Latest news with #camouflage
The Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Skin-crawling photo captures a massive spider hiding in plain sight – can YOU spot it in under 20 seconds?
A HAIR-RAISING image of a huge spider hiding in plain sight has left the internet baffled. You must have a 20/20 vision to spot the arachnid in less than 20 seconds. 2 A Reddit user kingakatosh has shared a photo of a spider camouflaged among twigs on the ground. He was lucky to spot and avoid the giant spider on time but has asked others if they are as eagle-eyed. Test your puzzle-solving skills and try to find the animal in less than 20 seconds. Make sure to scan every nook and cranny of this tricky brainteaser. You will need great attention to detail and composure to prove successful in this challenge. Spiders are great at camouflaging and blending in with their surroundings, making it trickier to find them. However, some users were able to spot the spider straight away thanks to their phobia. One person wrote: "My spidey senses (arachnophobia) were tingling and I found that f***er immediately." Another one added: "Oh hell, I immediately zoomed in on it and gagged." A third user said: "Finding it gave me a crawling sensation in my brain, which I disliked very much. Thank you." INCY WINCY Everyone can see the bedroom - but you have 20_20 vision if you find the spider The spider you're searching for is a dark fishing spider, scientifically known as Dolomedes tenebrosus. They're harmless to humans and are considered shy as they run away at the sight of a person. Dark fishing spiders live in wooded areas and are typically found in the United States and Canada. More tricky puzzles But if you find this puzzle too easy, then try some of the other optical illusions. How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me? Engaging in activities like solving optical illusions and brainteasers can have many cognitive benefits as it can stimulate various brain regions. Some benefits include: Cognitive stimulation: Engaging in these activities challenges the brain, promoting mental agility and flexibility. Problem-solving skills: Regular practice enhances analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Memory improvement: These challenges often require memory recall and can contribute to better memory function. Creativity: They encourage thinking outside the box, fostering creativity and innovative thought processes. Focus and attention: Working on optical illusions and brainteasers requires concentration, contributing to improved focus. Stress relief: The enjoyable nature of these puzzles can act as a form of relaxation and stress relief. Check this mind-bending brainteaser where you are asked to find the hidden butterfly amongst flowers in just seven seconds. To make things harder, try figuring out what's wrong with this image of smiling women as you count their legs in 11 seconds. Lastly, you might want to prove you have a 20/20 vision as you search for a strawberry in this carnival scene. The answer If you found the spider, congratulations! If not, don't worry - you can try your luck next time. The answer to the hidden spider has been highlighted below.
The Independent
11-07-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists discover another animal that can change colour
A new study indicates that blue sharks may possess the ability to change their skin colour, akin to chameleons, owing to unique structures on their skin. The shark 's distinctive blue colouration is generated by tiny nanostructures located within the pulp cavities of its dermal denticles, which are specialised skin scales. Guanine crystals function as blue reflectors, while the pigment melanin absorbs other light wavelengths, with these two components working collaboratively to produce the shark 's hue. Researchers discovered that the interplay between guanine and melanin not only creates the colour but also enables the potential for its alteration. Environmental elements, such as increased water pressure at greater depths, can influence the spacing of guanine crystals, leading to the shark 's skin darkening for enhanced camouflage.
