If you were asked to name a truly wonderful British film, chances are it was filmed at Pinewood Studios. Its great reputation has resonated worldwide, the scene for a thousand iconic images. Pinewood Studios recently had an inspiring exhibition, Water on Lens. It featured underwater photographs from movies such as The Da Vinci Code, Casino Royale, and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, as well as television features and music videos. Here are 23 images taken from those underwater shoots as well as a few extra underwater stage filming photos.

Pinewood Studios

(image credits:Mirror,livejournal,Mirror,Pinewood Group)

Filming in water can be a complex and costly exercise, but Pinewood Studios does not excessively waste precious water. Instead they keep their underwater stage permanently filled. The water tank is sized 20m x 10m x 6m deep, holding 1.2 million litres of water. This a globally unique water-filming facility captured images for Water on Lens  to share with us like The Golden Age at top left. Beneath that photo is actor Alan Davies in a scene shot underwater for the TV series Jonathan Creek. Both the top right and the bottom pictures were captured as actors and actresses performed underwater with a complete filming crew.

From Motorcycle Stunts to Commercials

(image credits:BBC)

James Blunt plunged into the water to promote his performance on the British Awards show in 2005, the same year Pinewood Studios started…after after 5 years of being in concept and design. He is in the top two photos. Many advertisements have been filmed at the worldwide prestigious studios, including a commercial for The Quays Shopping Centre in Northern Ireland, shown on the bottom left. In the bottom right image, EastEnders filmed a dramatic car accident involving Peter Beale.

The Studio

(image credits:Mirror)

For a deeper insight into the craft that goes on to film underwater, here are more images to impress you with the work done at Pinewood. The top left photo is from Houdini while the top right picture was taken during filming of Mr. Nobody. Also included above are filming shots from an Oil of Olay commercial, Jaws, and Atonement.

From Sports to Fashion

(image credits: image credit:BBC)

Rugby is a beloved sport to many fans worldwide. The top image was taken in an advertisement for rugby. Underwater action sequences give the impression of weightlessness when bubbles are removed in post production. In the bottom photo, Hollywood actress Kiera Knightley submerged in water while dressed in haute couture dresses and jewelery as part of a charity shoot for Fresh 2o.

Baby to Blue Screen

(image credits:shortlist,Pinewood Group)

Water facilities available at Pinewood Studios include numerous stages with tanks incorporated into the floors, an exterior tank with a blue screen backing measuring 240 x 60 feet, and an underwater filming facility. Amazing results can be achieved for films, TV and commercials from underwater blue screens that are permanently on site to “wet for dry” appearance. The photo with the baby, upside down and submerged underwater, is a stunner. Also pictured above is the famous blue screen which can make any image at all seem to be the background. It takes a large group of people to successfully shoot and film a car falling into the water and sinking.

Imagine

(image credit:short list)

The capsule collection from Water on Lens provided a rare and behind-the-scenes view into one of the world’s most prestigious film and television studios and its underwater stage. Commercial diver and underwater photographer Phoebe Rudomino captured all the iconic moments on camera for Water on Lens, including the graceful and intriguing shot above. She stated, “U Stage provides such a secure and comfortable water filming environment that we’re able to produce almost any type of underwater production shoot. From working with horses and fire to the world’s top actors and models, the scenes are truly fascinating to capture.”

Boxing

(image credit:shortlist)

In this underwater boxing match, synchronised swimmers Emily Kuhl and Asha Randall of Aquabatix showed off their competitive streaks. What you don’t see in the shot is the massive crew for lighting and filming and even for holding the oxygen tanks.

Bond & Golden Age

(image credit:short list)

The photo on the left was a famous filming moment when the elevator plunged into the water during Jame Bond: Casino Royale. The frantic horse trying to swim in the choppy water was captured in this photograph during the filming of Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

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Out Of The Blue, Into The Ground

(images via: Ross Sea and Highly Allochthonous)

The word fulgurite is derived from “fulgur”, which means “thunderbolt” in Latin. That’s just part of the story, though, as the real action begins once the bolt hits the ground. The average lightning bolt packs up to a gigajoule of energy – enough to power an all-electric home for about a week, or around 300 kilowatt-hours. When a strike enters the ground it makes its presence known by vaporizing soil & sand along a downward, branching path that may be up to 20 feet long. Temperatures of up to 50,000 degrees blast sand (silicon dioxide) into a hollow tube lined with what is essentially glass: a fulgurite.

(image via: Heavenly Scent)

It’s estimated that around 16 million lightning storms occur on our planet each year, with most of these storms shedding multiple lightning bolts. Though conditions have to be just right for a fulgurite to form, the sheer number of bolts hitting sandy soil over countless centuries has resulted in innumerable fulgurites (or pieces thereof) scattered in and on the ground.

Fossilized Lightning

(image via: Arran Museum)

Archaeologists working near Corrie Village on the cost of Scotland’s Isle of Arrran in 1966 made an astonishing discovery: a fossilized fulgurite! Judging from the age and nature of the surrounding sandstone, the lightning strike which created the fossil fulgurite occurred some 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period. Though our planet has changed much since that ancient era before the dinosaurs even appeared, the fundamental physical processes that drive the hydrological cycle, including lightning, obviously have not.

(image via: Duneguide)

The Corrie Village fulgurite fossil was likely formed when lightning struck the crest of a sand dune and radiated into the dune, vitrifying and hollowing out a glass tube of unknown length and depth. Deserts in Scotland? A quarter of a billion years ago, what is now the British Isles existed as part of Pangaea, a huge super-continent with vast, desert-like interior regions.

