2023-12-04 11:25:00

Thomas D. Trummer will remain director of the Kunsthaus Bregenz (KUB) until May 2030. His contract will be extended for a third five-year period, the institution announced on Monday. The decision in this regard was made unanimously by the supervisory board of the Vorarlberg cultural center operating company (KUGES). “With Director Trummer at the helm, the KUB has once once more gained a lot of international appeal,” said the responsible state councilor Barbara Schöbi-Fink (ÖVP).

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#Thomas #Trummer #remains #director #Kunsthaus #Bregenz #Fine #Arts

2023-12-04 11:34:27

A bright blue constellation illuminates the waters of the Caribbean following dark. This is an extremely rare nuptial display of small ostracods, sea fireflies which produce bioluminescent slime in order to reproduce. A spectacle captured on video by researchers.

“Fireworks”, “luminous ball”, “Christmas garland” : here is how we might describe the ballet of underwater fireflies observed by scientists. These tiny crustaceans called ostracodes were captured on video as they produced glowing mucus in the night, in an attempt to impress potential mates, during a courtship ritual giant. “Males pull out all the stops on the dance floor”by synchronizing their bioluminescent capacity with others, summarizes Nicholai M. Hensleyresearcher at Cornell University, United States, and lead author of a study that describes the phenomenon, published in Proceedings of the royal society B.

A wonderful spectacle

These little creatures are not no bigger than a grain of sand or a sesame seed, but they manage to produce a powerful blue light. It is the males who secrete these naturally iridescent proteins, and females who are naturally attracted to this fleeting glow. “This repeats several times, which creates a sort of light pattern, like Morse code in the water. Then other males begin their light displays during synchronous swimming, and underwater, when it’s dark it looks like stars that flash and leave tiny trails of light”still describes the scientist.

Mini blue light spitting shrimp

A fascinating luminous ritual, rarewhich does not occur randomly, the specialists discovered. “The mating dance sequence does not take place that following sunset, at nautical twilight, when the lune don’t shine in the night sky.” The synchronized swimming of these amazing living beings might also be quite orchestrated. In the video, we see these fireflies producing their bioluminescent mucus in succession, undulating like a wave, before taking a break, and starting once more. The hypothesis of the authors of the study is that the first male to produce light sets off a chain reaction among its neighbors, competing to attract females.

These ostracods were first discovered in 2017in a reef on the island of Bocas del Toro, off the coast of Panama, where there is a research station. There are around a hundred species in the Caribbean, but none would offer a spectacle as dense and brilliant as this oneaccording to professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology James Morin, who has studied them since the 1980s. These beasts “on steroids”, which look like mini shrimps, would have a gland, just above their mouth, in which two chemicals create a bright blue glow when combined. This colored sputum would also taste bad : it would allow them to force their predators to spit them out. A specificity that sea fireflies share with terrestrial fireflies, even though their common ancestor lived around 500 million years ago!

You may also be interested in:

⋙ Why glow worms risk disappearing

⋙ Bioluminescent trees to light up cities: the funny idea of ​​a French start-up

⋙ Naturally fluorescent: why do many animals glow in the dark?

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#VIDEO #sea #fireflies #produce #magnificent #fireworks #ocean

2023-12-04 11:22:15

Development company University North Park LLC seeks to build a $1 billion entertainment district in Norman.

A new University of Oklahoma basketball arena and entertainment district might be built west of 24th Ave., between I-35, Rock Creek Road and Corporate Center Drive in north Norman.

Before ground breaks, the development company, University North Park LLC, must attend predevelopment meetings while it applies for zoning, to present layouts and answer questions from the community regarding the project’s potential impacts on their neighborhoods.

Students and property owners attended the meeting and asked questions, such as what the traffic plans are and how accessible it will be to OU students.

Sean Rieger, the company’s attorney, told community members Thursday night despite the distance to the new arena, he’s confident students will make the drive to see games and have fun.

“The arena will host not just basketball games, but other sports and events like gymnastics and concerts. Students already drive to football games. This new area has an added draw of restaurants and retail right outside of the arena,” Rieger said.

The entertainment district will be divided into two areas. Rieger said the south side will have the most foot traffic, while the north side will be multi-family housing. He says the district will be pedestrian-friendly.

“You can simply walk all the way through that entertainment experience and enjoy your day before the game, enjoy your night following the game,” he said.

Rieger said there’s no time frame currently for when the area would get developed. University North Park LLC still has to get architectural designs and detailed construction documents approved before ground breaks.

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#Developer #updates #Norman #plans #proposed #billion #entertainment #district