Is It Possible To
Climb An Air Duct
With Magnets?
Finding: PLAUSIBLE
Explanation: In 1942, Washington Redskins' fullback Andy Farkas hit the football field
with ash from a burnt cork smeared below his eyes. Today, these iconically sooty swipes
have evolved into a variety of synthetic substances worn by football and baseball players
alike.
But does eye black really absorb light and prevent glare as some players suggest? The
MythBusters put this smear campaign to the test to uncover eye black's visual advantage,
using a light meter to measure its effectiveness.
Turns out, indirect light does more than make players blink. It creates "veiling glare,"
which reduces their ability to see clearly. Wearing eye black won't keep this optical
phenomenon from happening, but it can tone it down. The stripes improve the eye's
ability to differentiate between light and dark, and that increased contrast means you can
see in greater detail. The better you can see the minutia around you, the better you can
track an object as its speed increases - which is obviously important to outfielders
following a pop fly's sunward trajectory.
Does donning eye black improve athletic performance? While the MythBusters can't
blindly guarantee its effects are a game-winner, they can see one thing clearly: Eye black
can give a baseballer's eyesight a definite boost.
As seen in "MythBusters: Viewer Special II"
Do The Black Lines
Under Baseball
Players' Eyes Really
Cut Glare?
Finding: BUSTED
Explanation: Taking a cue from the Dean Cain film Firetrap, in which the lead character
stealthily climbs an air duct with magnets, the MythBusters tested whether a silent, slick
building entry would be possible in the real world. Amateur cat burglar Jamie Hyneman
got his hands on super-powerful magnets capable of supporting his body weight and used
them to fashion a couple of magnetic hand grips to help him stick to a metallic air duct
mock-up.
Strapping the magnetic mitts on each hand, Jamie was able to pull himself up the duct.
However, since the magnets were so strongly attracted to the steel sheeting, the banging
sound the hand grips made as they met forcefully with the metal would have undoubtedly
tipped off any security guard listening out for intruders.
Unless a robber using the approach plans to break into an abandoned building, he'll end
up just like this myth: busted.
As seen in "MythBusters: Crimes and Myth-Demeanors."
Cytotechnologist
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-engineeringcareers/HumBio_cytotechnologist_c001.shtml#whatdotheydo
Nature of the Work
Cytotechnology is the study of the structure, formation, and function of cells.
Cytotechnologists study cells that have been shed normally, scraped from the body, or
aspirated with a fine needle. The cytotechnologist makes a judgment decision as to what
is normal and abnormal by analyzing cellular patterns and subtle changes in the nucleus,
cytoplasm, shape, color, and size of cells while correlating the patient's clinical history.
This is a highly specialized and technical field of study.
Cytotechnologists work independently doing meticulous microscopic work. They must be
comfortable making decisions and must assume a great deal of responsibility.
Cytotechnologists are responsible for the preliminary interpretation of specimens from
body sites, such as the lung, bladder, body cavities, central nervous system,
gastrointestinal tract, female reproductive tract, liver, lymph nodes, thyroid, salivary
glands and breast. As part of the job, the cytotechnologist will stain the cells in order to
make it easier to differentiate from surrounding tissue. Cytotechnologists work in
collaboration with pathologists to diagnose benign and infectious processes, precancerous
lesions, and malignant disease. Providing a definitive diagnosis in a timely, safe, and
cost-effective manner helps save patients' lives by allowing clinicians to provide
necessary and appropriate treatment to patients as quickly as possible.
Cytotechnologists work with various technologies to aid in diagnoses. These technologies
include image analysis, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy,
molecular diagnostic procedures, and automated equipment.
Work Environment
Cytotechnologists usually work in hospitals, clinics, and private laboratories. Other
places of employment are research laboratories, educational institutions, and government
facilities. They work with a variety of lab equipment and are often seated for long periods
of time while they perform their duties. The work environment is fast paced, requires
efficiency and accuracy, and can be stressful.
On the Job
• Examine cell samples to detect abnormalities in the color, shape, or size of cellular
components and patterns.
• Examine specimens using microscopes to evaluate specimen quality.
• Prepare and analyze samples, such as Papanicolaou (PAP) smear body fluids and fine
needle aspirations (FNAs), to detect abnormal conditions.
