#science illustration

[nemfrog]

"Human liver in which the portal vein had been injected white." The physiological anatomy and physiology of man. 1859.

Internet Archive

[alphynix]

Spectember 2024 #05: Most Weasel

@gaycoonie suggested a "future legless mustelid":

Descended from an arboreal offshoot lineage of the modern least weasel, Maximagale gaycooniei is a bizarre mustelid that appears to have converged on the lifestyle of ambush-hunting tree snakes, evolving in northern latitudes where actual snakes are largely absent.

Growing to about 1m long (3'3"), it's not truly legless but its limbs are all reduced down to tiny vestigial single-clawed spurs, which are used to help anchor its body while climbing and as claspers during mating. It moves around with a distinctive inchworm-like looping gait, alternating grasping and releasing with its front and hind spurs.

Its build is bottom-heavy, with most of its mass concentrated in its thicker back end, and its tail is semi-prehensile. It clings to trees with its body bunched up, camouflaged with cryptic coloration, and rapidly whips its long flexible front half out to snap its powerfully-muscled jaws at prey – such as insects, birds, lizards, frogs, small mammals, and pretty much anything else that comes within its reach.

It will also opportunistically raid the nest of birds and arboreal mammals.

Due to the less frequent meals its ambush-hunting tactics provide, it has a much slower metabolism than its ancestors, and it conserves energy with daily periods of torpor and longer hibernation during the colder months of winter. It has also retained its ancestor's tendency to seasonally shrink its brain size to reduce energy requirements even more.

[rebeccarhelm]

The lost jellyfish art of Ilona Richter, from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea...

[typhlonectes]

I’m sorry, but some of y’all really need to see this…

[kiabugboy]

some illustrations about Meganeura and how much we know about its anatomy based on fossil fragments and close relatives

links

[counterintuitivecomics]

Some colorized bits from my recent free printable zine WHY WE MASK: It's Not "Just A Cold"! I purposefully made the whole thing b&w to make printing as cheap as possible, but it's fun to add color especially to the snot-splosions.

HEY COMICS FRIENDS going to SPX or other cons this weekend - MASK UP, EAT OUTDOORS, and REST if you start feeling run down. COVID-19 levels are BAD bad right now (it's currently the worst September out of the whole pandemic) and the government does not have our backs. This virus causes YEARS worth of horrible vascular, neurological, and immune system damage, and each infection raises your chances of gaining fun new disabilities that could prevent you ever making comics again.

I strongly advice cancelling festivals, cons, indoor dining, anything involving crowds indoors OR outdoors, etc. But I know people depend on income from cons, so: PACK MASKS, NASAL SPRAY, and CPC MOUTHWASH and actually use them! If you develop any COVID-19 symptoms (headaches, dizziness, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, sore throat, sore joints, etc) don't assume it's "just a cold". Stay in your dang hotel room and REST! You can TRY to "push through" to keep tabling but you are NOT gonna like the long-term results (aka Long COVID).

I care about all you comics people and I want you to enjoy many more decades of making and sharing and reading comics with each other. If you're feeling sick at a show this weekend and don't know what to do, drop me a line! No judgements. Take care of yourself and each other out there and remember, no one can rest your body for you but you.

(Image Descriptions are in the Alt Text. Also please feel free to print my zine and hand it out if you do go)co

[slowlytenaciouscherryblossom]

Te dejo un CHISMECITO: aquí el corazón humano

[asparklethatisblue]

Bat and human arm bones~

I figured it’d be something to help a child visualise the similarities

[natureintheory]

NEW PRINT!

A fantastical, retro-futuristic laboratory for black hole research. Originally created for The Institute for Advanced Study – The Institute Letter.

The graphics on the small screens represent real black hole characteristics: Kerr black holes, donut-shaped accretion disks, gravitational effects, binary systems & more.

Credit: Olena Shmahalo for The Institute for Advanced Study

[dirtmossart]

Sedimentologist, Natacha Fabregas, using a microscope to check grain size

[nemfrog]

"Phases of Saturn's rings." A fourteen weeks course in descriptive astronomy. 1870.

Internet Archive

[alphynix]

Avisaurus darwini here lived at the very end of the Cretaceous, about 66 million years ago, in what is now the Hell Creek fossil beds in Montana, USA.

It was a member of a diverse group of Mesozoic birds known as enantiornitheans, which retained claws on their wings and often still had toothed snouts instead of beaks – and being part of the avisaurid family it was also one of the larger known examples of these birds, similar in size to a modern hawk at around 60cm long (~2').

Although this species is only known from isolated foot bones, the remains have distinct enough anatomical features to show that Avisaurus had powerful gripping talons similar to those of modern hawks and owls, suggesting it had a similar lifestyle hunting small vertebrate prey in the ancient swampy Hell Creek ecosystem.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Clark, Alexander D., et al. "New enantiornithine diversity in the Hell Creek Formation and the functional morphology of the avisaurid tarsometatarsus." PloS one 19.10 (2024): e0310686. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310686

“Predatory birds from the same fossil formation as SUE the T. rex.” Field Museum, https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/predatory-birds-from-the-same-fossil-formation-as-sue-the-t-rex 

Wikipedia contributors. “Avisauridae” Wikipedia, 21 Oct. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avisauridae

Wikipedia contributors. “Avisaurus” Wikipedia, 09 Nov. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avisaurus

[comixqueen]

Repostober 7: He stretch his leggy out real far! Anchiornis from 2018, a piece from grad school.

[typhlonectes]

from Science diagrams that look like shitposts.

[kiabugboy]

Old illustration from 2018 Arthropleura and friends running away from a carboniferous forest fire

[hannahmcgill]

Cocoon Year Weeks 7 & 8 Graphic

A little late posting this one (These do a lot better on Bluesky and Mastodon for some reason!) but I haven't forgotten my dear insect-averse tumblr crowd.

There will be an additional wrinkly baby caterpillar soon! Nom nom nom!

[img id] Digital art of a caterpillar munching its way out of a translucent eggshell. The caterpillar is chunky with a shiny black head, and little black grippy legs. Just the head of the caterpillar pokes out, while the rest of its body curls around inside of the shell. The egg rests on a nest of fine, curly milkweed hairs. [/id]