Mother Nature’s Litter Box

(image via: Discovery Channel)

The easiest fulgurites to fond and recover are those that have formed recently in loosely structured sand. The shifting sand makes the fulgurites both easy to see and relatively uncomplicated to remove. One might compare the occurrence of fulgurites in dune fields to a cat’s litter box, except on a much larger scale.

(images via: Smithsonian NMNH, About.com: Geology and Stoneridge Engineering)

Expanded human activity in previously isolated desert regions such as the Sahara and Gobi deserts, and the Australian Outback, has helped make fulgurites less rare for collectors to acquire and at the same time, lowered their cost.

Lechatelierite, or “Lightning Glass”

(images via: NATURE Geoscience, Grey Moon Glassworks and Beading Gem)

The glossy, glassy interior lining of many fulgurites is actually a form of natural glass called Lechatelierite. In some cases the tube may be completely plugged with glass. People have worked Lechatelierite into jewelry since prehistoric times and it can be quite beautiful as the examples above right clearly show.

(image via: Cristales Curativos)

It’s possible that ancient societies noted the connection between lightning, sand, and the glass inside fulgurites; then set about artificially melting sand to make the first glass.

Man-Made Fulgurites, Part 1

(image via: Celestial Monochord)

In early May of 2006, something odd caught the eye of a pedestrian making his way along the concrete sidewalk past the corner of Colfax and 24th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to the discoverer, “The scar was something like 3 meters long and in about 5 segments, each about 2 cm deep and up to about 5 cm wide… On closer examination, I found the edges of the scar almost completely encrusted with black glass, some of which was easy to pick loose.”

(image via: Communication Overtones)

Though the characteristics of the scar have much in common with those of classic fulgurites, the horizontal structure of the scar and its location directly beneath power lines hint at a more prosaic yet still electrical origin.

Man-Made Fulgurites, Part 2

(images via: Cabinet Magazine and Explore Magazine)

Downed power lines are one thing; artificially triggering lightning to make DIY fulgurites is another thing entirely. That’s exactly what artist Allan McCollum has done, however, not one but some hundreds of times in the summer of 1997. The results range from slim glass tubes no larger than soda straws to the Mother Of All Fulgurites, a fork-tailed monster over 17 feet deep that the Guinness World Book of Records has recognized as the world’s longest.

(image via: Allan McCollum: The Event)

McCollum conducted his fulgurite experiments in cooperation with the University of Florida’s International Center for Lightning Research and Testing and their base of operations was at the Camp Blanding national guard base near Starke, Florida. During what was referred to as The Event, lightning was attracted by way of small rockets launched two to three thousand feet into overhead storm clouds – with each rocket spooling out an ultra-thin copper wire that kept it grounded and directed any provoked lightning. Ben Franklin would be proud!

Other Glass Acts

(images via: Paleoastronautica and Tektite Source)

Besides lightning strikes, there are a couple of other ways to create glass from sand. Both methods involved the application of extreme force resulting in exceptionally high temperatures. The first is a meteorite impact, such as the one that created the Kebira Crater on the Libya-Egypt border nearly 30 million years ago. A huge area was showered with melted sand, which when cooled took on an ethereal yellow-green hue. So-called Libyan desert glass was prized by the ancient Egyptians, and a worked piece is prominently displayed in the center of an ornate breastplate designed for King Tut.

(image via: Paleoastronautica)

Glass can also be created by ground or near-ground level atomic explosions. The first such atomic bomb explosion took place on July 16, 1945 at the White Sands Proving Ground near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Known as “Trinity”, the test measured 20 kilotons and left a large area at Ground Zero covered with greenish glass. Dubbed “Trinitite”, the glass was (and still is) mildly radioactive yet is much coveted by collectors and souvenir hunters.

One Strike, You’re Out

(images via: Majorly Cool and Viatouch)

(image via: ETF)

Meteorites, atomic blasts… suddenly lightning bolts are looking a lot better, though you still don’t want to be too close when one arcs down from the sky. The somewhat sphincter-ish impact spot above shows where lightning struck the ground – beneath the center there’s likely a fulgurite. Taking the anatomical analogy slightly further and to take this article to its logical “end”, here’s a video of some Fulgurite Endoscopy:

Fulgurite Endoscopy, via Cleanmonk

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(Image via: Inhabitat)

As world-savingly admirable as wind turbines are…well, they kinda stick out. Putting aside the question of whether the colossal wind-turbines we are growing accustomed to seeing are bad for our health or for local wildlife – they’re definitely bad for the view. In fact they’re as incongruous as lamposts in a field of corn. But maybe we don’t need acres of whirring behemoths – we should just design our homes a little differently. Here are three examples of how we might achieve this.

(Image via: Inhabitat)

Released last year, the Broadstar Aerocam (pictured above and top) is a multi-layered horizontal turbine that follows the wind around at a price translating to less than $1 per watt. Its blades continually adjust to find the optimum pitch to bite into the wind, collecting energy the same way the surface of an aircraft wing collects lift. The Aerocam units can be positioned at points between or atop buildings where the wind is strongest – but unobtrusively, never lifting above the skyline.

(Images via: Cleantechnica)

Taking the idea a step further is the Ridgeblade, a turbine that is part of your roof. The genius of this design is the unit’s length – potentially as long as a traditional sky-high turbine – and the Ridgeblade has already won its designers (the UK’s The Power Collective) a prestigious $750,000 award.

