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{ LUCA | 25+ | Marine Microbio & Art } I 💖 ocean microbes🦠 & cheese 🧀 Mainly an artblog.

[funtergeist]

i imagined an animation to this song a lot so i made it

[cheesydiatom]

#2 attempt at gouache! Another pet portrait for a friend💖 Getting a better idea of shading / brushstrokes (although the cat to the left was testing me 😆)

[wlwingull]

Love how there is not a single living thing in KOG besides humans and androids. How there is not a single fish in the sea. How we never see the sun. How the oceans have a rainbow shine to them. How people haphazardly throw their garbage out of the park and back onto the dying world. How everything is covered in blue stains. How “every new planet discovered is just being terraformed.” How they’re running out of PLASTIC.

Loved the pilot but oh man those bits were so. Hurts in a good way. The ideal world of oligarchs and the elites is dead and dying and even then, even then, they languish in their opulent rooms surrounded by devoted machines, upset at the one thing they can no longer have.

[queenie-main]

Fight: When your body feels that it is in danger and believes you can overpower the threat, you’ll respond in fight mode. Your brain releases signals to your body, preparing it for the physical demands of fighting.

Flight: If your body believes you cannot overcome the danger but can avoid it by running away, you’ll respond in flight mode. A surge of hormones, like adrenaline, give your body the stamina to run from danger longer than you typically could.

Freeze: This stress response causes you to feel stuck in place. This response happens when your body doesn’t think you can fight or flight.

Fawn: This response is used after an unsuccessful fight, flight, or freeze attempt. The fawn response occurs primarily in people who grew up in abusive families or situations.

This poor android has been in survival mode for her entire existence.

[ankle-beez]

knights of guinevere pilot was fucking incredible. free from disney's shackles, dana terrace created an almost satoshi kon-esque world where well-intentioned iconography is reduced until its left as a literal bloody, organy pulp, and all the people who may have been once inspired by it grow up cynical and bitter thanks to the systems that exploited both it AND the workers there. absolutely haunting, absolutely brilliant. cannot wait to see where it goes from here

[teddy-stonehill]

This month I’ve decided to participate in an event called “October,” where for every day in October I’m going to experience a day in October.

Here’s the prompt list I’m using in case anyone wants to join me in this challenge:

Next month I’m thinking of trying out the “No November November” challenge, where I’ll refrain from experiencing November for the whole month of November.

[fiendpiece]

Hey gays and theys, tell me, are you the clown shoe homo or the practical one?

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[important-animal-images]

[cheesydiatom]

My first attempt of gouache painting on canvas; still learning values & shading, but not too shabby! Gifted this to some dear friends of mine who celebrated their engagement💖

[nasa]

What are Phytoplankton and Why Are They Important?

Breathe deep… and thank phytoplankton.

Why? Like plants on land, these microscopic creatures capture energy from the sun and carbon from the atmosphere to produce oxygen.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh. Though tiny, these creatures are the foundation of the aquatic food chain. They not only sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems, they also provide important clues on climate change.

Let’s explore what these creatures are and why they are important for NASA research.

Phytoplankton are diverse

Phytoplankton are an extremely diversified group of organisms, varying from photosynthesizing bacteria, e.g. cyanobacteria, to diatoms, to chalk-coated coccolithophores. Studying this incredibly diverse group is key to understanding the health - and future - of our ocean and life on earth.

Their growth depends on the availability of carbon dioxide, sunlight and nutrients. Like land plants, these creatures require nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and calcium at various levels. When conditions are right, populations can grow explosively, a phenomenon known as a bloom.

Phytoplankton blooms in the South Pacific Ocean with sediment re-suspended from the ocean floor by waves and tides along much of the New Zealand coastline.

Phytoplankton are Foundational

Phytoplankton are the foundation of the aquatic food web, feeding everything from microscopic, animal-like zooplankton to multi-ton whales. Certain species of phytoplankton produce powerful biotoxins that can kill marine life and people who eat contaminated seafood.

Phytoplankton are Part of the Carbon Cycle

Phytoplankton play an important part in the flow of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean. Carbon dioxide is consumed during photosynthesis, with carbon being incorporated in the phytoplankton, and as phytoplankton sink a portion of that carbon makes its way into the deep ocean (far away from the atmosphere).

Changes in the growth of phytoplankton may affect atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, which impact climate and global surface temperatures. NASA field campaigns like EXPORTS are helping to understand the ocean's impact in terms of storing carbon dioxide.

Phytoplankton are Key to Understanding a Changing Ocean

NASA studies phytoplankton in different ways with satellites, instruments, and ships. Upcoming missions like Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) - set to launch Jan. 2024 - will reveal interactions between the ocean and atmosphere. This includes how they exchange carbon dioxide and how atmospheric aerosols might fuel phytoplankton growth in the ocean.

Information collected by PACE, especially about changes in plankton populations, will be available to researchers all over the world. See how this data will be used.

The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) is integrated onto the PACE spacecraft in the cleanroom at Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA

[ofallingstar]

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)