There is something grippingly nostalgic about the pictures of dinosaurs we saw in books growing up. The science and accuracy of the artwork may be off by today’s standards, but much like a compelling diorama, the vintage dinosaurs of our youth hold a lot of sentimentality for me. American-based artist Rudolph F. Zallinger became well known for his mural, The Age of Reptiles, at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, which remains one of the largest murals in the world. At 110 feet by 16 feet, it is a stunner, and reads like a panoramic photo from the cretaceous period. Zallinger went on to create one of the most recognizable scientific images, the March of Progress.

Below is a tiny snapshot of the “Age of Reptiles” mural, plus a film from the Peabody Museum, talking about the creation of the mural itself.  Thanks for the dinos, Rudy!

Some nice”land art” by Sylvain Meyer, similar in nature (ha!) to Andy Goldsworthy’s work. More on Goldsworthy, the grandfather of land art, soon.

Via Colossal:

A lovely story to ease you into the weekend. Let’s all just get along!  Via TreeHugger:

Cats and dogs are usually thought of as obvious enemies — but for one young cheetah and his canine companion, life as friends has never been better.

Last year, visitors to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay were first introduced to an adorable pair of newborns — a tiny cheetah cub named Kasi, and a yellow-lab puppy named Mtani. Although they shared little in common beyond the timing and circumstances of their birth, the bonds of friendship soon proved too strong to be diminished by their differences.

“They absolutely love each other,” said one zoo official.

© Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

In fact, 12 months on, the cheetah-puppy relationship seems destined to be a lifelong one yet.

For most of their young lives, Kasi and Mtani have resided together at Busch Gardens, playing and napping together in an unlikely display of cat-dog solidarity, much to the delight of park guests. But as inspiring as Kasi and Mtani’s bond may be, the interspecies pairing was not arranged merely to soften hearts — though they definitely do.

© Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

According to zoo officials, cheetahs are highly social animals and are want to form strong companionships with their peers. Absent another young cheetah at the facility, Kasi’s keepers found him a friend in a equally loving yellow labrador — and a year later, the pair is inseparable.

“This social bond will be a very similar relationship, and they will be together for life,” say zoo manager Tim Smith.

Cheetahs in the wild are listed as a threatened species, numbering in just the thousands, though Kasi and Mtani have done wonders to raise awareness of this fact, inspiring donations towards wildlife conservation from folks who might otherwise not think to help.

After all, who wouldn’t be willing to lend a hand to a friend of a friend — and of our best friend at that?

Jackie O – Karl Lagerfeld  – Lady Gaga  – John Belushi – Johnny Depp

British Birds Made of LEGO

I’m a sucker for new technology, especially when it is smart and clean.  And I have followed the development of the next car from Tesla for a number of years. It’s called the Model S, and it hopes to compete head-to-head with internal combustion luxury cars like the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5 Series. However, this sleek sedan runs entirely on batteries, and still is delivering better-than-expected range and performance. That’s not what you usually hear from an automaker. Indeed, the fuel economy of “dumb cars” (internal combustion) is often fudged to make it seem more economical than it really is. With Tesla, it seems as if they are working overtime to ensure that this exceptional car proves a realistic alternative to gas-powered models.  Available towards the end of this year, prices ranging from $49,000-100,000. Let’s hope people with deep pockets and an interest in pushing the electric car into the mainstream put the Tesla Model S on their shopping lists. And thanks to visionary Elon Musk for putting his fortune to good use!

Via Treehugger:

Tesla Hit it Out of the Park!

The Tesla Model S sedan, which should be delivered to the first customers in about a month, will be available with three different sizes of battery packs (40kWh, 60kWh and 85kWh). Tesla’s goal with the top of the line model was to achieve a 300 miles driving range using the EPA 2-cycle test, the same one that gave the Tesla Roadster its official 244 miles range. It was an ambitious goal, considering that the Model S is bigger than the Roadster and less expensive, so there’s less money to spend on the battery (thankfully, battery technology keeps improving and getting a bit cheaper every year).

Well, it looks like Tesla hit it out of the park. Since the Roadster was released, the EPA has changed its testing cycle a bit (more on that below), but if we compare Apples to Apples, the Model S has 320 miles of driving range. That’s significantly more than any other production electric car!

New EPA Rating Procedures: 5-cycle vs. 2-cycle

When the Tesla Roadster was certified, the EPA only used a 2-cycle test that was carried out under conditions of 75 degrees Fahrenheit ambient temperature and with varying acceleration rates and driving speeds for both city and highway tests topping out at 60 mph. Recently, the EPA incorporated three additional cycles into their tests that push vehicles to greater limits. The additional cycles added as part of the new “5-cycle test” include a cold driving cycle that requires heater use, a hot weather cycle with air conditioning operation, and a high-speed cycle (reaching 80mph) with rapid accelerations.

We are very pleased to report that Model S has exceeded our initial range expectations by about 20 miles and has achieved a Roadster equivalent 2-cycle range of 320 miles and a 5-cycle range of 265 miles. This sets a new record for electric vehicle range! (source)

Of course, the actual real-world range of any electric car depends heavily on how you drive it, same as with a gasoline car. If you drive it at ideal speeds and don’t use air conditioning or the heater too much, you could get more than the EPA’s number (many Roadster or LEAF drivers have testified to that), while if you drive at very high speed with lots of A/C or heating, you could get significantly less range.

© Tesla Motors

How does the Model S do it? A good part of it is extremely good aerodynamics:

Even though the Model S is a much larger and heavier car than Roadster with ridiculously more cargo capacity the total battery energy consumption on the highway is only about 10% more than for the Roadster! This is quite amazing and results largely from the Model S having the best aerodynamics of any sedan in its class with a Cd of approximately 0.24. Model S aerodynamics are so optimized that the total aerodynamic drag force experienced by the car – which is significantly larger in frontal area – is almost the same as a Roadster for a given speed.