(Image via: Ecofriend)

But why stop at houses? Think of all the bridges, road-signs, walkways, billboards and lamposts out there. Think about the artificially-induced wind of road-traffic – as utilized by this design by Arizona State University – or from the passage of trains or aircraft. If we could work horizontal turbines into our existing structures in such a way that they’re out of sight and out of mind, then could we meet our energy needs while keeping our treasured natural views…and bequeath the sky to the next generation?

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Jellyfish Lake, Palau

(images via: Ah Boon)

Most people first learned about Jellyfish Lake while watching Survivor: Palau or Survivor: Micronesia, in which a trip to swim in a secluded lake full of stingless jellyfish was the prize for winning a reward challenge. Rewarding it was – and is, if you’re ever in Palau! The lake is on Eil Malk, one of Palau’s Rock Islands and formed around 12,000 years ago, when geologic uplift raised the island sufficiently above sea level that water was trapped in its central depression. Here’s a short video taken at – and in – Palau’s Jellyfish Lake:

Diving Jelly Fish Lake in Palau, via Talk.pa

(image via: ECheng)

Millions of jellyfish live in the lake, subsisting via a symbiotic relationship with algae they host within their bodies. El Nino events which occur roughly once every decade tend to raise the lake’s temperature and this can cause severe die-offs of the jellyfish population – but the tough li’l guys always bounce back.

Mono Lake, California, USA

(images via: Art.com, Earth From Space and E.J.Peiker)

Mono Lake, located near the California-Nevada border east of Yosemite Nat’l Park, is superlative in a great many ways. Considered to be “hypersaline”, the lake has no outlet and evaporation over tens of thousands of years has concentrated salts and minerals to extremely high levels. Even so, life thrives at Mono Lake – as many as 6 trillion brine shrimp (yes, “Sea Monkeys”) provide migrating birds with a crucial food source and anchor an ecological niche found nowhere else. Mono Lake, with its trademark tufa towers and the look of what Mark twain called “the loneliest place on earth” has inspired generations of artists, photographers and filmmakers.

(image via: The Living Moon)

The above photo perfectly captures the near-surreal atmosphere surrounding Mono Lake; a combination of the otherworldly tufa formations, the ethereal high-altitude skies and the soothingly familiar rippling surface of the lake itself.

Diego de la Haya, Costa Rica

(images via: Costa Rica Tourism & Travel, Travelblog, Selling CR and TravelExperta)

Diego de la Haya is a crater lake that fills one of the 5 main craters of 11,260 ft high Mount Irazú. The lake has been known to change its color from its usual brilliant green to gray, pink, or red depending on the type of gas released by underlying volcanic activity inside the mountain.

(image via: Sanchiri)

Mount Irazú last erupted from 1963 through 1965, with the initial blast coinciding with President John F. Kennedy’s arrival in Costa Rica for a state visit. The volcano is very active, having erupted 23 times since historians first noted a major eruption in the year 1723.

Lake Nyos, Cameroon

(images via: Water Encyclopedia, Environmental Graffiti and Dibussi)

Usually “before & after” photos show an improvement in the subject but that’s not the case with Cameroon’s Lake Nyos. The lake’s sickly, greenish-yellow hue is visible evidence of a deadly 1986 eruption of carbon dioxide that killed upwards of 1,700 people by suffocation. Scientists believe that an underwater rockslide tipped the delicate pressure balance that had kept CO2 dissolved in the lake. Once gas bubbles formed and rose, the pressure was reduced, much like popping the cap on a shaken bottle of soda.

(image via: Pagesperso-Orange)

Could the August 21, 1986 disaster at Lake Nyos happen again? Perhaps not – thanks to several outgassing “autosiphon” pipes sunk vertically into the lake like, well, soda straws. The international Nyos Organ project has succeeded in reducing the Lake Nyos’ CO2 levels and has also done the same at nearby Lake Monoun, scene of a similar event in 1984 that killed over 30 people.

Lake Baikal, Russia

(images via: Baikal Adventure and Chargelife)

Lake Baikal is the Queen of lakes, holding more fresh water than all of North America’s Great lakes combined! It’s also the world’s oldest lake, 25 million years or so, and around 2,500 unique species (such as the Nerpa, or Baikal Seal) are found in and around Lake Baikal – and nowhere else. This presents a problem… global warming is threatening to change the environment at Lake Baikal, and change is not a good thing to the uniquely adapted plants and animals who call it home.

(image via: Daily Galaxy)

A rocky outcrop standing out from Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal symbolizes the rugged beauty and echoing isolation of this magnificent lake that holds 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.

Loch Ness, Scotland, UK

(images via: Solar Navigator, Naturephoto and Pibburns)

As Scotland’s second-deepest loch (lake), Loch Ness is estimated to hold more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. Both the loch’s depth (754 feet) and constant murkiness (due to peat in the surrounding soil) have contributed to the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Some say that what has occasionally appeared to be a prehistoric plesiosaur is merely the occasional sunken log floating to the loch’s surface but we know better, don’t we?

(image via: Modern Mechanix)

Though the first “reported” mention of the Loch Ness Monster dates from St. Columba’s encounter with it in the 6th century AD, modern reports date from the early 1930s and didn’t always depict the creature actually in the lake, er, loch. The above illustration was composed to complement a 1934 article about a motorcyclist who claimed Nessie crossed his path during a midnight ride. Was alcohol involved? Neither the rider nor Nessie are telling.