• Provide patient clinical data or microscopic findings to assist pathologists in the
preparation of pathology reports.
• Assist pathologists or other physicians to collect cell samples such as by fine needle
aspiration (FNA) biopsies.
• Examine specimens to detect abnormal hormone conditions.
• Document specimens by verifying patients' and specimens' information.
• Maintain effective laboratory operations by adhering to standards of specimen
collection, preparation, or laboratory safety.
• Perform karyotyping or organizing of chromosomes according to standardized
ideograms.
• Prepare cell samples by applying special staining techniques, such as chromosomal
staining, to differentiate cells or cell components.
• Submit slides with abnormal cell structures to pathologists for further examination.
• Adjust, maintain, or repair laboratory equipment such as microscopes.
• Assign tasks or coordinate task assignments to ensure adequate performance of
laboratory activities.
• Attend continuing education programs that address laboratory issues.
Training, Other Qualifications
Upon successful completion of a degree program, graduates are eligible to take the
American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification exam. Most
employers require cytotechnologists to be ASCP certified. Individuals interested in
becoming supervisors, lab managers, and educators might also pursue ASCP Specialist
Certification in Cytotechnology. Certain states also require cytotechnologists to be
licensed to work in that state.
Education and Training
The minimum degree required for an entry-level position in this field is a bachelor's
degree. In order to become a cytotechnologist, interested individuals must attend an
accredited program in cytotechnology. Educational programs are either university-based
or hospital-based and involve 1 or 2 years of instruction. All individuals must possess a
bachelor's degree upon completion of the program. Minimum academic requirements are
28 semester credits of combined biology and chemistry and three semester credits of
mathematics or statistics. Requirements may vary, depending on each individual
program. For positions as lab managers or educators, employers usually require a
graduate degree.
Companies That Hire Cytotechnologists
• Kaiser Permanente
• LabCorp
• UPMC
Additional Information
For additional information about cytotechnology, visit the following websites:
• American Society for Cytotechnology
• American Society for Clinical Pathology
• American Society of Cytopathology
Sources
• O*Net Online. (2009). National Center for O*Net Development. Retrieved May 1,
2009, from http://online.onetcenter.org/
• Myfootpath.com. (2009). Cytotechnologist Interview. Retrieved September 9, 2010,
from http://www.myfootpath.com/advice-and-answers/careerinterviews/cytotechnologist-career-interview/
• Institute of Biomedical Science. (2009, August). The Work and Roles of Cytologists.
Retrieved September 9, 2010, from http://www.ibms.org/go/about-biomedicalscience:careers-jobs:careers-cytology
• Brooks, W. (2005, March 17). UNMC Today: Cytotechnologists—Finding Disease in
Life's Building Blocks. Retrieved September 9, 2010, from
http://app1.unmc.edu/PublicAffairs/TodaySite/sitefiles/today_full.cfm?match=20
60
• The Michener Institute. (2009, November 23). The Michener Institute—Heroes
Campaign: Diagnostic Cytology Part 2. Retrieved September 9, 2010, from
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3KnUa37B-g&feature=channel
• American Society for Cytotechnology. (n.d.). Profession of Cytotechnology. Retrieved
September 10, 2010, from www.asct.com/content/profession-cytotechnology
• MHA Health Careers Center. (2004). Cytotechnologist. Retrieved September 10, 2010,
from www.mshealthcareers.com/careers/cytotechnologist.htm
• Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2009). Cytotechnology Career
Overview. Retrieved September 10, 2010, from www.mayo.edu/mshs/cytcareer.html
New Nanoscale Coating
Won't Get Wet; Repels
Most Liquids
Jan. 16, 2013 — A nanoscale coating that's at least 95 percent air repels the broadest
range of liquids of any material in its class, causing them to bounce off the treated
surface, according to the University of Michigan engineering researchers who developed
it. In addition to super stain-resistant clothes, the coating could lead to breathable
garments to protect soldiers and scientists from chemicals, and advanced waterproof
paints that dramatically reduce drag on ships.
Droplets of solutions that would normally damage either your shirt or your skin recoil
when they touch the new "superomniphobic surface." "Virtually any liquid you throw on
it bounces right off without wetting it. For many of the other similar coatings, very low
surface tension liquids such as oils, alcohols, organic acids, organic bases and solvents
stick to them and they could start to diffuse through and that's not what you want," said
Anish Tuteja, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, chemical
engineering and macromolecular science and engineering.
