LIGHTNING STRIKES A FAIRWAY Photograph via SmangAllDay on Reddit Redditor SmangAllDay shared this photo earlier this week of his local golf course after being struck by lightning. The fascinating fractal pattern you see on the fairway is known as a Lichtenberg figure which has been featured on the Sifter previously. For those…
BOWLING BALL BEACH Photograph by Brocken Inaglory Located along the Mendocino coast of California, USA, Bowling Ball Beach is located about three miles south of Point Arena, where Schooner Gulch Road intersects State Highway 1. Until recently there were two trailheads from this location. The Southern trail still leads visitors to Schooner…
THE VAPOR CONE Photograph by Joe Oliva/U.S. Air Force An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot with the Viper East Demonstration Team from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., creates a ‘cone’ of condensation on Aug. 21, 2010, as he nears Mach 1 during a flyby at an open house at Volk Field Air National…
FIGURE 8 ALGAL BLOOM FROM SPACE Photograph by ESA In this Envisat image acquired on 2 December 2011, a phytoplankton bloom swirls a figure-of-8 in the South Atlantic Ocean about 600 km east of the Falkland Islands. Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colours, such as the blues and greens…
Photo by Jean Paul Ferrero/Ardea/Caters News (via Exposing the Truth Lake Hillier is a pink-coloured lake on Middle Island in Western Australia. Middle island is the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, a group of about 105 islands and over 1,200 ‘obstacles to shipping’. The tiny lake only…
THE HIGHEST OF ALL CLOUDS Photograph by Kelly Speelman/National Science Federation In this photo by Kelly Speelman of the National Science Federation, we see Nacreous clouds observed on January 6, 2011. These polar stratospheric clouds at 80,000 feet (24,384 m) are the highest of all clouds. They only occur in the…
Spangles, who was born on the Fourth of July (hence his name) in 2009, is the cutest cross-eyed cat ever. He has one cross eye but can still see perfectly fine. He lives in a loving home with 2 other small dogs and 3 other kittens. Spangles even has his own Facebook page with…
In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris but also of hair or skin. Heterochromia is primarily the result of the relative excess or lack of melanin (a pigment). However, it may also be inherited, or caused by genetic mosaicism, disease, or injury. Below you will find a gallery…
CLOUDS ROLLING OVER RIO Photograph via gguerind on Reddit In this dramatic photograph, we see clouds rolling past the base of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I was unable to find more information on this photograph and a reverse image search on TinEye and Google…
Supersonic speed is a rate of travel of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects travelling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) this speed is approximately 343 m/s, 1,125 ft/s, 768 mph or 1,235 km/h. A sonic boom is the sound associated with the…