Nature Hub

 From - Earth Unreal, Edited by Vinuri Randula Silva, This is how long the neck of some subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise can be! The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger ) is a species of very large tortoise in the genus Chelonoidis, native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. It is the largest living species of tortoise, with some modern tortoises having a weight of up to 417 kg (919 lb). The Galápagos tortoise is one of the longest-lived vertebrates, with a lifespan of over 100 years in the wild and up to 177 years in captivity. Their shell size and shape vary between subspecies and populations. Tortoises residing on islands with humid highlands are larger, and have domed shells and short necks, while those inhabiting islands with dry lowlands, are smaller, with "saddleback" shells and long necks.

 From - Mongabay for Kids, Edited by- Vinuri Randhula Silva,                                          Unknown Costarica frog This is a story about a small nature reserve in northern Costa Rica that has been full of surprises. In the early 2000s Donald Varela-Soto and Melvin Rodriguez bought a property located between two volcanoes (called Miravalles and Tenorio). They had a plan. They wanted to rewild the land, much of which had been turned into cattle pasture. They wanted to restore the land to its natural forest state. Map of the Tenorio-Miravalles Biological Corridor, a matrix composed of cattle pastures, agricultural land, and small towns between the Tenorio Volcano National Park and the Miravalles Volcano National Park. Credit: Sofia Pastor-Parajeles As the years passed, Varela-Soto and Rodriguez transformed their property into the 220-hectare (544-acre) Tapir Valley Nature Reserve. The reserve is marked on the map above, just north of the Tenorio Volcano National Park. They remov

  From - Knowable maagazine ,   By  -  Kurt Kleiner , Edited by Amal Udawatta,    Researchers are developing novel computers made from soft, organic materials (right) that can operate like biological nerve cells (left). These new materials may someday be able to interact with real nerve cells, opening the door to better control of prosthetic limbs, among other uses.-    CREDIT: W. XU   ET AL / SCIENCE ADVANCES   2016 T he human brain is an amazing computing machine. Weighing only three pounds or so, it can process information a thousand times faster than the fastest supercomputer, store a thousand times more information than a powerful laptop, and do it all using no more energy than a 20-watt lightbulb. Researchers are trying to replicate this success using soft, flexible organic materials that can operate like biological neurons and someday might even be able to interconnect with them. Eventually, soft “neuromorphic” computer chips could be implanted directly into the brain, allowing

  From - Smithsonian Magazine, By -  Grant Wong Historian, University of South Carolina, Edited by - Vinuri Randhula  Silva, “Blonde,” a heavily fictionalized film by Andrew Dominik, explores the star’s life and legend in a narrative that’s equal parts glamorous and disturbing Marilyn Monroe’s  final interview  is a heartbreaker. Published in  Life  magazine on August 3, 1962—just a day before the  actress died  of a barbiturate overdose at age 36—it found Monroe reflecting on her celebrity status, alternatively thoughtful, frank and witty. “When you’re famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way,” she observed. “It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who is she—who is she, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe?” That same question—who was the real Monroe?—has sparked debate among  cinema scholars ,  cultural critics ,  historians ,  novelists ,  filmmakers  and the  general public  for decades. Was “Marilyn,” the personality and persona