Many years ago, when your trusty blog writer and photographer were little, we used to open up each new issue of National Geographic’s kids magazine and look for a feature called “What in the World?” It was a quiz game where they would show an extreme closeup of something rather ordinary—a pencil tip, or a junebug, or a flower petal—and the reader had to guess what it was.
We thought we’d play a game of “What in the World?” on the Project CONVERGE blog. Let’s see how good your memories are: Each of the first six photos in the slideshow is a closeup of one of the photos that has already appeared on the blog. As you look at each one, try to remember where you’ve seen it before, and guess which post it was in. Then keep clicking—we’ll show you the full photos in the second half of the slideshow.
Are you ready? Click through and see how many photos you can identify:
To see the photos in their original context, see the following posts. How many did you get right?
Orange Islands: Listening for Echoes of Krill
Candycane Mirrorball: This Is Life at 64 Degrees South
Urban Planning: How Gliders Work: A Look Inside the Blue Hen
Brush Strokes: Big and Bad, or Just Misunderstood? Meet the Southern Giant-Petrel
Drawn by a Ruler? Here Comes the Neighborhood
Black and White and Slightly Pink: Sights and Smells of Summer in an Adelie Penguin Colony
2 Comments
Great Idea, I loved that part of National Geographic too! I can’t let go of that nest building photo, I wonder why it looks for so perfect, I mean when the guano is thrown by the penguin, as you mentioned, does it really harden in a diagonal line? Are those the white lines or are those trapped snow? The mosaic (penguin nest) looks like one strategically placed each piece?
Anyway, thanks for the fun stuff on your blog It’s been GREAT!!!
On more thing, my student had a question for you on live broadcast and then it changed, she was wondering how do you come up with your headlines for each blog?
Thanks again Pat
Hi Pat – thanks so much to you and your students for following the blog and asking so many great questions. As for the gentoo nest—those straight white lines do come from the penguins—literally! When they poop they barely move at all, they just squirt out a great long stream of pink-and-white liquid. The force is strong enough that it just arcs out in a straight line like someone squeezing a ketchup bottle. (Sorry if this description is getting a little too graphic. Let’s move on:) You’re right about the mosaic nests—both gentoos and Adelies carefully gather rocks, one by one, and place them in the nest to form a raised area that will help the eggs stay above the level of meltwater. Finally, for the question about headlines, the answer is that I think hard about what the post is about, and try to think of a short phrase that describes it well enough that someone will be interested in reading it. I try to make it descriptive, but also unusual so that it sounds like there’s something new and worth reading inside. Thanks for asking – Hugh