Tuteja is the corresponding author of a paper on the coating published in the current issue
of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Tuteja and colleagues tested more than
100 liquids and found only two that were able to penetrate the coating. They were
chlorofluorocarbons -- chemicals used in refrigerators and air conditioners. In Tuteja's
lab, in a demonstration, the surface repelled coffee, soy sauce and vegetable oil, as well
as toxic hydrochloric and sulfuric acids that could burn skin. Tuteja says it's also resistant
to gasoline and various alcohols.
To apply the coating, the researchers use a technique called electrospinning that uses an
electric charge to create fine particles of solid from a liquid solution. So far, they've
coated small tiles of screen and postage-stamp-sized swaths of fabric.
The coating is a mixture of rubbery plastic particles of "polydimethylsiloxane," or
PDMS, and liquid-resisting nanoscale cubes developed by the Air Force that contain
carbon, fluorine, silicon and oxygen. The material's chemistry is important, but so is its
texture. It hugs the pore structure of whatever surface it's being applied to, and it also
creates a finer web within those pores. This structure means that between 95 and 99
percent of the coating is actually air pockets, so any liquid that comes in contact with the
coating is barely touching a solid surface.
Because the liquid touches mere filaments of the solid surface, as opposed to a greater
area, the developed coating can dramatically reduce the intermolecular forces that
normally draw the two states of matter together. These Van der Waals interaction forces
are kept at a minimum. "Normally, when the two materials get close, they imbue a small
positive or negative charge on each other, and as soon as the liquid comes in contact with
the solid surface it will start to spread," Tuteja said. "We've drastically reduced the
interaction between the surface and the droplet."
With almost no incentive to spread, the droplets stay intact, interacting only with
molecules of themselves, maintaining a spherical shape, and literally bouncing off the
coating. One classification of liquid that this coating repels is the so-called nonNewtonian category, which includes shampoos, custards, blood, paints, clays and printer
inks, for example. These are liquids that change their viscosity depending on the forces
applied to them. They differ from the Newtonians, such as water and most other liquids,
whose viscosity stays the same no matter the force applied. Viscosity is a measure of a
liquid's resistance to flow on the application of force, and it's sometimes thought of as its
thickness. "No one's ever demonstrated the bouncing of low surface tension nonNewtonian liquids," Tuteja said.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan, via
Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please
contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Shuaijun Pan, Arun K. Kota, Joseph M. Mabry, Anish Tuteja. Superomniphobic Surfaces
for Effective Chemical Shielding. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013; 135
(2): 578 DOI: 10.1021/ja310517s
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130116123523.htm
Liquids rolled or bounced off a new superomniphobic surface. CREDIT: University
of Michigan | Journal of the American Chemical Society
http://www.livescience.com/26396-stain-proof-repel-liquid.html
Crabs Really Do Feel
Pain: Study
By: Joseph Castro, LiveScience Contributor
16 January 2013 -- Scientists have long held that crabs are unable to feel pain because
they lack the biology to do so, but behavioral evidence has recently shown otherwise.
Now, new research further supports the hypothesis that crabs feel pain by showing that
crabs given a mild shock will take steps to avoid getting shocked in the future.
From humans to fruit flies, numerous species come equipped with nociception, a type of
reflex that helps avoid immediate tissue damage. On the other hand, pain, which results
in a swift change of behavior to avoid future damage, isn't so widespread.
In the new study, researchers allowed shore crabs (Carcinus maenas) to choose between
one of two dark shelters in a brightly lit tank. One shelter came with a mild shock. After
just two trials, crabs that initially chose the shocking shelter began opting for the zapless
shelter, suggesting they learned to discriminate between the two options and headed for
the less painful one.
"It's almost impossible to prove an animal feels pain, but there are criteria you can look
at," said lead researcher Robert Elwood, an animal behaviorist at Queen's University,
Belfast, in the U.K. "Here we have another criteria satisfied — if the data are consistent,
a body of evidence [showing crabs feel pain] can build up."
Building evidence
Elwood initially set out to see if crabs and other crustacean decapods feel pain after a
chef posed him the question around eight years ago. If the invertebrates (animals without
backbones) feel pain, he reasoned, their reactions to unpleasant stimuli would be more
than the simple reflex of nociception — the experience would change their long-term
behavior.
