More Pictures On Nature

Society & Nature

Society & Nature
Our present society is almost totally defined by artificial things. Everywhere you look, there are man-made machines and gadgets that are being used. Even kids these days are so into artificial things, and do not have as much awareness of nature as the previous generations did. edicines are becoming more popular.

In the home-building industry, more and more designers are choosing natural materials as well. One of the most popular choices these days are the natural granite tile countertops. These countertops are fashioned from great hard blocks of granite that have been dug from beneath the earth.

Because of the numerous advances in technology, granite tile countertops are much easier to avail of these days than in the previous years. This is good, because there is quite a large demand for granite tile countertops recently, as people are getting to appreciate the beauty of nature But in recent years, many people are turning back to natural alternatives in many areas. Natural foods are mmore.

In a world that has been bombarded by electronics and artificial objects for so long, things such as granite tile countertops make us realize the splendor of nature that we have been taking for granted.

The process of changing these natural beauties into functional parts of our homes is a marvel in itself. The next time you look at your granite tile countertops, just imagine that thousands of years ago, these rocks were buried under the mountains of what we now call China, or South America, or Europe, being created and designed by mysterious powers before there were even people on earth.

Because granite tile countertops come from real rocks, no tile is exactly the same as another. This inherent exclusivity is just one of the things that make them so attractive to many homeowners. Knowing that the patterns and mixture of colors in your particular granite tile countertops are one in a million makes them more beautiful and more personally significant to you.

The beauty of granite tile countertops, though, is not only in their appearance. There is even a deeper and more essential beauty in what they represent. They serve as a reminder to humanity that we must give more appreciation to nature, and reflect on its magnificence more often Some people who have the luxury of time communicate with nature by going on vacations in the woods or on faraway islands. For those of us who cannot do that, we can now commune with nature simply by gazing at our granite tile countertops, and reflecting on their natural elegance.

Human cell becomes living laser

Scientists have for the first time created laser light using living biological material: a single human cell and some jellyfish protein.

"Lasers started from physics and are viewed as engineering devices," says Seok-Hyun Yun, an optical physicist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who created the 'living laser' with his colleague Malte Gather. "This is the first time that we have used biological materials to build a laser and generate light from something that is living." The finding is reported today in Nature Photonics 

Building a laser requires two things: a lasing material that amplifies light from an external source (a 'gain medium') and an arrangement of mirrors (an 'optical cavity'), which concentrates and aligns the light waves into a tight beam. Until now, the gain medium has only been made from non-biological substances such as doped crystals, semiconductors or gases, but in this case the researchers used enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) — the substance that makes jellyfish bioluminescent, which is used extensively in cell biology to label cells.

The team engineered human embryonic kidney cells to produce GFP, then placed a single cell between two mirrors to make an optical cavity just 20 micrometres across. When they fed the cell pulses of blue light, it emitted a directional laser beam visible with the naked eye — and the cell wasn't harmed.

The width of the laser beam is "tiny" and "fairly weak" in its brightness compared to traditional lasers, says Yun, but "an order of magnitude" brighter than natural jellyfish fluorescence, with a "beautiful green" colour.

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Bear researcher frozen out

It was one of the most dramatic sightings ever made in an aerial survey of the Arctic: a dead polar bear, bloated like a gigantic beach ball, floating in open water north of the Beaufort Sea coastline in Alaska.

Researchers say that they spotted four dead polar bears during the survey, and surmised that the bears drowned in stormy waters as they searched for ever-receding sea ice. The idea that polar bears could drown like this became a rallying point for advocates of action on climate change, most notably appearing in former US vice-president Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth (2006).

Now, five years after the observations were reported, the bears have become the focus of charges ranging from scientific fraud to political interference in science. Last week, it emerged that the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) had suspended a researcher involved in the survey, wildlife biologist Charles Monnett. The reason, according to an 18 July memo from Monnett's supervisor, Jeffrey Loman, was an investigation into "integrity issues" by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the US Department of the Interior, which oversees the BOEMRE. Climate-change sceptics were quick to jump on the news as evidence that the science of global warming had been distorted. The BOEMRE has also halted a different polar-bear survey overseen by Monnett, pending further investigation.

Monnett's suspension was brought to light on 28 July by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a watchdog group in Washington DC that is giving Monnett legal advice in the matter.

PEER released a transcript of an interview between criminal investigators at the OIG and Monnett, in which Monnett was told that he had been accused of scientific misconduct. He was then asked a series of questions relating to the paper in which he had reported the four drowned polar bears (C. Monnett and J. S. GleasonPolar Biol. 29, 681–687; 2006), but was not told the specific allegations.

Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER, says that this does not conform with the Department of the Interior's scientific-integrity policy, which states that those accused of misconduct should be properly informed of the allegations against them, and that the allegations should be referred to a scientific-integrity official, not to criminal investigators. On 29 July, PEER filed a scientific and scholarly misconduct complaint against Monnett's superiors and the OIG, accusing them of violating the policy.

Ruch claims that the suspension is a politically motivated attack on Monnett's research at a time when the BOEMRE is considering whether to allow an expansion of oil drilling off Alaska's northern coast. The bureau denies this, and any accusation of playing into the oil industry's hands is highly sensitive, because the bureau (then known as the Minerals Management Service) was accused of poor oversight of the industry leading up to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Ruch adds that Monnett is declining interviews because he has not been granted permission to do them by the bureau.

After a day of negative publicity generated by PEER's announcement, the bureau hit back. Spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz says that, contrary to the impression given by the transcript, Monnett's suspension was unrelated to scientific-integrity issues, his polar-bear finding or oil-drilling permits. She declined to say what it was related to.

But a 13 July memo to Monnett, provided to Nature by PEER, says that the investigation had uncovered information that raised concerns about his ability to act "in an impartial and objective manner" while handling a US$1.1-million contract for a study of polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. A notice sent to Monnett by the OIG on 29 July further explained that although investigators may continue to query him on scientific integrity, they will now focus on how Monnett awarded the research contract. This includes questions over whether Monnett complied with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which is intended to ensure fair competition for US government contracts. The OIG adds that the inquiry is not criminal in nature, as the Department of Justice has already considered the case and declined to prosecute. Ruch says that Monnett's handling of the contract was transparent to his supervisors, and that his technical role meant he was not responsible for compliance with the regulation.

The project, begun in 2005, involves putting radio collars on polar bears found on the Canadian side of the Beaufort Sea, and tracking their position by satellite over several seasons. The study is funded by various sources, including the BOEMRE and the Canadian government. But on 13 July, the BOEMRE told scientists on the project to stop their work. The project's principal investigator, Andrew Derocher, a biologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says he had no idea why. "To begin with, I thought it was related to budgetary issues in the United States. I've never seen anything like this in my life," he says.

Derocher says that data should continue to come in from collars until 2013, but the 'stop work' order may mean that he is unable to document his findings in a final report to the agency. Among those findings is that 2–4-year old polar bears tend not to stray far from their home range — the first time this age group has been tracked. This would mean that in the event of a large oil spill, bears that died from oil exposure would not be replaced quickly by bears from surrounding areas, says Derocher.

Drowned polar bears have not been reported by other scientists, but the hypothesis that a long search for sea ice makes it more likely that bears will get caught in stormy weather and drown is regarded as plausible. In January, scientists led by George Durner at the US Geological Survey in Anchorage, Alaska, reported the fate of an adult female bear as she swam more than 600 kilo­metres before reaching ice (G. M. Durner et al. Polar Biol. 34, 975–984; 2011). When the researchers caught up with the animal, she had lost 22% of her body mass and her year-old cub.

This finding, corroborated by other studies, suggests that the major impact of receding sea ice on the bears is nutritional stress caused by a reduction of their hunting range, says Steven Amstrup, chief scientist at the campaigning organization Polar Bears International, headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, and a co-author of the study. But the observation that drowning can occur is important, he adds. "If this investigation is not about those observations then the BOEMRE owes it to him and to the public to say clearly what it is about." 

The Beauty Of Nature You Are Aware Of

In the evening I sit in front of my house and feel the soft gentle breeze caress my face and cool my body. The breeze is simply beautiful and nature gives it free to me. Actually nature gives this free to everyone, but it seems that not everyone is aware of this.

Sometimes the sky is immensely blue. White silvery clouds glide almost imperceptibly against it. The clouds are never the same as they change their shapes continuously. These things are more beauty that I perceive around me.

Some days when the sky turns back with thick heavy clouds a distance curtain of falling rain can be seen. It appears as though some unseen hand is pouring water onto the land to nourish it. The sight is beautiful and it makes me feel closer to the beauty of the earth.

After a thunderstorm, the air is crisp and cool. Birds come out and sing out their joy to life. I sing too as I frolic barefoot on the cool wet grass beside my house. The frogs croak joyfully. Even the insects seem to buzz and shriek louder. I am sure they are all singing about how beautiful life is. Indeed it is.

In the night the stars make their appearance. Millions of these twinkling jewels can be seen in the black sky. How wondrous it is to gaze at the glory of the universe. No doubt I am just a tiny part of it, but to be able to take it in through my senses makes it even more wondrous.

At night the moon often makes its appearance. Sometimes it is round. Other times it is crescent-shaped. Nevertheless its presence adds to the beauty of the backdrop of stars in the far reaches of space. It is amazing that there are such things.

