The following lightning strike captured by storm chaser Tim Samaras is one of the first ever video captures slow enough (100,000 frames/second) to show lightning as it actually travels toward the ground and back toward the sky. Using an Ultra-High Speed camera that he heavily customized, Samaras was able to confirm that the lightning we [...]
Evolutionary biologists from Penn State have recently identified the world’s smallest snake. The 3.9 inch specimen, that’s small enough to fit on a quarter, was found under a rock on the island of Barbados. The spaghetti noodle sized Barbados threadsnake (or Leptotyphlops carlae), is believed to be as small as nature would allow, for if [...]
Quote from the videographer: “From what I understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, just a really good zap!”
After a 9,000 year slumber, Chile’s Chaitén volcano has awoken in full fury. On May 2nd, the mountain began spewing lava, ash—and lightning.
In what’s known as a “dirty thunderstorm”, rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges— just as ice particles collide to create a charge in typical [...]