Sustainability Times
02-07-2025
- Science
- Sustainability Times
'Troops Could Vanish Like Squid': New Bio-Inspired Camo Lets US Soldiers Evade Sight and High-Tech Sensors Instantly
IN A NUTSHELL 🦑 Squid-inspired technology leverages cephalopod biology to create advanced camouflage materials for military applications. leverages cephalopod biology to create advanced camouflage materials for military applications. 🔬 Researchers use holotomography to study the unique light-reflecting cells in squid skin, revealing intricate structures. to study the unique light-reflecting cells in squid skin, revealing intricate structures. 🛡️ The engineered composite material can adapt its appearance across visible and infrared spectrums, ideal for defense and beyond. across visible and infrared spectrums, ideal for defense and beyond. 🌍 This innovation opens up potential applications in smart textiles, thermal-management systems, and various optical technologies. The fusion of biology and technology continues to break new ground, as seen in a remarkable project funded by DARPA and the Air Force. By leveraging the natural abilities of cephalopods, particularly the squid, researchers are developing advanced camouflage technology for military applications. This bio-inspired innovation promises to revolutionize how soldiers hide in plain sight, adapting to various environments by mimicking the squid's adaptive skin. Such breakthroughs not only highlight the potential of bioinspired materials but also reinforce the crucial role of interdisciplinary research in defense and technology. The Science Behind Squid-Inspired Camouflage At the heart of this innovative research is the study of squid skin, particularly the light-reflecting cells known as iridophores. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, in collaboration with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, have delved into the unique cellular structures of the longfin inshore squid. These iridophores contain tightly coiled columns of a protein called reflectin. These proteins act like natural Bragg reflectors, enabling the squid to change colors rapidly and efficiently. Through advanced imaging techniques such as holotomography, scientists have captured detailed three-dimensional views of these cells, revealing how the columns of reflectin twist and organize themselves to manipulate light. This ability allows the squid to transition from being transparent to displaying vibrant colors, a mechanism that could be pivotal in developing materials that mimic these changes for military use. Living Skin for Buildings: Smart Facade in Germany Moves Like an Organism to Slash Cooling Needs and Energy Use Engineering Bio-Inspired Materials for Defense Building on the understanding of these biological structures, researchers have engineered a flexible composite material that replicates and even extends the optical capabilities of squid skin. This material combines the nanostructured Bragg reflectors with ultrathin metal films to enhance control over infrared light. Such a composite can adjust its appearance across both visible and infrared spectrums, making it an ideal candidate for adaptive camouflage and other advanced applications. By responding to environmental stimuli, such as changes in light or physical manipulation like stretching and bending, the material can dynamically alter its properties. This adaptability opens doors to a range of applications beyond military use, including smart textiles and thermal-management systems. The scalability of the fabrication techniques used also means that these materials can be produced on a larger scale, potentially transforming industries beyond defense. 'Concrete That Heals Itself': Scientists Create Lichen-Inspired Material That Uses Microbes to Seal Cracks Automatically Potential Beyond Camouflage This breakthrough in biomimicry extends beyond just camouflage. The principles used to develop these materials could enhance a variety of other technologies. The design concepts drawn from cephalopods may improve devices like lasers, fiber-optic filters, photovoltaic coatings, and chemical sensors. The ability to fine-tune optical properties dynamically is a game-changer for these applications, offering new levels of precision and control. As researchers continue to explore the possibilities, the full potential of cephalopod-inspired optics is yet to be realized. The work conducted at UC Irvine and its collaborators exemplifies how nature can inspire cutting-edge technological advancements, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in material science and engineering. 'Silent Death from the Sky': China's Bird-Like Drones Now Strike Targets Without Warning or Detection Anywhere Challenges and Future Directions Despite the promising outcomes, challenges remain in bringing these technologies to practical applications. Issues such as cost, durability, and integration into existing systems must be addressed. Moreover, ethical considerations regarding the use of such technology in defense and surveillance need careful evaluation. Looking forward, researchers aim to refine these bio-inspired materials, optimizing them for real-world applications. The interdisciplinary nature of this research, combining biology, engineering, and material science, underscores the importance of collaboration in solving complex problems. As we continue to draw inspiration from the natural world, the question remains: how will these innovations shape the future of technology and defense? As this research progresses, the implications extend beyond the military, potentially influencing various industries and everyday life. The integration of biological insights into technological advancements poses a thought-provoking question: how far can we push the boundaries of biomimicry, and what ethical considerations will arise as we increasingly blur the lines between nature and technology? Our author used artificial intelligence to enhance this article. Did you like it? 4.5/5 (24)