Dead Sea, Israel/Jordan

(images via: Standing With Israel and GSI)

The Dead Sea, regardless of its name rooted in ancient origins, is a lake with some very odd characteristics. Like Mono Lake and other hypersaline lakes, the Dead Sea has only one main inlet – the Jordan River – experiences minimal rainfall and has no outlet save for evaporation. It is also exceptionally low: at 1,385 ft below sea level, the shores of the Dead Sea are the lowest dry areas on earth. How low can it go? Step into the Dead Sea itself and you’ll find its deepest point 1,240 feet below the surface.

(image via: Travelblog)

The waters of the Dead Sea are over 8 times as salty as ocean water, though the “salt” in the seas are 97 percent sodium chloride… only 30.4 percent of the Dead Sea’s salts are NaCl with the rest being potassium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and various bromides. With an average salt concentration of 33.7 percent, the Dead Sea is unusually dense and thus allows people to float much easier due to the property of natural buoyancy.

Lake Toba, Indonesia

(images via: Wayfaring and SkyscraperCity)

Located in northern Sumatra in Indonesia, Lake Toba is one of the most serene and silent places one could visit… 73,000 years ago, not so much. Lake Toba, you see, is a water-filled caldera formed after the largest volcanic eruption to occur in the last 25 million years. In the aftermath of the eruption, the Indian subcontinent was buried beneath an average 7 inches of ash and the entire planet entered into a “volcanic winter” for approximately 6 years.

(image via: The Travelrag)

The eruption of the Toba super-volcano had severe human consequences as well. It’s estimated that the population of Homo Sapiens was reduced to just a few tens of thousands, and that tribes living east of Sumatra migrated to Australia in an effort to escape the disaster.

Aral Sea, Russia

(image via: Think Twice)

Once one of the world’s largest lakes, the Aral Sea has become the poster child for environmental mismanagement. We can blame Soviet central planning for this one; though the present governments of successor states Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have to share the blame for their reluctance to repair the damage. In a nutshell, a grand scheme to convert the wider region into a cotton-growing center saw the rivers which formerly fed the Aral Sea dammed and/or diverted to provide irrigation. Without incoming water, the sea began to evaporate, becoming progressively saltier and ever more polluted with agricultural runoff. The disappearance of the Aral Sea – over the course of a single human generation – is a shockingly sad story chronicled by orbiting satellites and spacecraft.

(images via: Global Vacations and TAMU)

Today the situation has somewhat stabilized though only the northern part of the lake (the North Aral Sea) stands a reasonable hope of survival over the long term. Effects on the region’s climate are mainly negative – reduced rainfall stunts non-irrigated crops while fierce westerly winds blow powdered pollutants and acrid, salty dust over urban and rural areas, contributing to a massive health crisis among the people living there.

Lake Vostok, Antarctica

(images via: LDEO-Columbia and Discover)

Deep beneath nearly 12,500 feet of Antarctic ice lies, improbably, a lake – Lake Vostok. Approximately the size and shape of Lake Ontario, this most isolated lake somehow manages to stay liquid while being totally deprived of sunlight for tens of millions of years.

(images via: Daily Cognition, Fabristol and Atomic Rockets)

A Russian expedition has been trying to drill down into Lake Vostok to sample the water and any possible bacteria it may contain. Perhaps more than just bacteria have managed to survive – lakes in caves often host specialized plants and animals who have evolved and adapted to survive extremes of heat, cold, darkness and pressure. Since it’s likely Lake Vostok had a varied and viable ecosystem when Antarctica began to freeze over 40 million years ago, one wonders what, if anything, has survived in its depths… and if so, will those lifeforms take kindly to being disturbed?

Our planet’s lakes have always been a source of fascination mixed with an undercurrent of fear – who can say what lurks unseen beneath their placid surfaces? Perhaps this combination of appreciation and anxiety is what draws us to lakes. According to Dr. Seuss, Luke Luck likes lakes… do you?

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As the days shorten and the weather gets colder, it’s easy for most of us humans to adapt. Simply break out the long underwear, dust off the winter coat and we’re pretty much ready to go, at least here in the Midwest. Now what about those animals out in the wild? While we’re all familiar with bears hibernating through the winter, birds migrating to warmer settings and other animals living off stored food that they’ve been saving up since the summer, how the heck do those animals who remain active not only brave the elements but function in these conditions, especially in the coldest regions of the world? Understanding the answer to this question requires an appreciation for the adaptability, resiliency and creativity of leatherback turtles, penguins, arctic foxes, golden-crowned kinglets  and many other animals.

Take Your Leather Coat, Give Me a Leatherback Turtle

(Images via: Tree Hugger, Aint Chicken, Raka Only, Flickr)

Around for more than 100 million years, the leatherback turtle has certainly evolved as a deep sea diver capable of surviving in the coldest, deepest waters. For these unique reptiles, it’s good to be big. Weighing up to 2,000 pounds, leatherbacks remain warm in cold water in large part to their mass and natural abilities to slow heat loss. Outgoing blood warms cool blood in the leatherback flippers before it reaches the body core, and a sphincter in these turtle’s throats shuts off blood flow to the lungs when diving, allowing these amazing creatures to conserve energy when needed. In the deepest waters, leatherbacks get plenty of sustenance from jellyfish, their favorite meal.

