Namib Desert Beetle
''Stenocara gracilipes'', the racingstripe darkling beetle, is a species of beetle that is native to the Namib Desert in southern Africa. This is one of the most arid areas of the world, receiving only of rain per year. The beetle is able to survive by collecting water on its bumpy back surface from early morning fogs. To drink water, the ''S. gracilipes'' stands on a small ridge of sand using its long, spindly legs. Facing into the breeze, with its body angled at 45°, the beetle catches fog droplets on its hardened wings, or elytra. Its head faces upwind, and its stiff, bumpy elytra are spread against the damp breeze. Minute water droplets (15-20 μm in diameter) from the fog gather on its wings; there the droplets stick to hydrophilic (water-loving) bumps, which are surrounded by waxy, hydrophobic troughs. Droplets flatten as they make contact with the hydrophilic surfaces, preventing them from being blown by wind and providing a surface for other droplets to attach. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antoine Joseph Jean Solier
Antoine Joseph Jean Solier (8 February 1792, in Marseille – 27 November 1851, in Marseille) was a French naturalist, entomologist and plant collector. Captain of engineers in the French army, he made collections in France, Algeria and the Mediterranean area and on an expedition to Oceania especially of Coleoptera. Solier worked on world beetle fauna writing many scientific papers and ''Orden III. Coleopteros''.Gay, C., Historia fisica y politica de Chile segun documentos adquiridos en esta republica durante doce aos de residencia en ella y publiciada bajo los auspicios del supremo gobierno. ''Zoologia''. Tomo cuarto. Paris, Chile, p. 105-508. His collections, especially important for Tenebrionidae, are in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. He was a Member of the Société entomologique de France Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, Fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Namib Desert
The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment. Annual precipitation ranges from in the aridest regions to at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world and contains some of the world's driest regions, with only western South A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fog Collection
upright=1.3, ''Atrapanieblas'' or fog collection in Atacama_Desert.html" ;"title="Alto Patache, Atacama Desert">Alto Patache, Atacama Desert, Chile Fog collection, also known as fog harvesting, is the harvesting of water from fog using large pieces of vertical mesh netting to induce the fog-droplets to flow down towards a trough below. The setup is known as a fog fence, fog collector or fog net. Through condensation, atmospheric water vapour from the air condenses on cold surfaces into droplets of liquid water known as dew. The phenomenon is most observable on thin, flat, exposed objects including plant leaves and blades of grass. As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat to the sky, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that of which it can evaporate, resulting in the formation of water droplets. Water condenses onto the array of parallel wires and collects at the bottom of the net. This requires no external energy and is facilitated naturally through ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elytron
An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alternatively spelled as "hemielytra"), and in most species only the basal half is thickened while the apex is membranous, but when they are entirely thickened the condition is referred to as "coleopteroid". An elytron is sometimes also referred to as a shard. Description The elytra primarily serve as protective wing-cases for the hindwings underneath, which are used for flying. To fly, a beetle typically opens the elytra and then extends the hindwings, flying while still holding the elytra open, though many beetles in the families Scarabaeidae and Buprestidae can fly with the elytra closed (e.g., most Cetoniinae; ). In a number of groups, the elytra are reduced to various degrees, (e.g., the beetle families Staphylinidae and Ripiphorid ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hydrophile
A hydrophile is a molecule or other molecular entity that is intermolecular force, attracted to water molecules and tends to be dissolution (chemistry), dissolved by water.Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. In contrast, hydrophobes are not attracted to water and may seem to be repelled by it. Hygroscopics ''are'' attracted to water, but are not dissolved by water. Molecules A hydrophilic molecule or portion of a molecule is one whose interactions with water and other polar substances are more Thermodynamics, thermodynamically favorable than their interactions with oil or other hydrophobic solvents. They are typically charge-polarized and capable of hydrogen bonding. This makes these molecules soluble not only in water but also in Solvent#Solvent classifications, polar solvents. Hydrophilic molecules (and portions of molecules) can be contrasted with hydrophobic molecules (and portions of molecules). In some cases, both hydrophi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hydrophobe