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Rare animal hiding in outback photo helps solve decades-long mystery
When you look at this picture of a tiny dragon lizard camouflaged against its red, rocky outback habitat, it's not hard to understand why no one had seen one in decades. Dr Jane Melville is an expert in Australia's dragons, but there's one species she's never seen in the wild — the hidden dragon. 'They're so hard to find,' Melville, the senior curator of terrestrial vertebrates at Museums Victoria, told Yahoo News. Over a decade ago, Melville spent a week searching the last places where hidden dragons were collected — the hillsides north of the famous Wolfe Creek crater in 1979 and Wave Hill in the Top End in 1984. 'We walked around for a week looking for the dragons, but didn't locate them,' she said. 'We know very little about them. They're quite small, so they have quite small home ranges, and they live on this rocky, stony ground.' It's unknown whether they have vanished from those places, and how rare they are elsewhere. In 2011, a botanist accidentally photographed one in the Kimberley, but that was the only sighting until a massive discovery in 2016. In its isolation, Australia developed more lizard species than anywhere else on the planet, with goannas evolving to fill the role as a top-tier predator in some parts of the country, similar to how the now extinct 3.6-metre-high moa was once dominant in New Zealand. For years, the hidden dragon was known by just six 'old' scientific specimens. Measurements taken of the animals late last century were enough to confirm they were a separate species, but it wasn't standard practice to take genetic samples at the time before preserving them in chemicals, so which genus they belonged to was unknown. Excitingly, the dragons were found again at five new sites in the remote central Kimberly in 2016. One of the first to see them was Stephen Mahony, an expert field ecologist who specialises in tracking down reptiles. He was volunteering with non-profit Australian Wildlife Conservancy at its Mornington-Marion Downs Wildlife Sanctuary in 2016. Thousands of years of evolutionary development has given the hidden dragon the ability to camouflage against the earth, but luckily for Mahony and his colleague, this one was easy to see. 'We were driving a car, and saw out the car window a tiny dragon perched on a rock next to the road. We were pretty amazed, because we as ecologists instantly recognised that this was a dragon that hadn't been seen in years,' he said. 'We went back for a search the next day and found several more. Some of them were on top of rocks, some were under rocks, and others were sitting out in the open, but curled up really cryptically, mimicking the rocks themselves.' Because the hidden dragon appeared visually unique when studied last century, it was placed in its own solitary genus called Cryptagama. But new genetic material collected from 2016 onwards that Melville and her team examined, confirmed it was actually part of the Ctenophorus genus. 'Ctenophorus is the biggest genus of dragon lizards. We revised its taxonomy to take it out of the genus Cryptagama and into the genus Ctenophorus, which means it's now Ctenophorus aurita,' Melville said. Her team says this new research into the hidden dragon, "completes the puzzle" of our understanding of the genetic lineages of known Australian dragon species. These findings were published in the Australian Journal of Taxonomy in June. It's not the first time lizards from other genera have been reclassified as Ctenophorus, a genus with remarkable diversity. Researchers have discovered earless dragons that were once classified as Tympanocryptis are actually genetically Ctenophorus. It also includes fast-moving Central Australian sand-dwelling military dragons and robust netted dragons that live in the desert. 'It's really interesting that one related group of lizards has spread across these arid and semi-arid environments across all the different habitats available, from rocky deserts to sandy deserts, with this diversity of morphology,' she said. 200-year-old mistake corrected after 'suspicious' details emerge Details in satellite photos spark 'worrying' prediction Tourists almost kill 'world's oldest' creature There's a key reason researchers need to describe these rare and cryptic species in such detail — it's often the only way to ensure they aren't wiped out. It was Melville's 2019 paper that revealed what was believed to be one species of grassland earless dragons in the eastern states was actually four. Crucially, this meant at the time that two of them, the Victorian and Bathurst species, could have been extinct as they hadn't been observed in decades. This would have been the first time a reptile had gone extinct in the wild on mainland Australia. The Victorian species was rediscovered at one site in 2023, and it's unlikely to exist anywhere else in the wild, and researchers are still searching for evidence that the Bathurst species survives. The world is undergoing a human-driven mass extinction event, believed to be wiping out species 1,000 to 10,000 times what would naturally be occurring. In Australia, habitat destruction, climate change and the spread of invasive species all remain key threats to native wildlife. There's no doubt that some small species with limited home ranges have vanished entirely without anyone ever knowing they existed, a phenomenon referred to as silent extinction. Melville thinks it's entirely possible there could be more species of dragon lizard, camouflaged in remote parts of Australia still waiting to be described. 'It wouldn't completely surprise me if there were,' she said. 'I was up in the Kimberley some time, up on the Mitchell Plateau, and I saw a dragon that was completely different. We called it Diporiphora pallida and it's the only one that's ever been caught. They could be up there everywhere, but no one goes there.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Rare find hidden beside outback road after decades-long hunt