March (Madness) of the Penguins: Survive and Advance

(Images via: Red Bubble, Flickr, Penguins Land)

While penguins may be celebrated in film for their triumphs on land (and aided outside the water during the cold by their compact feathers, including up to 70 feathers per square inch), these intriguing fellas do spend nearly 3/4 of their lives in the water. So what is the key to their success? Chalk it up to an insulating layer of blubber and the ability to generate body heat by staying active (penguins are able to jet through the water at speeds of up to 15 mph). Other ways penguins stay warm include tucking in their flippers to reduce the surface area for heat loss, absorbing heat from the sun via their black, back feathers, and reducing their contact with the ice by tipping up their feet and standing on their heels in a tripod-like position.

Size Matters: Bigger (and thus Warmer) than the Competition

(Images via: Flickr, Animal Aquatic, Aquatic Community)

For other warm-blooded mammals like whales, seals and walruses, it certainly helps to be big, as the larger the mammal, the lesser the surface area to lose heat. With that said, fur seals benefit not only from weighing roughly 600 pounds as adults but having thick under and overcoats that they shed once a year, and blubber under the skin that can range from one to six inches. For Beluga whales, five inches of blubber certainly helps, as do unique adaptations like a dorsal fin that can break through ice for attaining fresh air, a flexible neck that allows for more maneuverability while navigating cold waters during migration, and amazing endurance (these whales can cover 100 miles in one day). Eat your heart out, Michael Phelps.

Becoming One with the Land

(Images via: Squidoo, From Smiler with Love, Next Stop, Flickr)

Outside the water, land-based animals must be as adaptive to the perils of the Arctic tundra in order to ensure survival. What blubber is to keeping penguins, seals, whales and walruses warm, fur is to caribou, musk oxen and arctic wolves, with the last two examples having thick, long hair overcoats and supplemental undercoats of fleece and fur, respectively. In comparison to other wolves, arctic wolves have smaller, rounder ears and shorter muzzles and legs that help them reduce heat loss. For some animals like the arctic fox, snowshoe hare, collared lemming, and ermine (least weasel), their fur actually changes colors from brownish-gray to white during the winter, offering them not only a needed blanket but an advantageous form of camouflage that makes them hard to identify in the snow. Lemmings, which look like fat furry hamsters, and arctic ground squirrels (the only arctic animal to hibernate) also keep themselves warm by staying in tunnels under the snow (as Ben Folds Five once sang, “you can be happy underground”), while hundreds of arctic hare display another crafty way of generating heat by congregating and packing themselves close to each other.

Adaptive Skills Fit for a Diminutive King

(Image via: Flickr)

Last but not least is the cool story of the golden-crowned kinglet, a tiny bird that resides in Canada and various parts of the United States, Central America and Mexico. Weighing less than a fifth of an ounce, this bird species is able to survive cold weathers via several intriguing adaptations. Researchers have found that the kinglets subsist on hibernating inchworms that reside in their stomachs, keep warm via their plentiful feathers that insulate their small bodies, provide further insulation by puffing out thier bodies (similar to many other birds), and huddle together at night for even more warmth.

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Solar energy may seem freely available to anyone with the right tools to collect it, but there is still a price we have to pay – and it is geography. Researchers may be pushing solar cells technology to ever greater levels of efficiency, but even the current leader in the field captures less than half of the sunlight reaching it. To gather practical amounts of power, solar panels still need a huge surface area – so, still no good for our favorite modes of personal transportation? Not so, say these three cutting-edge vehicle designs.

(Images via: Gizmodo)

Problem: as you drive your panel-studded car around, your angle in relation to the sun changes and your solar cells fail to fulfil their (modest) potential. Solution? Change the shape of your car. The BMW Lovos concept car may look like it lost a fight with a combine harvester, but in fact all those metal plates are individual solar panels that independently rotate to capture the maximum possible sunlight, and even double as airbrakes. (Presumably they would require a lot of power – well, you see the problem).

(Images via: TechFresh)

Or you could stick to a more conventional design by flattening your vehicle and sweeping your solar panel in an unbroken arc over the top of it, as with the Quaranta from Italdesign Giugiaro. It looks gorgeous, but it is still a long way from being an electric car – that huge panel only collects enough juice to charge the battery and feed the onboard electronics. Under the bonnet the Quaranta is a cutting-edge 4WD 268-horsepower hybrid.

(Image via: Autoblog Green)

No, the designers of the SunRed solar powered motorbike do not expect you to squint through a tiny window as you gun your wheels down the road. The clamshell cover only opens out fully when the bike is at rest, providing an impressive 3 square metres of solar panelling. Nice idea if married with a bigger battery (this concept design only stores enough power to propel you 13 miles) and it focuses on the longest part of a vehicle’s life, the time it is at rest. So how about a design that blends all three of these innovations – and would it make garages a thing of the past?

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Nature is all about survival of the fittest, a challenging truth to smaller animals who may lack the size of their predators but make up for this difference with shrewd intelligence and deception. From the gecko self-amputating its tail to distract larger animals on the prowl to sea worms dropping “green bombs” when disturbed or in danger to orangutans inventing an effective language to fend off bigger enemies, illusion is a crucial and amazing component of the animal kingdom.

Heads You Live, Tails You Survive

(Images via: Zipline, Straits Times, Wired)

What do spiders, sea stars, lobsters and gecko lizards all have in common? They all have the ability to lose appendages at their own discretion. What’s especially unique with the gecko is that it utilizes self-amputation of its tail as a strange means to distract predators, ultimately allowing the lizard to escape unharmed. Amazingly, the gecko tail is part of its spinal cord, and maintains function when it is dropped. Researchers have documented the detached tail moving around and flopping nearly two inches off the ground for up to 30 minutes, providing the gecko with plenty of time to seek freedom as the predator takes its eye off the prize.

