Auroras can be spotted throughout the world and on other planets. It is most visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field.
Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the sun. The Earth’s magnetic field traps these particles, many of which travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules causes energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind.Seen from space, these fiery curtains form a thin ring in the shape of a monk’s tonsure.

Albatross

An albatross is the grandest living flying machine on Earth. An albatross is bone, feathers, muscle, and the wind. An albatross is an art deco bird, striking of pattern, clean of line, epic in travels, heroically faithful. A parent albatross may fly more than 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) to deliver one meal to its chick. Wielding the longest wings in nature—up to eleven and a half feet (3.5 meters)—albatrosses can glide hundreds of miles without flapping, crossing ocean basins, circumnavigating the globe. A 50-year-old albatross has flown, at least, 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers). The places of albatrosses are beyond the inhabited limits of humanity, on spare, elemental islands that feel like the center of a water bound planet. Yet humans touch them in all their haunts. As a result, almost all albatross populations have declined significantly in recent decades. When its season for courtship many of the birds return to the land for the first time may be after four or five years at sea. A bird’s choice of mate largely determines whether its chick survives. Raising a chick requires both parents, so courtship often spans two years. Those in advanced courtship sit long intervals in close contact, tenderly preening each other’s heads and necks. This reinforces reliability and mutual care. Thus they begin a lifelong bond that will keep the wheel of life in motion. While flying one can hardly see any flapping of wings. Wind powers this mass-transit system. Many hurtle downwind; those going upwind weave into the air currents, catching the crosswind and sailing upward with their bellies windward, then turning downward into the breeze. Masterfully playing these two great forces of wind and gravity, they make near-effortless progress.

Paroah

The golden boy of the ancient Egypt king Tutankhamun wasn’t exactly a strapping sun god a new study reveals.
Instead, a DNA study says, King Tut was a frail pharaoh, beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins.
Regarding the revelation that King Tut’s mother and father were brother and sister, team member Pusch said, “Inbreeding is not an advantage for biological or genetic fitness. Normally the health and immune system are reduced and malformations increase,” he said.
The new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, marks the first time the Egyptian government has allowed genetic studies to be performed using royal mummies.
The team’s examination of King Tut’s body also revealed previously unknown deformations in the king’s left foot, caused by the necrosis, or death, of bone tissue.
The scientists found DNA from the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria in the young pharaoh’s body—the oldest known genetic proof of the disease.

The malaria would have weakened King Tut’s immune system and interfered with the healing of his foot. These factors, combined with the fracture in his left thighbone, which scientists had discovered in 2005, may have ultimately been what killed the young king, the authors write.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics emblem depicts an inukshuk, a symbol used by the Inuit people, or Eskimos, of Canada’s Arctic regions.
The Vancouver 2010 emblem is dubbed Ilanaaq—”friend” in an Inuit language—and is an “eternal expression of the hospitality of a nation that warmly welcomes the people of the world with open arms every day,” according to the Vancouver 2010 Web site.
But Ilanaaq generated controversy among some First Nations—Canada’s term for non-Inuit American Indian groups. The groups feel the symbol doesn’t reflect the native art and culture of the Vancouver region and the rest of British Columbia, such as totem poles.
The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Inukshuk, is actually the singular of inuksuit, means “in the likeness of a human” in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is “Someone was here” or “You are on the right path.”
The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms for a variety of purposes: as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found.