#harsh environments

[fancysandwichavenue]

Arctic oil rig site by Tommy Huynh Via Flickr: Mackenzie Delta, Canada - Floodlights illuminate an oil rig site in the middle of the Canadian Arctic. From my collection of stock photos of Canada

[xtruss]

Scientists Uncover Ancient Tunnels Beneath The Earth Belonging To An Unknown Lifeform

The Discovery Challenges Current Understandings of How Life Forms Can Survive In Harsh Environments, And Opens The Door To Exploring Previously Unknown Life Forms.

— Arezki Amiri | April 29, 2025

Scientists Uncover Ancient Tunnels Beneath the Earth Belonging to an Unknown Lifeform | The Daily Galaxy — Great Discoveries Channel

In the deserts of Africa and the Middle East, scientists have uncovered unusual tiny Tubes embedded in rocks, which they suspect were created by some form of Life. These strange Micro-Burrows, found in places like Namibia, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, have baffled researchers due to their unnatural structure.

Uncovering The Mystery In The Desert

Geologist Cees Passchier and his colleagues made the surprising discovery of these tiny, parallel Tubes running through Limestone and Marble in desert regions.

The discovery was initially made in Namibia, about 15 years ago, but subsequent findings in Oman and Saudi Arabia have expanded the scope of the phenomenon.

These tubes, which are about half a millimeter wide and up to three centimeters long, appeared to be more than just geological formations.

“These Tubes Are Clearly Not The Result of A Geological Process,” Passchier Explained.

Upon closer examination, the tubes were found to be filled with a fine powder made of Calcium Carbonate, suggesting that the structure was created by microorganisms that tunneled through the rock to access the Nutrients in the marble.

The discovery was significant because no known microorganisms have been observed making such structures, and the researchers are now left to wonder whether the organisms that created them are Extinct or still exist today.

Marble from Namibia in which micro-burrows have grown in parallel arrangement downwards from a fracture filled with white calcium carbonate. Credit: Cees Passchier

The Age And Origin of The Micro-Burrows

These unusual structures, which researchers believe may be one or two million years old, were found to be incredibly precise.

The fact that they were found in Marble and Limestone, materials often considered too harsh for life to survive in, has raised questions about the Adaptability of life forms.

“We assume that they were formed in a slightly more humid climate,” Passchier said, suggesting that the organisms might have flourished during a Wetter Period in Earth’s History. Today, however, the desert environment where these structures were discovered is arid and inhospitable.

The precise nature of these burrows is still unclear. They are so tiny that they could have been made by Microorganisms, but the absence of DNA or protein traces makes it difficult to identify the life form responsible.

Despite this, the discovery is remarkable because it challenges our previous assumptions about how life can survive in extreme environments, especially in areas where no surface life is visible.

Top View of an Outcrop in Namibia Showing the Marble Penetrated by a Group of Micro-Burrows. Credit: Cees Passchier

Endolithic Microorganisms And The Global Carbon Cycle

The organisms that might have made these tunnels are thought to be Endolithic Microorganisms, which are capable of living inside rocks and extracting energy from them.

Many microorganisms, such as Fungi or bacteria, are known to inhabit extreme environments where other life cannot survive.

Passchier and his team believe that the tiny organisms that made these burrows could have played an important role in Earth’s Carbon Cycle.

If these lifeforms were involved in releasing carbon from the rock, they may have influenced the planet’s CO2 balance over millions of years.

Passchier emphasizes that further research is needed to identify these Mysterious Microorganisms, and the scientific community may soon be able to determine whether they are a known life form or something completely new.

The study of such life could have far-reaching implications, as understanding how life exists in the most inhospitable places on Earth could provide valuable insights into the search for Life on other planets.

— Reference: “Subfossil Fracture-Related Euendolithic Micro-burrows in Marble and Limestone” by Cees W. Passchier, Trudy M. Wassenaar, Nora Groschopf, Anne Jantschke and Regina Mertz-Kraus, 27 February 2025, Geomicrobiology Journal. DOI: 10.1080/01490451.2025.2467417

[future120]

CUI: Selecting a Power Supply for Harsh Environments

https://www.futureelectronics.com/c/electromechanical/power-supplies/articles . In this Power 101 video from CUI, we look at the conditions found in harsh industrial environments and what to consider when selecting a power supply for this environment. https://youtu.be/LahscK6u9ns

[futureelectronic1527]

CUI: Selecting a Power Supply for Harsh Environments

https://www.futureelectronics.com/c/electromechanical/power-supplies/articles . In this Power 101 video from CUI, we look at the conditions found in harsh industrial environments and what to consider when selecting a power supply for this environment. https://youtu.be/LahscK6u9ns

[futureelctronic1201]

Nicomatic Interconnect Design

https://www.futureelectronics.com/m/nicomatic . Nicomatic is active in both standard & specific designs for harsh environments, industrial applications and man/machine interface. Most of our products are MIL-spec and satisfy a high level of use in electronic devices, systems and sub-assemblies. https://youtu.be/jrCGJ3c1FLE

[berserker2166]

X-men Evolution Logan and a mix of his kids from comics + the show. 🥰

[claret-ash]

I don't often share my WIPs to tumblr, but I just had to share my thoughts here! 👀

Faerin would COMPLETELY be the type of friend to tease Anduin over his unusually focused, but soft tone whenever he talks about this mysterious "Wrathion". She's determined to meet this dragon who Anduin seems to have so many stories about... so that she has two future teasing targets! 😈✨

[jayktoralldaylong]

I hate it when people say a character is inherently evil just because they were born rich. It just...rubs me the wrong way.