While geckos can grow a new tail in nearly two months, such detachment is not without a downside. Gecko tails store extra body fat and nutrients that are beneficial to the lizard, and the new tails do not grow in quite as nicely. As a result, geckos will often return to the site of detachment to try and recoup some of the nutrients stored in their tail. Still, if a gecko ever finds itself in a jam, don’t be surprised if it thinks with not only its head but its tail when diverting hungry predators.

Bombs Away: Two Can Play the Appendage Game

(Images via: Dogo News)

What geckos are to self-amputation on the land, newly-found sea worms are to self-detachment in the water. Just this past August, researchers detailed the discovery of seven new species of sea worms that live anywhere from just under 6,000 to 12,000 feet in the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, when these sea worms are disturbed, they repeatedly release round, oval or long appendages that glow bright green and distract larger fish.  Scientifically named Swima bombiviridis but more stylishly dubbed “green bombers,” these underwater glowworms are like the gecko in that they are able to make do without these lost body parts and regenerate. The lesson to be learned: don’t ever anger these “green bombers” because they armed and dangerous, and willing to shoot repeatedly.

Termites: A Real Pain in the Ear

(Images via: Wild Biology, Padil, Science Blogs, Spiegel)

Most people who grew up with older brothers know what it’s like to be pushed around and bullied by family. Well, a smaller and wimpier yet smarter class of termites can relate to the feeling…but in their case, the stakes are much higher. Known as Cryptotermes secundus, these small termites are able to coexist in trees and wood despite the presence of their larger cousins, Coptotermes acinaciformis, which feature deadly mandibles that make any encounter a lopsided affair. So how exactly do the smaller termites survive in the presence of their vicious cousins? By eavesdropping. More specifically, these smaller termites interpret the vibrations of these larger termites as they chew, and use these audio cues to gauge how close the danger is in proximity. With this gift of listening put to use, the smaller termites will start tunneling away to safer enclaves where their own species are located. As for those bigger termites, guess the old saying “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick” doesn’t quite apply.

Birds of the Feather Flee Together

(Images via: Bwog, Project Visual, Mdahlem)

Nearly everyone who has worked in a downtown metropolis or simply strolled through a park can relate to the image of an annoying flock of pigeons taking off simultaneously when humans get too close. Not known until recently, startled pigeons are able to flee at the same time due to a unique form of communication that has nothing to do with their squawking and a talking but rather their wings. More specifically, Australian researchers recently discovered that the wings of Crested Pigeons emit a whistling sound when the bird is alarmed, likely due to a primary feather on each wing that is smaller than the other feathers and ultimately acts like a reed that vibrates and makes a loud shrill sound when coming in contact with the other feathers.

Interestingly, the researchers were able to unlock this hidden pigeon communication — marked by takeoffs that are louder and faster than usual — in field studies that used recorded audio of pigeons rapidly fleeing from a simulated hawk call. Upon hearing this audio of the whistling wings, the studied pigeons took off, indicating that they received the signal of perceived danger. So just when nothing else that pigeons do seems to make any sense, at least this whistling indicates some intelligence from these typically crazy birds.

Orangutan Kiss Squeak Speaks of Deception & Innovation

(Images via: Monkey Day News, Smithsonian Mag, 4015)

Just because orangutans are bigger than the other animals mentioned in this article doesn’t mean that they don’t have to or won’t use their noggin for deceptive purposes. According to new research, orangutans have invented a new “kiss squeak” sound to trick approaching predators into thinking that they are bigger than they really are. Now here’s the real kicker: orangutans use a sound modification tool that they crafted themselves out of leaves stripped from twigs to make the squeak, which usually causes the predators to alter their plans. Here’s guessing that Tarzan would be proud of the crude yet effective orangutan invention.

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Regular readers of both WebEcoist and WebUrbanist are going to get a double-dose introduction today to the newly-launched Gajitz dot com, a fresh site from the founder of Webist Media. Ecoist fans are familiar with the timeless lists on far-reaching topics that are at the heart of this site. Gajitz, like Dornob (its sibling site focused on design), takes a bit of a different approach, covering more of the latest and greatest discoveries and inventions as well as creative transportation and world-changing vintage and retro tech.

In short: Gajitz brings you most sensational, educational and inspirational content featuring the past, present and future of gadgets, science and technology – from history-shaping photo-edits of centuries gone by to a just-discovered cure for color blindness to self-driving concept cars, space elevators and teleportation devices of the not-too-distant future.

The new site will feature two familiar faces/names: Kurt (often known simply as Urbanist or Ecoist on each of the two Webist sites) and Delana (a long-term veteran author and editor on both sites as well). Like its sibling site Dornob | Design Ideas Daily, Gajitz will be updated multiple times a day with relevant targeted articles on specific subjects – you will be able to sign up for the main site feed as well as following particular topics via main categories and category feeds: Gadgets, Science, Technology, Transportation, Vintage & Retro.

Any time we have news related to new projects within or outside of Webist Media, it is always essential to note how indebted these sites are to the core authors including Angel, Chris, Delana, Mike, Stephanie and Steve, who make this weird and wacky website work Click here to check out Gajitz, and be sure to follow up on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, subscribe to the new RSS feed and spread the word around the interwebs however else you wish. Once again, thanks for reading, sharing your thoughts and lending your support all along the way – you are what keeps us going!

