Written by West
Concrete is one of the most common building materials used today. It has a high compressive strength, meaning it takes a lot of force to crush it, but a low tensile strength, meaning it can be pulled apart relatively easily. To combat this, a lot of concrete structures are reinforced with materials that have high tensile strength, often steel cages or bars.
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Written by Scarlet
Green Sea Turtles have been found to be 99% female on Ingram Island, the largest Turtle breeding grounds in the world, horrifying scientists who now are having to question the species chances of survival.
Written by Scarlet
1. Goliath Frog
This big boy can be found in both Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and can grow to around 32cm long and can weigh as much as a small house cat at 3.25kg. It not only eats smaller frogs but also baby turtles and young snakes.
In the wild they can live up to 15 years old, however, in captivity, they have been known to live up to 21 years old!
Written by Scarlet
This cute little wildcat, the güiña, may not be in as much danger as previously believed.
Written by Scarlet
Researchers believe they have found the reason behind the mass die-off of Saiga antelope over two years ago.
Back in May 2015, over 200,000 Saiga antelope in Mongolia died suddenly in the space of just three weeks. These critically endangered creatures represented over 80 percent of the local population, which itself counts for around 60 percent of the world's population.
The illness was fast acting, with symptoms showing just hours before death. They were suffering from both blood poisoning and internal bleeding. To make matters worse the outbreak occurred during the Saiga's birthing season, leading to many unborn babies and orphaned kids. You may remember hearing about it if you watched Planet Earth II back in 2016.
Written by West
Clathrus archeri - Octopus Stinkhorn
Image: A photograph of Clathrus archeri, a fungus with red octopus-like tentacles. Source: Steveb68 on Wikicommons
Originating from Australia these fungi have spread to Europe, North America and Asia, and can occasionally be found in the UK. They can be first noticed above ground in their "egg" form, already looking like something that's going to hatch into a horror movie monster.
Written by West
These beautiful creatures are part of the Gastropoda, a group of molluscs best known for snails and slugs. The name of their order Gymnosomata comes from the Greek for 'naked body', referring to their lack of shell, but it is now known they do have an embryonic shell when they hatch, losing it within a few days.
Written by Scarlet
Due to their shared history, Germanic-speaking countries share a number of myths and legends. One of these is the legend of a group of water creatures named from the proto (or common) germanic word nikwus or *nikwis(i) which means to wash.
In this article, we will explore some of these tales and look at how they compare to each other. Germany- Nix and Nixies
In German, there are the terms Wassermann and Wasserfrauen, which literally mean waterman and waterwomen, however, they are used to describe any mythical humanoid creature found in water. While the German nixes and nixies are watermen and women, not all watermen and women are nixes or nixies.
A nix is said to appear as a strange man or as half man, half fish. Some sources describe them as having pale or very light green skin with long loose blonde or blonde-green hair. They are always very handsome, slim and athletic. The female nixie is given a similar description and is constantly impossibly beautiful. In tales, they are described as extremely vain and shallow. Both nixes and nixies love music. But, only nixes are said to use their music for wrongdoing. It is said that they play the harp to call young girls to the water, where they can then steal them away. In some areas, they are also said to bribe people with various gifts and then steal their souls which they keep trapped in pots underwater. A number of tales are about nixies marrying human men. The men are normally so overcome with the nixies beauty they ignore all advice against marrying them and will throw grand weddings. Often the couple will have children which will be born with webbed fingers and toes. As nixies have no interest in anything but their own beauty they will not do any housework and prefer to sit at a mirror combing their hair. Eventually, many men grow tired of their attractive but arrogant wife and find a human companion. This never ends well, with the nixie either drowning her husband calmly in her lake or singing to him until he goes mad. She then will return to the water from whence she came and never return.
Written by Scarlet
A Look Into Mythical Murderous Water CreaturesWales
Morgans
Morgans or Mari-morgans are eternally young and beautiful water spirits. They are said to sit in the water and comb their hair seductively to lure young men to their deaths. Morgan can be literally translated from Welsh as sea-born and they are often deemed responsible for the coastal flooding. They are also found in Breton mythology including the tale of the city of Ys which was flooded and destroyed by a morgan call Dahut. The most famous of morgans is Morgan le Fay who was King Arthur's half-sister and enemy.
Afanc
Descriptions of this creature vary, some stories saying it looks like a crocodile, and others like a beaver. The Afanc has been said to live in various lakes and rivers in Wales, but it is believed to now live in the Llyn Cwm-y-ffynnon at the summit of Snowdonia. Legend says that it once lived in the river Comwy, and after it caused many floodings and drownings the local wise people formed a plan to get rid of it. They arranged for a young beautiful maiden to sing to it and let it rest its head on her lap, and as it slept they chained it up and arranged for Hu Gardan’s oxen (some interesting mythical creatures in their own right) to drag it up Snowdonia to a new lake, where it now drowns and eats those foolish enough to swim in its waters.
Written by Scarlet
A Look Into Mythical Murderous Water CreaturesEngland
Jenny Greenteeth
Jenny is a hag that lives at the bottom of pits, ponds, and canals, also known as Nelly Longarms or Peg Powler. It is said that what seems like a large amount of duckweed on the water's surface may be a sign of her presence, her hair floating to the surface as she hides below. She waits underwater for children to pass, grabbing them with her long spindly arms and pulling them below the surface, gobbling them up. Jenny Greenteeth is native to Lancashire, but tales of her have spread across the border to Yorkshire, with people claiming to have seen her as far south as Birmingham.
Grindylow
Many people will know the Grindylow from its appearances in the Harry Potter series of books. Similar to Jenny Greenteeth, the Grindylow is a pale-green humanoid creature with long thin arms. They have small horns instead of duckweed hair, but still enjoys catching children who wander too close to their homes. They can only be found in Yorkshire and Lancashire. |