SustentaLab

An open-source, animated map that features 249 global mass transit networks.

Incredible Photographs of Fractals Found in the Natural World

Fractal is described or characterized as “self-similarity.“ Self-similarity refers to the reiteration of a specific pattern where a fragment of the object, figure or illustration appears similar to the whole. This trait is observable in the fern leaf, rivers, galaxies, clouds, video feedback, crystal growth and financial markets.(1)

Interactive Map of Earth’s Vegatation Rendered Through NASA Satellite

The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has just released a vivid, high-resolution interactive map charting Earth’s plant life. Utilizing a year’s worth of data, which amounts to over 100 terabytes, collected from NASA’s Suomi NPP Satellite, the rendering offers an extraordinarily detailed look at where the planet’s highest (and lowest) concentrations of vegetation can be found. From a view of the whole planet, you can see wide swaths of green forests and sandy expanses of desert, while zooming in reveals the fine, vein-like channels of rivers and patches of plant-sparse urban areas.

An elephant got caught on security camera picking up trash and putting it in a garbage can

Christmas Island Crab Migration

The Christmas Island Red Crab is a land crab that is only found on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Though they’re land crabs they spawn in the sea and undergo a mass migration to the water’s edge yearly. During this time the island is covered in a carpet of crabs- they’re all over the roads, trees, sidewalks- EVERYWHERE. Their journey is arduous and many of them die, either from being run over by cars or yellow crazy ants which shoot them in the face with formic acid and then eat them as they decay.

How to make a small, passive hydroponic pot

Passive hydroponics is quite easy to setup and requires no electricity so you can use it anywhere. I’ve tried many different designs for passive hydro and wick based designs before coming up with this beauty. These bottles rely on the medias wicking ability until the plant has grown it’s roots down into the mini-reservoir. After that they feed just like DWC except you need to manually keep the pot topped up with nutrient solution. (But hey, who doesn’t like watering their plants?) Today I’m going to teach you how to make one.

You will need: - a small plastic picnic cup - a small empty water bottle, about 350ml These should fit together reasonably well assuming the water bottle is pretty straight. - perlite or another inert medium - a plant (I don’t use these containers to start seeds but they’re great for seedlings) - (optionally) some spray paint

Step 1: Cut the top of the bottle off using tough scissors. Be careful! It’s easy to get cuts trying to cut through plastic. Try putting the picnic cup inside the headless bottle. Trim the bottle’s height so that there are at least 2cm of space at the bottom. If the cup and bottle fit together well enough move on to step 2.

Step 2: Using scissors or a drill with wood bit cut some holes into the bottom of the picnic cup. You need the holes for nutrient uptake at first and later for the roots to grow through. You are making a diy net pot.

Step 3: (optional step) Spray paint the water bottle a nice dark color to discourage algae growth. I masked out a strip on the side so that I can see where to fill to.

Step 4: Pot up the plant you chose using the picnic cup and the media of your choice. I picked perlite.

Step 5: Fill the mini reservoir bottle so that when you put the picnic cup inside, nutrient will feed the media for wicking.