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Sometimes what has seemingly appeared to be true since we can remember is no longer the case, as new scientific discoveries often reveal, thus requiring history books to be rewritten and/or changing the way we previously thought about certain things. Take the case of evolution, with these recent findings on the development of dinosaurs, birds, bats and man perfect examples of how new scientific evidence and research can dramatically alter and even shatter perception and reality.

Mammal Family Tree Topped by Tree Dweller, Of Course

(Images via: University of Toronto)

This past July, researchers identified the world’s first known tree-dwelling vertebrate, a discovery that was 260 million years in the making and ultimately revealed that mammals actually predated the dinosaurs (as opposed to the other way around). Named Suminia getmanovi, this tree dweller lived 30 million years before the first dinosaurs and is actually a distant relative to mammals, including humans. Researchers were able to link this vertebrate’s ancestry to mammals through a feature unique to the Suminia getmanovi and mammals: an opening beyond the eye-socket named a “synapsid.” Apparently, Suminia getmanovi was highly skilled at climbing up trees and clinging onto trunks and branches due to its long fingers and curved claws, which proved advantageous in relation to avoiding larger predators of its time. Also featuring an opposable thumb, this tree dweller was analyzed in a pre-dinosaur mudstone slab that contained more than 15 skeletons of the vertebrate.

Human Evolution Revolution: Tree Dwellers, Not Knuckle Draggers

(Images via: Lazear Science, Kit Comm, 3 Chimps, Alien World)

No need to dust off your Anthropology notes from freshman year of college because human evolution is not as we know it, as least according to North American scientists who claim that humans actually evolved from tree-dwelling chimps and bonobos rather than knuckle-dragging gorillas, as so many textbook illustrations have led us to believe. And how was this discovery made? Well, a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined the adult and juvenile wrist bones of gorillas, chimps and bonobos, finding that gorillas have wrists that extend straight down and are more similar to how elephants walk, while the chimps and bonobos have wrists that allow for bending and more flexibility (like humans). In other words, the researchers concluded that it’s not likely that human bipedalism (referring to movement on the two rear limbs) evolved from knuckle-draggers but rather developed from an ancestor that spent a lot of time in the trees and eventually began to walk upright.

A Real Life, Walking Bat Man?

(Images via: Phys Org, Daylife, Terra Nature)

Continuing on this walking theme, did you know that only 2 of the 1100-known bat species — the short-tailed bat in New Zealand and the vampire bat – actually walk on their feet? If this little known fact is surprising, you haven’t seen anything yet, Bruce Wayne. Recent bat fossil findings reveal that the modern walking bat in New Zealand is actually the descendant of 20-million-year-old walking bats from Australia. Why should you care? Well, it turns out that both the short-tailed bat and the fossil bat – which apparently died off 15 million years ago as a result of climate changes in Australia – share a similar anatomical feature (a groove in its elbow) that functions as part of a specialized muscular system allowing it to move about the ground. What does this mean? Well, it disputes the original idea that short-tailed bats started walking as an adaptive measure to friendly, modern surroundings devoid of predators. As for those ancient walking bats, they were frequently surrounded by predators but were so quick on their feet that they hardly were in danger, except for dramatic climate shifts, of course.

T. Rex and Its Own Mini Me

(Image via: China Confidential)

Evolution keeps throwing us for a loop here as it turns out that the supreme dinosaur predator – Tyrannosaurus rex – is actually the descendant of a newly-discovered dinosaur that was 8 feet long (or 20 percent smaller in length to T. rex), but still dangerous. While packing a smaller frame, this new dinosaur – Raptorex kriegsteini – maintained the massive jaws, quick legs and tiny arms that still allows the T. rex to intimidate and provoke nightmares today, some 65 million years after its extinction. According to fossil records, the T-Rex predecessor actually lived 125 million years ago, and sustained itself on pig-sized dinosaurs and turtles. Interestingly, this discovery was made when the owner of the fossil – illegally excavated from China — asked to have it examined for scientific value. Sometimes stumbling upon something new is a matter of circumstance and luck.

The Missing Link? Not Sasquatch, But A Bird-Like Dinosaur

(Images via: Skews Me)

Oh, how the pieces are coming together. Earlier this week, Chinese researchers unearthed a bird-like dinosaur with four wings. Dating back to some 160 million years ago, this discovery — named Anchiornis huxleyi — could very well be the missing link in explaining the still-mysterious evolution from dinosaurs to birds. Only 20 inches in length and comparable to the size of a chicken, this bird-like dinosaur had feathers that covered its arms, tail and feet; features that Chinese researchers suggest indicate the existence of a four-winged dinosaur prior to the transition to birds. Previously, the idea that a dinosaur was an ancestor to birds was disputed, but not no more after this enlightening discovery.

Of course, this story comes a couple of months after another study observed how changing a single gene can cause similar bird populations to split into distinct species. Past and present, it’s safe to say that birds whistle to their own tune when it comes to evolution.

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Opabinia: Hey Five Eyes!

(images via: Pleschbubble and Discover Magazine)

If Fifties crooner Sheb Wooley thought a “one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater” was weird, he would’ve flipped his Brylcreemed lid over Opabinia, which was a five-eyed one-trunked swimming worm-bug hybrid thingy. It also had a backwards-facing mouth and a fan-shaped tail. Opabinia may seem exceptionally odd to us now but back in the Middle Cambrian era 510 million years ago, it was just another new squid on the block. Er, it also makes for an exceptionally odd tattoo.