In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the chemical property of a molecule (called a hydrophobe) that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water. In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, thus, prefer other neutral molecules and nonpolar solvents. Because water molecules are polar, hydrophobes do not dissolve well among them. Hydrophobic molecules in water often cluster together, forming micelles. Water on hydrophobic surfaces will exhibit a high contact angle. Examples of hydrophobic molecules include the alkanes, oils, fats, and greasy substances in general. Hydrophobic materials are used for oil removal from water, the management of oil spills, and chemical separation processes to remove non-polar substances from polar compounds. The term ''hydrophobic''—which comes from the Ancient Greek (), "having a fear of water", constructed Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electrostatics
Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies slow-moving or stationary electric charges. Since classical antiquity, classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after triboelectric effect, rubbing. The Greek language, Greek word (), meaning 'amber', was thus the Root (linguistics), root of the word ''electricity''. Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other. Such forces are described by Coulomb's law. There are many examples of electrostatic phenomena, from those as simple as the attraction of plastic wrap to one's hand after it is removed from a package, to the apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos, the damage of electronic components during manufacturing, and photocopier and laser printing, laser printer operation. The electrostatic model accurately predicts electrical phenomena in "classical" cases where the velocities are low and the system is macroscopic so ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and science. In response to the increasing Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialization of the United States, William Barton Rogers organized a school in Boston to create "useful knowledge." Initially funded by a land-grant universities, federal land grant, the institute adopted a Polytechnic, polytechnic model that stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. MIT moved from Boston to Cambridge in 1916 and grew rapidly through collaboration with private industry, military branches, and new federal basic research agencies, the formation of which was influenced by MIT faculty like Vannevar Bush. In the late twentieth century, MIT became a leading center for research in compu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Physosterna Cribripes
''Physosterna cribripes'', the desert toktokkie or woestyntoktokkie, is a flightless species of desert-dwelling darkling beetle or Tenebrionid found along the West coast of Namibia and Angola. This species has a body length of some and a mass of . Although the family name of Tenebrionidae implies a group preferring dark places, a large number of species from this family, such as this one, are diurnal. In the heat of summer it is active from 9-10 am and again at 4-6 pm, and seeks out well-shaded microhabitats during extreme heat. It is usually found in washes, on gravel plains and in rocky places, often climbing vegetation to feed. Most darkling species are omnivores, both as adults and larvae, feeding on the detritus of fresh and decaying plant matter, dead insects, and fungi. Larvae are nocturnal, fossorial, and heavily armoured. Several Namibian Tenebrionids, such as '' Onymacris unguicularis'' and '' Onymacris bicolor'', have evolved a specialised surface on their elytra, for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nature (journal)
''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features Peer review, peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. It has core editorial offices across the United States, continental Europe, and Asia under the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature. ''Nature'' was one of the world's most cited scientific journals by the Science Edition of the 2022 ''Journal Citation Reports'' (with an ascribed impact factor of 50.5), making it one of the world's most-read and most prestigious academic journals. , it claimed an online readership of about three million unique readers per month. Founded in the autumn of 1869, ''Nature'' was first circulated by Norman Lockyer and Alexander MacMillan (publisher), Alexander MacMillan as a public forum for scientific innovations. The mid-20th century facilitated an editorial expansion for the j ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pimeliinae
Pimeliinae is a subfamily of beetles in the family Tenebrionidae. Selected genera * Tribus Adelostomini ** '' Adelostoma'' ** '' Carinosella'' ** '' Eurychora'' ** '' Prunaspila'' * Tribus Adesmiini ** '' Adesmia'' ** '' Alogenius'' ** '' Cauricara'' ** '' Ceradesmia'' ** '' Coeladesmia'' ** '' Epiphysa'' ** '' Metriopus'' ** '' Onymacris'' ** '' Physadesmia'' ** '' Physosterna'' ** '' Renatiella'' ** '' Stenocara'' ** '' Stenodesia'' * Tribus Akidini ** '' Akis'' ** '' Cyphogenia'' ** '' Morica'' ** '' Sarothropus'' ** '' Solskyia'' * Tribus Anepsiini ** '' Anchoma'' ** '' Anepsius'' ** '' Batuliodes'' ** '' Batuliomorpha'' ** '' Batulius'' * Tribus Asidini ** '' Afrasida'' ** '' Alphasida'' ** '' Andremiopsis'' ** '' Andremius'' ** '' Ardamimicus'' ** ''Asida'' ** '' Asidesthes'' ** '' Cardigenius'' ** '' Craniotus'' ** '' Euryprosternum'' ** '' Ferveoventer'' ** '' Heterasida'' ** '' Leptasida'' ** '' Litasida'' ** '' Machla'' ** '' Machleida'' ** '' Machlomorpha' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |