When I think about awesome places to visit, Iceland is definitely in my top 5. And here's one more reason why: Mýrdalsjökull, Icelandic for mire dale glacier or (the) mire valley glacier, is, as you can tell, a glacier in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller glacier Eyjafjallajökull. Between these two glaciers there is also the Fimmvörðuháls pass. Its peak reaches 1,493 m (4,898 ft) in height and in 1980 it covered an area of 595 km2 (230 sq mi).     The icecap of the glacier covers an active volcano called Katla. The caldera of the volcano has a diameter of 10 km (6 mi) and the volcano erupts usually every 40–80 years. The last eruption took place in 1918. Scientists are actively monitoring the volcano, particularly after the eruption of nearby Eyjafjallajökull began in April 2010. Since the year 930, 16 eruptions have been documented.
     Before the Hringvegur (the main ring road round the island) was built, people feared traversing the plains in front of the volcano because of the frequent jökulhlaups (glacial floods) and the deep rivers to be crossed, although the road is still vulnerable to major events. Especially dangerous was the glacial flood after the eruption of 1918 when the coastline was extended by 5 km (3.1 mi) by laharic flood deposits.
     Mýrdalsjökull is an exceedingly wet location, receiving more than 10 metres of precipitation annually.

~Ally

      No, I'm not going to compare the two bands, if that's what you're wondering. The other day a friend told me to look up the difference between the terms "poisonous" and "venomous" -  I had no idea that they were different things, which got me thinking about how we use those two words erroneously very often!
     Both venomous and poisonous beings produce a toxin that is injurious or even lethal to another organism. The difference between them lies in how such toxin is delivered.
     You see, venomous organisms deliver or inject venom into other organisms, using a specialized apparatus of some kind (usually fangs or a stinger). The venom is produced in a gland attached to this apparatus.
     On the other hand, poisonous organisms do not deliver their toxins directly, they may only be harmful when touched or eaten, since the entire body, or large parts of it, may contain the poisonous substance.
      And now, shall we talk about music? Well, maybe tomorrow!

~Ally

     Wait, what?! Before you think I finally went bonkers, look at the photo above. On the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, there is a underwater cave that blew my mind today: the Angelita Cenote.
     It is totally surreal, since there's a river in it that flows through the ocean - but the sweet water doesn't get mixed with the salty ocean water! That's possible thanks to a thin layer of hydrogen sulfate which separates the liquids and keeps the sweet water in the upper part and the salty in the lower one. So, when you dive under 30m, it is possible to approach the bottom, where you see a kind of cloud surrounded by tree's branches and logs. Awesome.

~Ally

     Unlike most animals, including humans, who have round pupils, the eyes of goats (toads, octopi and a few others too) tend to be horizontal and rectangular with rounded corners. This broadens the horizon that they see, enabling them to better spot predators.
     The "blind goat" frolic now seems very stupid. The goat knows you're there. And it's coming to get you.

~Ally

     I got a little carried away yesterday when I wrote about our dear Smeagol and decided to find out if other people had used our favorite ringbearer in other media that not literary fiction. And turns out someone did!
     "Smeagol" is the name of a genus of sea slugs of the family of mollusks called Smeagolidae. They exist in New Zeeland and Australia. The first of the species was discovered in 1971 and in 1980 it was named Smeagol manneringi after you know who. F. M. Climo, who named the new order, family and species, wrote this in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology in 1980:
     “The genus takes its name from the pallid, sometimes subterranean Tolkien character Smeagol (whose alternative name is Gollum), a pitiable humanoid who ultimately played a very important role in saving ‘Middle earth’ from evil forces. The slug described below is far more significant, phylogenetically, than its drab exterior indicates – hence the analogy.”
     And if you think that that was the only biologic occurrence of Tolkien characters, you're wrong! Biologist Leigh Van Valen named 20 (!) fossil mammals he discovered after characters from Tolkien’s works. Among them are Bomburia, Mimatuta morgoth and Earendil, to name a few.
     So there you have it, fellow biologists, a new reason to discover species: to name them after your favorite literary characters!

~Ally

     For my eternal disappointment, it isn't Godzilla or Nessie. But check out this video by the DIY channel and find out what is it!