(image via: WCU)

Just a few million years after the Cambrian Explosion (of life) began, creatures like Opabinia – and unlike anything alive today – lived their dog-eat-dog lives in warm shallow seas. An undersea landslide occurring in what is now British Columbia buried many of Mother Nature’s early wild experiments with body plans beneath fine-grained silt that solidified to form the Burgess Shale.

Giant Sea Scorpion: Big Bad Bug

(images via: NOVA Online, The Sun and Cochise College)

400 million years ago, the ancestors of today’s scorpions and spiders were the undisputed kings of their watery environment. Growing up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) long, the Eurypterids were mean, mad and VERY hungry – and they packed a pair of viciously serrated claws to back it up. We may have to extend our thanks to the Eurypterids… our very distant amphibian forbears may have finally made the leap to living on land partly in response to predation by these relentless killing machines.

(image via: About.com)

What if the Eurypterids had survived to the modern day? The above photoshopped image by Takeshi Yamada purports to display just such a creature – at just 15-inches long it STILL looks exceptionally freaky.

Ammonites: A Face Only Lovecraft Could Love

(images via: Bored of Jam, Cracked, Marshall’s Arts and CM Studio)

Cross a squid, a snail, Futurama’s Dr. Zoidberg and Great Cthulhu for good measure and you get something approximately like an Ammonite – and one heck of a mess to clean up. These extremely successful relatives of octopi, squids and the chambered nautilus had an exceptionally long tenure as lifeforms go, first appearing about 440 million years ago and vanishing along with the dinosaurs 370 million years later.

(images via: Wikipedia and Espy Jewelry)

Active carnivores and a major food source for ocean-dwelling Mosasaurs and Icthyosaurs, Ammonites are quite numerous as fossils and some of their shells are surprisingly large. Sometimes the mother-of-pearl lining of Ammonite shells fossilizes into “ammolite”, which is used to make distinctly colored jewelry.

Dimetrodon: Sail On Sailor

(images via: UFOnet and Palaeoblog)

Not only is there a sale at Penney’s, there’s a sail on Dimetrodon – get ‘em while they’re hot! Unfortunately Dimetrodon hasn’t been remotely warm for at least 275 million years, give or take a few million. So tell me, is Dimetrodon the weirdest dinosaur, yes or no? The answer is… there IS no answer. It’s a trick question – Dimetrodon isn’t a dinosaur. Living in the Permian period 50-odd million years before the Mesozoic Era even began, Dimetrodon was a synapsid, or mammal-like reptile. He and his kin were the world’s best and brightest until a massive extinction event known colloquially as The Great Dying wiped out 70 percent of the planet’s land-based vertebrate species.

(image via: Lost World Studios)

Oh, that sail? Dimetrodon employed it as an early and somewhat ungainly method of regulating its body temperature. Other mammal-like reptiles and even a few later dinosaurs used the sail method but Dimetrodon remains its fiercest proponent. Literally.

Raptorex: Prehistoric Pitbull

(images via: Daily Mail and The Money Times)

Say you’re the prehistoric version of an urban gangsta and you want an intimidating pet to put the fear of Thog into the ‘hood: you need a Raptorex kriegsteini, in other words, a mini T. Rex. Raptorex roamed what is now northern China 125 million years ago, and you can bet there weren’t any leash laws to hold it back.

(image via: Chicago Tribune)

Nine feet long from tooth to tail, this Mini Me of Master T weighed about 150 lbs (70 kg) but a lightweight it wasn’t – according to discoverer Paul Sereno (above), “What we’re looking at is a blueprint for a fast-running set of jaws.” Nice doggie, good boy.

Terror Bird: The Ostrich From Hell

(images via: Wikimedia, Paleofreak, Dear Kitty and North Florida Herald)

Anyone who thought the asteroid that ended the Age of Dinosaurs ushered in a lasting era of peace and quiet didn’t figure on the Terror Birds. Aptly named and fiendishly beaked, the members of the Phorusrhacid family resembled their dinosaur predecessors in body plan, feeding habits and bad attitude. The last Terror Birds died out a mere 2 million years ago, just before modern humans stepped onto the stage – an excellent bit of good timing if there ever was!

(images via: Boards IE and Scientist, Interrupted)

They say everything’s bigger in Texas… that goes for prehistoric meat-eating birds like 7-foot tall Titanis Walleri (skull shown above), who made life miserable for smaller creatures from Texas through Florida roughly 5 million years ago. “Polly want a cracker” indeed.

So hungry you could eat a horse? Here’s a short video of a Terror Bird running down a filly, sans steak & cheese:

Terror Bird video, via Tier-Welt

Megalodon: The Greatest White Shark

(images via: Vodnazona, Karen Carr Studio, San Diego Natural History Museum and Pibburns)

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat”… like, maybe an aircraft carrier, if you’ve got Megalodon in your sights. This 60-foot (18 meter) long extinct shark makes today’s Great White look rather piddling. Megalodon cruised the oceans from 18 million to 1.5 million years ago. What did such a monstrous shark eat? Anything it wanted!

(image via: Gen Con LLC)

Being the largest carnivorous fish ever to swim the seas, Megalodon economized by selecting very large prey, like whales. This begs the question: whales never died out, so why did Megalodon? It may be that warm-blooded whales avoided Megalodon predation by frequenting cold polar waters that were inhospitable to a shark’s cold-blooded metabolism. Better to be chilly than chili, I always say.

History’s freak show has played out for the better part of a billion years and we can be sure Mother Nature still has a few tricks up her sleeve. Even so, we can all be thankful some of the most bizarre and frightening creatures to have evolved on Earth survive only as bits of fossilized bone. Whew!

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