Elwood's first experiment showed that prawns whose antennae were doused with caustic
soda vigorously groomed their antennae, as if trying to ameliorate pain. Importantly, this
behavior didn't occur if Elwood treated the antennae with an anesthetic first.
Another experiment showed that hermit crabs would leave their shells if given a mild
shock. "A naked crab is basically a dead crab — they were trading off avoiding the shock
with getting out of the shell," Elwood told LiveScience, adding that many of the crabs
moved into new shells if any were available.
For his new study, Elwood tested 90 shore crabs, which naturally seek dark spaces, to see
if they exhibited "avoidance learning" and would discriminate between a dangerous and a
safe area. Half of the crabs were shocked upon entering the first chamber of their choice,
while the other half were not. For each crab, the jolting chamber stayed the same
throughout the 10 trials.
In the second trial, most of the crabs returned to their original shelter; whether they were
shocked in the first trial had little effect on their second choice. However, crabs were
more likely to change shelter in the third trial if they were shocked in the second trial.
And as the trials wore on, crabs that chose incorrectly became more likely to exit the
unpleasant chamber, brave the bright arena and hide in the alternate shelter. By the final
test, the majority of the crabs chose the nonshock shelter at first go.
Time for change?
The research "provides evidence that supports the issue that crabs — and other crustacean
decapods as well — feel pain," Francesca Gherardi, an evolutionary biologist at the
University of Florence in Italy who wasn't involved in the study, told LiveScience in an
email. "It is avoidance learning that makes the difference."
Animals in pain should quickly learn to avoid the unpleasant stimulus and show longterm changes in behavior, Gherardi noted. More research is needed on decapods'
avoidance learning and "discrimination abilities between painful and nonpainful
situations," he said.
Elwood said he thinks future research should go in a different direction. Stress often
comes with pain, he said, so other experiments could look at changes in crustacean
hormones or heart rates due to shock.
Whatever the case, Elwood feels it may be time to reconsider the treatment of decapods
in the food industry. "If the evidence for pain in decapods continues to stack up with
mammals and birds that already get some protection, then perhaps there should be some
nod in that direction for these animals," he said.
The study was published today (Jan. 16) in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
http://www.livescience.com/26338-crabs-feel-pain.html
A common shore crab, used in new "pain" research, with
wires attached to deliver a mild electrical shock.
CREDIT: Robert Elwood, Queen's University Belfast
Cervical PAP smear showing Human papilloma virus
infected squamous cell
http://www.medskul.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo
=24&title=cervical-pap-smear-showing-humanpapilloma-virus-infected-squamous-cell&cat=519
Breast Cancer Cells
http://www.cytopathology.org/website/article.asp?id=4135
Atoms Reach Record
Temperature, Colder
than Absolute Zero
Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor
03 January 2013 - Absolute zero is often thought to be the coldest temperature possible. But now
researchers show they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of "negative
temperatures." Oddly, another way to look at these negative temperatures is to consider them
hotter than infinity, researchers added.
This unusual advance could lead to new engines that could technically be more than 100 percent
efficient, and shed light on mysteries such as dark energy, the mysterious substance that is
apparently pulling our universe apart. An object's temperature is a measure of how much its
atoms move — the colder an object is, the slower the atoms are. At the physically impossible-toreach temperature of zero kelvin, or minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees
Celsius), atoms would stop moving. As such, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the
Kelvin scale.
Bizarro negative temperatures
To comprehend the negative temperatures scientists have now devised, one might think of
temperature as existing on a scale that is actually a loop, not linear. Positive temperatures make
up one part of the loop, while negative temperatures make up the other part. When temperatures
go either below zero or above infinity on the positive region of this scale, they end up in negative
territory.
With positive temperatures, atoms more likely occupy low-energy states than high-energy states,
a pattern known as Boltzmann distribution in physics. When an object is heated, its atoms can
reach higher energy levels. At absolute zero, atoms would occupy the lowest energy state. At an
infinite temperature, atoms would occupy all energy states. Negative temperatures then are the
opposite of positive temperatures — atoms more likely occupy high-energy states than lowenergy states.
"The inverted Boltzmann distribution is the hallmark of negative absolute temperature, and this is
what we have achieved," said researcher Ulrich Schneider, a physicist at the University of
Munich in Germany. "Yet the gas is not colder than zero kelvin, but hotter. It is even hotter than
at any positive temperature — the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to
negative values instead."
As one might expect, objects with negative temperatures behave in very odd ways. For instance,
energy typically flows from objects with a higher positive temperature to ones with a lower
positive temperature — that is, hotter objects heat up cooler objects, and colder objects cool down
hotter ones, until they reach a common temperature. However, energy will always flow from
objects with negative temperature to ones with positive temperatures. In this sense, objects with
negative temperatures are always hotter than ones with positive temperatures.
Another odd consequence of negative temperatures has to do with entropy, which is a measure of
how disorderly a system is. When objects with positive temperature release energy, they increase
the entropy of things around them, making them behave more chaotically. However, when objects
with negative temperatures release energy, they can actually absorb entropy. Negative
temperatures would be thought impossible, since there is typically no upper bound for how much
energy atoms can have, as far as theory currently suggests. (There is a limit to what speed they
can travel — according to Einstein's theory of relativity, nothing can accelerate to speeds faster
than light.)
Wacky physics experiment
To generate negative temperatures, scientists created a system where atoms do have a limit to
how much energy they can possess. They first cooled about 100,000 atoms to a positive
temperature of a few nanokelvin, or billionth of a kelvin. They cooled the atoms within a vacuum
chamber, which isolated them from any environmental influence that could potentially heat them
up accidentally. They also used a web of laser beams and magnetic fields to very precisely
control how these atoms behaved, helping to push them into a new temperature realm.
"The temperatures we achieved are negative nanokelvin," Schneider told LiveScience.
Temperature depends on how much atoms move — how much kinetic energy they have. The web
of laser beams created a perfectly ordered array of millions of bright spots of light, and in this
"optical lattice," atoms could still move, but their kinetic energy was limited. Temperature also
depends on how much potential energy atoms have, and how much energy lies in the interactions
between the atoms. The researchers used the optical lattice to limit how much potential energy the
atoms had, and they used magnetic fields to very finely control the interactions between atoms,
making them either attractive or repulsive.
Temperature is linked with pressure — the hotter something is, the more it expands outward, and
the colder something is, the more it contracts inward. To make sure this gas had a negative
temperature, the researchers had to give it a negative pressure as well, tinkering with the
interactions between atoms until they attracted each other more than they repelled each other."We
have created the first negative absolute temperature state for moving particles," said researcher
Simon Braun at the University of Munich in Germany.
New kinds of engines
Negative temperatures could be used to create heat engines — engines that convert heat energy to
mechanical work, such as combustion engines — that are more than 100-percent efficient,
something seemingly impossible. Such engines would essentially not only absorb energy from
hotter substances, but also colder ones. As such, the work the engine performed could be larger
than the energy taken from the hotter substance alone.
Negative temperatures might also help shed light on one of the greatest mysteries in science.
Scientists had expected the gravitational pull of matter to slow down the universe's expansion
after the Big Bang, eventually bringing it to a dead stop or even reversing it for a "Big Crunch."
However, the universe's expansion is apparently speeding up, accelerated growth that
cosmologists suggest may be due to dark energy, an as-yet-unknown substance that could make
up more than 70 percent of the cosmos.
In much the same way, the negative pressure of the cold gas the researchers created should make
it collapse. However, its negative temperature keeps it from doing so. As such, negative
temperatures might have interesting parallels with dark energy that may help scientists understand
this enigma.
Negative temperatures could also shed light on exotic states of matter, generating systems that
normally might not be stable without them. "A better understanding of temperature could lead to
new things we haven't even thought of yet," Schneider said. "When you study the basics very
thoroughly, you never know where it may end." The scientists detailed their findings in the Jan. 4
issue of the journal Science.
http://www.livescience.com/25959-atoms-colder-than-absolute-zero.html
When an object is
heated, its atoms
can move with
different levels of
energy, from low
to high. With
positive
temperatures
(blue), atoms more
likely occupy lowenergy states than
high-energy states,
while the opposite
is true for negative
temperatures (red).
