A pair of pūteketekes, or Australasian crested grebes, on Lake Alexandrina in New Zealand, where they were this week crowned the country’s bird of the century. Voters were won over by its bizarre mating dance, its beautiful plumage and its engaging habit of frequent vomiting.

Photograph: Leanne Buchan Photography/AFP/Getty Images

@photography
#birds
#NewZealand

Other Minds

The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life

Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#cephalopods
#octopus
#intelligence

Defender of Bakhmut

At a medical stabilisation point in the besieged city of Bakhmut, 51-year-old veteran Ukrainian soldier Oleh Nazarov, who sustained head, neck, back and right hand injuries from a Russian grenade attack on his trench an hour ago, waits to be transferred to hospital.

Photograph: Kate Geraghty

@ukraine
#soldiers
#Bakhmut

House of Culture

A child walks inside the damaged House of Culture in Posad-Pokrovske, a village in the Kherson region that was heavily damaged last year during the Russian invasion

Photograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images

@ukraine
#Ukraine
#Kherson

Cuncti Simus Concanentes Ave Maria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM9J_tgvCeg

@music
@YouTube
#MedievalMusic

The Science of Sci-Fi Cinema
Essays on the Art and Principles of Ten Films

This volume of essays examines 10 films, with a focus on discerning the possible, the unlikely, and the purely science fictional. With essays by scientists in relevant fields, chapters provide analyses of the movies themselves, along with examination of the actual science (or lack thereof) in each film.

@bookstodon
#Scifi
#cinema
#movies
#films
#science

Lava flow
or Palestinian blood?

https://www.tumblr.com/pangeen/731896650045521920/flow-exiting-a-lava-tube-jvnphoto-music

#lava #video @videos

Grief

Nina Ivanovna mourns during the funeral of her grandson Serhiy Ikonnikov, a commander of the 72nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade and member of the European Democracy Youth Network, who was killed fighting Russian troops, at St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 19. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

#Ukraine @ukraine

Molotov cocktails

A civilian trains to throw Molotov cocktails to defend the city, in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi

#Ukraine @ukraine