The little garden beside my house is filled with the things of nature. Little bees, butterflies and other insects fly among the flowers in search of food. The flowers themselves are brightly colored with every possible combination of colors and hues. I feast my eyes on the scene of immense activity and again witness the beauty of nature's innumerable wonders.

The beauty of nature is so simple and undemanding that we often fail to perceive it. Modern man is deluged with artificial things that cut out his awareness of nature. However I make it a point to smell the roses, to touch the morning dew, to listen to the songs of birds and to be aware of the great wonders that nature presents to me. I feel this great beauty within that is in tune with the great beauty without. Life in the forms nature gives to us is beautiful. We just have to be conscious enough to be aware of it.

Pictures of Nature

Beauty Description Through Quotes

How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!  ~Emily Dickinson, letter to Mrs. J.S. Cooper, 1880


I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.  ~John Muir, 1913, in L.M. Wolfe, ed., John Muir, John of the Mountains:  The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938


What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for Beauty, and never see the Dawn!  ~Logan Pearsall Smith


Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear


How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!  ~John Muir


Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.  ~George Washington Carver


Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.  ~John Muir


God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.  ~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Martin Luther


I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.  ~Henry David Thoreau


Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.  Look at the flowers - for no reason.  It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.  ~Osho


Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.  ~Kahlil Gibran


I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.... People think pleasing God is all God care about.  But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.  ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982


I am not bound for any public place, but for ground of my own where I have planted vines and orchard trees, and in the heat of the day climbed up into the healing shadow of the woods.  Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.  ~Wendell Berry


And how should a beautiful, ignorant stream of water know it heads for an early release - out across the desert, running toward the Gulf, below sea level, to murmur its lullaby, and see the Imperial Valley rise out of burning sand with cotton blossoms, wheat, watermelons, roses, how should it know?  ~Carl Sandburg, Good Morning America, 1928


I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.  ~e.e. cummings


The poetry of the earth is never dead.  ~John Keats


I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees.  The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.  It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day.  It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful.  Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy.  ~Hamlin Garland, McClure's, February 1899


In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.  ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Life, 22 December 1967


After all, I don't see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like white dogwood.  ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh


The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.  ~Author Unknown


Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.  ~Juvenal, Satires


There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage


You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet.  ~Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons, 1964


The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.  ~Galileo


I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.  ~Walt Whitman

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.  ~John Muir


To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.  ~Jane Austen


The sun is the epitome of benevolence - it is lifegiving and warmthgiving and happinessgiving, and to it we owe our thanksgiving.  ~Jessi Lane Adams


Good heavens, of what uncostly material is our earthly happiness composed... if we only knew it.  What incomes have we not had from a flower, and how unfailing are the dividends of the seasons.  ~James Russell Lowell


Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.  ~Lao Tzu


As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.  ~Stephen Graham, The Gentle Art of Tramping


Great things are done when men and mountains meet.  This is not done by jostling in the street.  ~William Blake


To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.  ~Helen Keller


Shall I not have intelligence with the earth?  Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.  ~Henry David Thoreau


Joy all creatures drink
At nature's bosoms...
~Friedrich von Schiller, "Ode to Joy," 1785, translated from German


Innovative capitalists have tried to rewrite nature, but to no avail.  ~Astrid Alauda


What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery


One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.  ~William Shakespeare


I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.  ~Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted, 14 August 1966


I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me.  ~William Hazlitt


To one who has been long in city pent,
'Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven, - to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
~John Keats, Sonnet XIV


Fieldes have eies and woods have eares.  ~John Heywood, 1565

The Sensitive Plant

Whether the sensitive Plant, or that

Which within its boughs like a Spirit sat,

Ere its outward form had known decay,

Now felt this change, I cannot say.

Whether that Lady's gentle mind,

No longer with the form combined

Which scattered love, as stars do light,

Found sadness, where it left delight,

I cannot guess; but in this life

Of error, ignorance, and strife,

Where nothing is, but all things seem,

And we the shadows of the dream,

It is a modest creed,and yet

Pleasant if one considers it,

To own that death itself must be,

Like all the rest, a mockery.

That garden sweet, that lady fair,

And all sweet shapes and odours there,

In truth have never passed away;

'Tis we, 'tis ours, are changed; not they.

For love, and beauty and delight,

There is no death nor change; their might

Exceeds our organs, which endure

No light, being themselves obscure.

Nature Wonder's

As the spring winds blow through my hair, 
They bend down and kiss my skin so fair, 
The water ripples beneath my toes, 
And of this place no one knows, 
This home inside my soul is none other than my heart, 
This delight no one can measure on any chart, 
The smell of rain fresh in the air, 
Tickles my senses without a care, 
All the plants are turning green and the trees are touching the sky, 
I fell like I am lifting up like I can fly, 
Nothing can bring me down from this heaven I have found, 
Because, from the world, it has kept me safe and sound...... 