When you look at this picture of a tiny dragon lizard camouflaged against its red, rocky outback habitat, it's not hard to understand why no one had seen one in decades. Dr Jane Melville is an expert in Australia's dragons, but there's one species she's never seen in the wild — the hidden dragon. 'They're so hard to find,' Melville, the senior curator of terrestrial vertebrates at Museums Victoria, told Yahoo News. Over a decade ago, Melville spent a week searching the last places where hidden dragons were collected — the hillsides north of the famous Wolfe Creek crater in 1979 and Wave Hill in the Top End in 1984. 'We walked around for a week looking for the dragons, but didn't locate them,' she said. 'We know very little about them. They're quite small, so they have quite small home ranges, and they live on this rocky, stony ground.' It's unknown whether they have vanished from those places, and how rare they are elsewhere. In 2011, a botanist accidentally photographed one in the Kimberley, but that was the only sighting until a massive discovery in 2016. In its isolation, Australia developed more lizard species than anywhere else on the planet, with goannas evolving to fill the role as a top-tier predator in some parts of the country, similar to how the now extinct 3.6-metre-high moa was once dominant in New Zealand. For years, the hidden dragon was known by just six 'old' scientific specimens. Measurements taken of the animals late last century were enough to confirm they were a separate species, but it wasn't standard practice to take genetic samples at the time before preserving them in chemicals, so which genus they belonged to was unknown. Excitingly, the dragons were found again at five new sites in the remote central Kimberly in 2016. One of the first to see them was Stephen Mahony, an expert field ecologist who specialises in tracking down reptiles. He was volunteering with non-profit Australian Wildlife Conservancy at its Mornington-Marion Downs Wildlife Sanctuary in 2016. Thousands of years of evolutionary development has given the hidden dragon the ability to camouflage against the earth, but luckily for Mahony and his colleague, this one was easy to see. 'We were driving a car, and saw out the car window a tiny dragon perched on a rock next to the road. We were pretty amazed, because we as ecologists instantly recognised that this was a dragon that hadn't been seen in years,' he said. 'We went back for a search the next day and found several more. Some of them were on top of rocks, some were under rocks, and others were sitting out in the open, but curled up really cryptically, mimicking the rocks themselves.' Because the hidden dragon appeared visually unique when studied last century, it was placed in its own solitary genus called Cryptagama. But new genetic material collected from 2016 onwards that Melville and her team examined, confirmed it was actually part of the Ctenophorus genus. 'Ctenophorus is the biggest genus of dragon lizards. We revised its taxonomy to take it out of the genus Cryptagama and into the genus Ctenophorus, which means it's now Ctenophorus aurita,' Melville said. Her team says this new research into the hidden dragon, "completes the puzzle" of our understanding of the genetic lineages of known Australian dragon species. These findings were published in the Australian Journal of Taxonomy in June. It's not the first time lizards from other genera have been reclassified as Ctenophorus, a genus with remarkable diversity. Researchers have discovered earless dragons that were once classified as Tympanocryptis are actually genetically Ctenophorus. It also includes fast-moving Central Australian sand-dwelling military dragons and robust netted dragons that live in the desert. 'It's really interesting that one related group of lizards has spread across these arid and semi-arid environments across all the different habitats available, from rocky deserts to sandy deserts, with this diversity of morphology,' she said. 200-year-old mistake corrected after 'suspicious' details emerge Details in satellite photos spark 'worrying' prediction Tourists almost kill 'world's oldest' creature There's a key reason researchers need to describe these rare and cryptic species in such detail — it's often the only way to ensure they aren't wiped out. It was Melville's 2019 paper that revealed what was believed to be one species of grassland earless dragons in the eastern states was actually four. Crucially, this meant at the time that two of them, the Victorian and Bathurst species, could have been extinct as they hadn't been observed in decades. This would have been the first time a reptile had gone extinct in the wild on mainland Australia. The Victorian species was rediscovered at one site in 2023, and it's unlikely to exist anywhere else in the wild, and researchers are still searching for evidence that the Bathurst species survives. The world is undergoing a human-driven mass extinction event, believed to be wiping out species 1,000 to 10,000 times what would naturally be occurring. In Australia, habitat destruction, climate change and the spread of invasive species all remain key threats to native wildlife. There's no doubt that some small species with limited home ranges have vanished entirely without anyone ever knowing they existed, a phenomenon referred to as silent extinction. Melville thinks it's entirely possible there could be more species of dragon lizard, camouflaged in remote parts of Australia still waiting to be described. 'It wouldn't completely surprise me if there were,' she said. 'I was up in the Kimberley some time, up on the Mitchell Plateau, and I saw a dragon that was completely different. We called it Diporiphora pallida and it's the only one that's ever been caught. They could be up there everywhere, but no one goes there.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
