In this weekly column, science writer Carrie Poppy puts together the most striking and telling science images from the past week's news for your viewing pleasure. Scroll down to find phenomenal images and fascinating facts about the science behind them.
This week, researchers concluded that bats have developed the uncanny ability to land upside down, via their heavy and powerful wings. This photo from the National Park Service was posted in celebration of National Bat Week. Eleven bat species live in Olympic National Park.
On the subject of frequent fliers, Tech Times reported on a fossil revealing the remains of an ancient wasp. The 53 million-year-old insect is called Ypresiosirex orthosemos, and was almost 3 inches long.
This week, the Supreme Court of Hawai'i halted construction of a 30-meter telescope because of safety concerns, and because it is being built on ground considered sacred by Native Hawai'ians.
On Wednesday, Brazilian researchers announced the discovery of a daddy longlegs with no eyes, who lives in caves in Brazil. They named the creature Iandumoema smeagol, after the Lord of the Rings character, Smeagol.
Olympic National Park in Washington was partly closed due to storms this week. Check out the incredible difference just a few days makes, in these photos taken Sunday and Thursday by Olympic National Park staff.
NASA released these photos this week, of young students posing with their newly autographed photos of Astronaut Reid Wiseman during his visit to the Maryland Science Center in his hometown of Baltimore, Md. Wiseman explained what it was like to live on the International Space Station for 6 months, and inspired these future astronauts.
The Max Planck Society of Ornithology's bird lab released video this week of songbirds performing amorous songs and "tap dances" for their love interests. A single step of the blue-capped cordon-bleus, a species of waxbill, takes a fifth of a second.
The European Southern Observatory in Chile just released this incredible telescope image of a horde of secret, massive galaxies that existed when our universe was in its infancy.
Our final image is a chart, but it's a doozy. In this study released by the University of Zurich, researchers determined that mice have incredibly long sperm, whereas elephants' sperm is short, but plentiful. Here is their once-in-a-lifetime chart of the length of elephant versus mouse sperm, based on body size and weight. Wonders never cease.
