon people around 10,000 B.C. People during this period began to make open-pit fired clay vessels and decorated them with patterns made by pressing wet clay with unbraided or braided sticks and plaited cord. The pottery techniques of the Jomon were very advanced and characteristic of Neolithic cultures although the Jomon were a Mesolithic, Middle Stone Age, people. The period is named after their pottery methods as the word Jomon means "patterns of plaited cord". The Jomon period is typically divided into six different eras; the Incipient, Initial, Early, Middle, Late, and Final periods. Incipient Jomon: 10,000 B.C. - 8,000 B.C.The only archaeological evidence found for the Incipient Jomon era is pottery fragments found in the Kanto plain. Initial Jomon: 8,000 B.C. - 5,000 B.C.Pots were produced for cooking and boiling food. Photos of Jomon period artifacts Nara Period: 710 – 794
How a Musician Unraveled the Secrets of Whale Song Whale songs are some of the most hauntingly beautiful and bizarre noises in the world. But if it hadn’t been for acoustic biologist Katy Payne, we’d probably still be dismissing them as mere sounds — like the noises our own cats and dogs make when they’re hungry, frightened, interested, or affectionate. Payne, however, realized that whales are actually composing songs, not just making noise under the sea, and moreover, she found that over time, whales change their tune. These majestic marine mammals interact with each other to create songs of escalating length and complexity over the years, in what one might compare to jazz riffing or Indigenous Australian songlines, the cultural, social, and physical maps passed down through generations. Payne’s discoveries, and ongoing research into the subject, reveal the value of cross-disciplinary collaborations. Her research helped to improve our understanding of whales and the way they interact with each other.
Japanese mythology Japanese myths, as generally recognized in the mainstream today, are based on the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki, and some complementary books. The Kojiki, or "Record of Ancient Matters", is the oldest surviving account of Japan's myths, legends and history. The Shintōshū describes the origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective, while the Hotsuma Tsutae records a substantially different version of the mythology. One notable feature of Japanese mythology is its explanation of the origin of the imperial family which has been used historically to assign godhood to the imperial line. The Japanese title of the Emperor of Japan, tennō (天皇), means "heavenly sovereign". Note: Japanese is not transliterated consistently across all sources, see: #Spelling of proper nouns Creation myth[edit] In the Japanese creation myth, the first deities which came into existence, appearing at the time of the creation of the universe, are collectively called Kotoamatsukami. Kuniumi and Kamiumi[edit]
Might Alien Life Evolve Like the Incredible Octopus? by Natalie Shoemaker Consider the octopus: a creepy skeleton-less creature with limbs that have regenerative properties and a mind of their own. Its structure — inside and out — makes it like no other animal on earth. As a part of the Mollusca phylum, the octopus seems so far removed from its clam cousin. Neurobiologist Benny Hochner, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, talked about this oddity in an interview with Alison Abbott from Nature: “Very simple molluscs like the clam — they just sit in the mud, filtering food. Scientists have marveled at the octopus for years, and now they've taken the time to delve deeper into its biology by decoding its genome. "The octopus appears so utterly different from all other animals, even ones it's related to, that the British zoologist Martin Wells famously called it an alien. “It’s important for us to know the genome, because it gives us insights into how the sophisticated cognitive skills of octopuses evolved.”
6 WTF Japanese Trends (You Can Blame on White Guys) It's practically a meme in the West: The Japanese are insane. But, you know, loveably insane -- all squid-penises and liquor vending machines, not boring-old-crazy stuff like murder and cannibalism. What we don't realize, however, is that most of this madness is totally our fault. In the past, we've brushed up against the issue in a crowded train car -- discussing how Japanese manga was totally inspired by Donald Duck comics, for example -- but it goes beyond that. It turns out that much of Japan's iconic wackiness was actually imposed upon it by Western culture. #6. Getty Connoisseurs of Japanese porn (hi, every single Cracked reader!) How It's Our Fault: Despite what the censored porn might imply, nudity has never been taboo in Japanese culture. WikipediaJust the way God intended. After the war, the Americans occupied the country and enforced American cultural values. SFW, apparently. Seriously, those tentacles are very dick-like. #5. In 1853, U.S. #4. GettyGlass houses, America.
Nudibranchs - The Flamboyant Sea Slug nicoboxethai/CC BY 2.0 Nudibranch, or what we usually call sea slugs, blow my mind. Ever since spotting one for myself during a tide pool trip about a year ago, I've been fascinated with these creatures. I think of them as the drag queens of the sea: flashy stand-outs that are always dressed to the nines. The one I found is a Hermissenda crassicornis -- the flashy little thing pictured below with bright pinkish-orange cerata waving like a feather boa and neon blue outlines around its tentacles. © Jaymi Heimbuch But this is not exactly an example of what all nudibranch look like. prilfish/CC BY 2.0 prilfish/CC BY 2.0 Elias Levy/CC BY 2.0 Bill Bouton/CC BY-SA 2.0 Derek Keats/CC BY-SA 2.0 See what I mean? From Wikipedia:"A nudibranch /ˈnjuːdɨbræŋk/ is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. You read that right -- over 3,000 species and more are discovered all the time.
lone hero cares for abandoned animals of Fukushima The untold human suffering and property damage left in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan has been well-documented, but there’s another population that suffered greatly that few have discussed – the animals left behind in the radioactive exclusion zone. One man, however, hasn’t forgotten – 55-year-old Naoto Matsumura, a former construction worker who lives in the zone to care for its four-legged survivors. He is known as the ‘guardian of Fukushima’s animals’ because of the work he does to feed the animals left behind by people in their rush to evacuate the government’s 12.5-mile exclusion zone. He is aware of the radiation he is subject to on a daily basis, but says that he “refuses to worry about it.” He does take steps, however, by only eating food imported into the zone. See more about his work and what he has seen in the exclusion zone below! More info: Facebook (h/t: vice, bbc, aplus) He fled at first but returned to take care of the animals that were left behind
The adorable “sea bunny” - a nudibranch It’s round, and fluffy and has wiggly little ears! Sort of. These little sea creatures, affectionately dubbed “sea bunnies” have recently become social media celebrities. ダイブストアエグザイル/Video screen capture As for the “ears”—over on Deep Sea News, Dr. Crawl Ray/CC BY 2.0 All nudibranchs are hermaphrodites, which means they produce both sperm and eggs but cannot fertilize themselves. Jorunna parva have a number of different colorings, and are often yellow with black specks and rhinophores. If there wasn’t enough reason to “aawwww” over sea bunnies, the fact that these creatures are incredibly tiny adds extra points to their adorableness score. And in case your day hasn't had enough bunny cuteness from Japan, check out this island full of (land) rabbits.