CREDIT: Image
courtesy of LMU /
MPQ Munich
Baby Wasps Disinfect
Cockroaches Before
Eating Them
Douglas Main, LiveScience Contributor
07 January 2013 - If cockroaches had nightmares, the emerald cockroach wasp surely
would deserve a prominent place therein.
These colorful, tiny parasitic wasps sting American cockroaches twice, once in the
midsection to prevent them from running away, and a second time directly in the brain, to
make the insects sluggish and zombielike. The wasps then drag the roaches by their
antenna, akin to a human pulling a dog on a leash, into a protected nook and lay an egg
on the roach. The egg ultimately hatches into larvae that devour the roach from the inside
out.
About six weeks later, a young adult wasp emerges after spinning a cocoon inside the
shell of the roach. But there's a catch: What's to prevent the cockroach "meat" from
spoiling? Cockroaches are notoriously dirty animals, covered in bacteria that begin to
spoil their flesh — and threaten to harm larval wasps — during this long incubation
period.
A study published today (Jan. 7) in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences found that these larval wasps secrete a surprising amount of potent
antimicrobial compounds to prevent their cockroach bounty from spoiling.
"They virtually soak their cockroach host with the secretion to inhibit the growth of
competitive microbes that would degrade their food and of pathogenic microbes that
threaten their lives," said study co-author Gudrun Herzner, a researcher at Germany's
University of Regensburg.
The study found that Ampulex compressa larvae secrete several types of antibiotics,
specifically the chemicals mellein and micromolide, which inhibit the growth of bacteria,
fungi and viruses, Herzner told LiveScience.
"On the one hand, the finding is surprising, because such a simple, little insect larva uses
such a sophisticated strategy to ward off detrimental bacteria," Herzner said. "The larvae
are like little chemical plants that produce large amounts of different antimicrobial
substances."
However, she continued, it was not really a surprise to find that these parasitic wasps
would have evolved to secrete some antimicrobial substances, given that the cockroach is
the young wasp's only food source, which would by itself spoil if not somehow
preserved. The wasps live throughout the tropical regions of Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
Micromolide is considered a promising compound to treat Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
the microbe that causes tuberculosis, Herzner said. This is not the only example of
insects producing antimicrobial compounds. The European beewolf wasp hunts
honeybees, and coats their bodies in an oily substance that inhibits microbes from
growing. Certain types of burying beetles also disinfect the carrion they use as larval
food. But in both of these cases, the adult animal secretes the antimicrobial chemicals; the
emerald cockroach wasp is a rare example of a larval insect making antibiotics, Herzner
said.
http://www.livescience.com/26035-wasps-disinfect-cockroaches.html
Female of the emerald cockroach wasp Ampulex
compressa manipulating an American cockroach, which
has been made docile by wasp venom and that will serve
as food for the wasp larva.
CREDIT: Gudrun Herzner
Photo Gallery:
Camouflage
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/camouflage-animals-masters-disguise-gallery1.988236
White Crab
Spider
A White Crab Spider
lies in wait for its
prey.
Caters News Agency
Leaf-Tailed Gecko
A Fantastic Leaf-tailed
Gecko, also known as a
Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko
hides in AndasibeMantadia National Park in
Madagascar.
Thomas Marent/Caters
News Agency
Mossy Frog
An aptly named
Vietnamese
Mossy Frog hides
in some moss.
Brian
Bevan/Caters
News Agency
Great Potoo
A Great Potoo
camouflages itself
against a tree in
Brazil.
Suzi Eszterhas/Caters
News Agency
Great Grey Owl
A Great Grey Owl
perches on a branch.
M. Watson/Caters News
Agency
Orchid Mantis
An Orchid Mantis sits on a flower.
Bill Coster/Caters News Agency
Lichen Spider
A Lichen Spider hides
on bark at the Erawan
Nationalpark in
Thailand.
Thomas Marent/Caters
News Agency
Bat-Faced Toad
A Bat-faced Toad hides amongst
dead leaves in Amacayacu National
Park in Colombia.
Thomas Marent/Caters News
Agency
Pepper Moth
This pepper moth has the ability
to be practically invisible.
Caters News Agency
Mossy Leaf-Tailed Gecko
This Mossy Leaf-tailed Gecko is barely
visible as it lies on a tree in Montagne
dAmbre National Park in Northern
Madagascar.
Thomas Marent/Caters News Agency