Winter Love

I saw her wandering 
through the night, 
as sorrow bathed 
her shadowed face, 
neither creature nor flower 
it seemed to me, 
could make an ounce 
of happiness grace. 
As moon beams kissed 
her painted hair, 
and danced upon 
her naked feet, 
she of silver 
unaware, 
stole my heart 
and caught it's beat. 

Poetry On Beauty Of Nature

Just at dawn, 
When everyone's asleep, 
And you can hear the wind, 
That the trees cast at you, 

And when the seagulls are flying 
Above the sea, 
And whispering words of cheer, 
Peacefully flying about, 
Enjoying the nature, 

When the sun rises, 
And the flowers wake up 
From their sweet sleep, 
Dancing and singing, 
Enjoying their shower, 

And the cool springs, 
Gushing down the mountains, 
And the people are gazing peacefully, 
With a smile on their faces, 
Enjoying the beautiful scenery, 

And when the birds and doves 
Zoom up to the sky and land back down, 
Enjoying the cool air and calmness. 
And when the trees have grown fresh fruits, 
For us to nibble on, 

And when the sun sets, and the moon rises, 
Leaving beautiful colours in the sky, 
Is what nature is called. 

Pantoum on Nature's Patience

Surviving all to seize the hour:  A firm reward: a solitary flower.With pinch of time to propagate –Of seed and chance, it must await.A firm reward: a solitary flower, But motionless, the dainty tower.Of seed and chance, it must awaitAnd not by dreams or wishing fate.But motionless, the dainty tower –Completion lies in gusty power, And not by dreams or wishing fate.Unmindful patience; uncertain date: Completion lies in gusty powerTo cast its genes by seed in shower.Unmindful patience; uncertain dateTo dance in wind, from taut and straight.The bantam form remains sedate.With pinch of time to propagate: An airy blow it must devour, Surviving all to seize the hour.

Nature

Nature

Nature is mighty Nature is strong Nature is usually always right Nature is rarely ever wrong Nature is beauty Nature is moody Nature is smart Nature always has the greater part Nature is blue Nature is green Nature is every color possibly seen Nature is true Nature is beaming Nature is dreaming Nature is in every place Nature is always with grace Nature is true Nature is you Nature is me Nature will forever be free

If spring came but once a century instead of once a year, or
       burst forth with the sound of an earthquake and not in
       silence, what wonder and expectation there would be
       in all the hearts to behold the miraculous change.
                                                                  - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Natural Beauty

Beauty Of Nature

Nature can bring a lot of beauty into our lives.   Nature has a way of affecting our moods and it can force us to change our plans.   Nature is responsible for the sun, clouds, rain, and snow.   When it is sunny and bright outside, we feel cheerful inside.   When it is cloudy and rainy, we often feel gloomy.   When there is a beautiful and starry night, the moonlight makes us feel romantic.

William Wordsworth in his poem “Daffodils" gives the romantic in nature; the beauty of nature as 

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Nature can set a sky aflame at sunset or magically transform a familiar landscape into a snow-white wonderland.   It can paint a rainbow in the sky, paint beautiful autumn colors on trees, or paint a clump of daffodils in the grass with glow of soft sunlight.

When we wake and see a sunrise, when we walk and feel a breeze, when we gaze at the mountains and the splendor of the seas, when we see the earth renew its beauty at each season of the year, and when the stars shine at night, we should be so very thankful to the Lord for giving us all these wonderful and miraculous things. This   poetic line substantiates   this:-
 
The whistle of the wind rushing past my face,
Looking for the exit so it can leave this place;
The branches sway and the leaves begin to fall,
I can hear the birds now, sending me their call.

When we see the leaves budding on a tree or when a timid flower pushes through the frozen ground, or when we smell the freshness of spring, new hope will always come to us.   Nature is truly an intrinsic part of our lives.

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
Lou Holtz 


A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.
Samuel Butler 


A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.
Anne Bronte 


A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
Carl Reiner 


A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
Walt Whitman 


A woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart.
Hal Borland 


Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative.
H. G. Wells 


Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.
Russell Baker 


All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.
Abraham Lincoln 


All things are artificial, for nature is the art of God.
Thomas Browne 


All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.
Toni Morrison 


And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin 


And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.
Thomas Moore 


And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.
William Shakespeare 


As the poet said, 'Only God can make a tree,' probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.
Woody Allen 


Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus 


Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the surface, as they play over pools and streams.
Gilbert White 


Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.
Langston Hughes 


Birds have wings; they're free; they can fly where they want when they want. They have the kind of mobility many people envy.
Roger Tory Peterson