~Ally

     Although I've never been quite a church-going person, I do enjoy cathedrals and churches, especially when it comes to their unique and sometimes remarkable architecture. If I had to pic a favorite, it would be very hard, but the oak Chapel of the small French village of Allouville-Bellefosse is definetely on my top 3.
     It is literally built on an ancient oak tree, where a staircase spirals around its twisted trunk, which makes me remember a tree house. Within there are two small chapels, which are to this day used as places of worship by the local people. How old the tree is exactly is still the subject of some debate but it is without doubt the oldest known tree in France. While Chêne Chapelle (Oak Chapel) has persevered through the centuries, others have come and gone. So you can get an idea of how old it is, it was growing when France became a truly centralized kingdom under Louis IX in the thirteenth century. It survived the ravages of the Hundred Years War with the English. The Black Death, the Reformation, the Revolution and the time of Napoleon all came and went as it spread its branches. Local folklore places the time at which the acorn first took root as a thousand years ago. They maintain that William the Conqueror said prayers at its base before he went off to thrash the Anglo-Saxons near a small seaside town called Hastings. Yet tree experts put the real age of the tree at around 800, which puts its roots firmly in the thirteenth century.
     But, as many things in life, the Chapel has also suffered some damages. A catastrophe occurred in the late 1600s, when the oak was nearing 500 years in age. On one stormy night it was struck by lightning, and a bolt with a temperature approaching 30,000 °C pierced the magnificent tree to its heart. Yet instead of dying, something astonishing happened. The fire within burned slowly through the center and hollowed the tree out. Perhaps it should then have simply slowly rotted away, but each year new leaves would form and the tree would produce acorns in abundance. In those religious times it was not long before the miraculous tree gained some pious attention. The local Abbot Du Detroit and the village priest, Father Du Cerceau, determined that the lighting striking and hollowing the tree was an event that had happened with holy purpose. So they built a place of pilgrimage devoted to the Virgin Mary in the hollow.  In later years, the chapel above was added, as was the staircase.
     The need to survive sometimes precipitates change. During the Revolution the tree became an emblem of the old system of governance and tyranny as well as the church that aided and abetted it. A crowd descended upon the village, intent on burning the tree to the ground. However, a local whose name is lost to history had an inspired thought: he renamed the oak the temple of reason and as such it became a symbol of the new ways of thinking and the chapel was spared.
     Of course, a tree this old cannot go on forever and Chêne chapelle is showing its age. Poles must shore up its weight where it once it bore its own, like a giant stretching. Wooden shingles have been used to cover areas of the tree which have lost their bark. Yet as much care and diligence is given to the tree as can be, to ensure that it lives on as long as possible even though part of its trunk is already dead. Yet twice a year its loyal congregation gathers and mass is celebrated within the confines of this remarkable chapel of oak.
     The chapels are called Notre Dame de la Paix (Our Lady of Peace) and the Chambre de l'Ermite (Hermit's Room).  On August 15 of each year it is still a site of pilgrimage for local Christians.

      If you ever wondered what happens when lava meets ice, here's your answer!

~Ally

     It looks like a landscape from the early days of Earth, but this wonderful set of geysers are current, real, and located in a secret farm near Gerlach, Nevada, USA. It was formed by accident in 1916, when a drilling procedure was made in the spot. Several years after, hot water began to escape from a weaker wall and the geyser erupted, launching a hot water and steam column into the open air. The dissolved minerals, as well as bacteria, accumulated and ended up forming the mount where the geyser rises upon, like a mini-volcano. Nowadays, the waterjet can reach up to 5m high. Five meters of awesome, I would say!

~Ally

     A dust devil, apart from what I thought  - a devil made of dust (yeah, I read far too many mythology books) -  is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small (half a meter wide and a few meters tall) to large (more than 10 meters wide and more than 1000 meters tall). The primary vertical motion is upward. Dust devils are usually harmless, but can on rare occasions grow large enough to pose a threat to both people and property.
      Also called "dancing devil", "chiindii" or "Saci", they are comparable to tornadoes in that both are a weather phenomenon of a vertically oriented rotating column of air. Most tornadoes are associated with a larger parent circulation, the mesocyclone on the back of a supercell thunderstorm. Dust devils form as a swirling updraft under sunny conditions during fair weather, rarely coming close to the intensity of a tornado.

~Ally