The researchers used
high-speed photography and an instrument called a Rheometer to analyze frog saliva under prey-capturing
conditions. The scientists think frog tongues could one day
help engineers design reversible soft adhesives that could work at high speeds.
Only surviving species of the genus Rhinophrynus, over 190 million years of independent evolution, spend nearly all their lives in the dirt, looks like a whoopee cushion, has a very short breeding period and their call sounds like this:
The highest elevations on Iceland are covered by the Vatnajökull glacier, an ice cap that sits nearly above the heart of the hotspot that helped form the island. A combination of geothermal heat from the volcanoes and summer melting can produce enough water to flood through the base of the glacier and erode away the ice, sometimes creating a massive outburst flood called a jökulhlaup. If the winter is cold enough, these caves will empty and can be entered and toured with local guides. This cave was photographed in 2015; the pale blue light is likely a tiny hint of blue sunlight able to travel through the ice layer above.