Like. Huh?

That's something they did not choose. They did not choose their parents. Are you expecting them to gasp in realisation that they have more money than others and then start distributing their pocket money through the street? Sounds like a rather vain thing to do tbh. A lot of rich kids don't even realise that their parents are rich, or that other people don't live the way they do until they are exposed to the lives beneath them.

If you want to hate a rich character, hate them for their actual flaws and mistakes, not just because they're rich. That's very shallow.

[rush-the-stars]

perhaps it is time to dust off the western omegaverse au with wolfwood. perhaps.

[fourswords]

aol zelda waking up into a post-apocalyptic world is actually really funny because i feel like og zelda would set aside time to teach her how to fight (aol zelda has basic archery skills but again. she was the younger of two royal siblings raised in a golden age of peace. wasn't even set to take the throne. if there was ever a danger to her then she totally 100% relied on her knights to save her instead of herself) because. y'know. Post-Apocalyptic World Where Everything Tries To Kill You. and aol zelda is like "okay!!! i can do this!!! i'm lucky to even be alive at all i might as well start learning how to live in this new world i've woken up in!!!" and she does eventually master her archery skills and og zelda gets her swordsmanship up to acceptable levels. and THEN og zelda is like "alright it'd probably be best if you killed your first monster in a safe environment so i went out and got a bunch of keese for you to fight. have at it" and then opens a box that's been suspiciously wriggling in a corner throughout the entire conversation and a bunch of keese fly out directly at aol zelda. needless to say she did not have a very good time.

[byebiscus]

Vivinos really saw all of us being distracted by the pretty characters and shiny songs and decided to remind us that she's also the creator of Pink Bitch Club holy crap

[illumiera]

WIP Wednesday

thank you to @hircines-hunter and @miraakulous-cloud-district for the tags! 💖

even though I haven't been as productive as I'd have liked lately, progress is still progress! so, here's a snippet from the next chapter of i fear no fate (for you are my fate), ft. a little trip down memory lane:

Lucien loves Elentari, Miraak realises in wonder, like a brother. And Miraak… He doesn’t let himself think of Vahlok. He doesn’t let himself think of the weight a name carries when it is whispered under the veil of darkness (“My name was—is—Mímir.” Silence, heart-pounding silence for much too long to hold a breath, and then, “Ásmundr. Mine’s Ásmundr.”). Nor does he let himself think of stolen moments spent sharing stories of lives before, one always a son and the other always a slave (“Born for the gods, they call children like me, and of course, we all know which gods they mean.” “Let me tell you about my mother, then, if you don’t have one of your own. Her name is Eivor, and if you ever heard her sing…”). He especially doesn’t let himself think of the word brother itself, or of how it can be strung into the shape of both a promise to be broken and a plea to go unanswered— (“Vahlok! Nid, zeymahi, kir—” Afterwards, Miraak will struggle to remember exactly when he’d cried out to the golden-masked figure looming over him; he will not be able to recall whether it had been as the sword’s downward swing flashed silver-sharp in the dead of the moonless night, or whether it had been as the ink surged up beneath him, in his mouth, in his nose, over his head. And soon enough, history will struggle to remember him, too, and he will pass into legend as little more than a traitorous footnote in another’s story.) No, he doesn’t let himself think of any of it.

and, because I'm slowly but surely trying to gather some ✨art mojo✨, here's an updated WIP of Elentari and Miraak as "The Kiss", now with (almost) finished lineart for Ellie:

no-pressure tags: @bougainvillea-and-saltwater @bostoniangirl21 @sulphuricgrin @lathepoquerose @kiir-do-faal-rahhe

@firebastardextraordinaire @lilarus @madam-whim, and anyone who sees this and wants to join in!

[nosnexus]

Quick framing exercise

[alistair-blackwood]

as a person who's grown increasingly intolerant of setting change aus, i do believe vampire!vash au has some real juice in the right hands

[futureelectronic1527]

Nicomatic Interconnect Design

https://www.futureelectronics.com/m/nicomatic . Nicomatic is active in both standard & specific designs for harsh environments, industrial applications and man/machine interface. Most of our products are MIL-spec and satisfy a high level of use in electronic devices, systems and sub-assemblies.  https://youtu.be/jrCGJ3c1FLE

[magimisto]

“Why dont you trust them? They seemed nice?” “Ok, you know who else seemed nice?”