Muse on the Moon

The Moon reveals so many things
for humankind to ponder on.

An anchor in celestial seas
or lunar clock to gaze upon.

Ambassador for gravity,
this Queen of Tides is mighty strong.

A temptress for astrology’s
imagined magic – right or wrong.

Love’s locket hung in silent song
reflecting what the Sun once shone.

Ellipse, eclipsed and wandered on,
our lunar quests go on and on.

The Moon reveals so many things
for humankind to wonder on.

Space Duster SiO2 by Celia Berrell

A man-made material

Silica aerogel

recently travelled in outer space

collecting the particles

shed by a comet’s tail

bringing them back to a NASA base.

A frothy glass matrix

of mostly air – sandy mix

lighter than feathers and stronger than steel

is brittle-snap crazy

and seems smoky-hazy.

When rubbed on a surface it gives out a squeal!

This stiff-sponge sensation

has great insulation

preventing the passage of heat through its layer.

Like a piece of blue sky

that is crisp, light and dry

its edges look fuzzy, like snap-frozen air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfUIc6efV3w

Lawrence Livermore Quest Lab video

Cosmic Glitter

Twinkle twinkle, cloudless night.

The stars are sparkling clear and bright.

Those pin-prick suns send rays of light

that blink and wink to our delight.

Most stars don’t twinkle at their source,

it’s just some rays get knocked off-course.

Their glittering images appear

because of Earth’s own atmosphere.

The layers of air around our world

like flimsy see-through curtains swirl,

and dapple starlight passing through.

So, does the moonlight twinkle too?

first published in CSIRO’s Scientriffic magazine issue #78 March 2012

True bugs are suckers

A true bug’s an insect

but insects aren’t bugs

if they eat by chomp-chomp

instead of glug-glug.

Ants are not bugs.

They’ve got mandible jaws.

While a bug’s beaky tube

will get used like a straw.

Bugs feed on liquids

like plant-juice or blood

by piercing the skin

and then sucking, glug-glug.

Cicadas and bed-bugs

are glug-sucking guys.

But ladybird beetles

aren’t bugs – so get wise!

First published in Double Helix (September 2016)

Reproduced with permission of CSIRO

www.doublehelix.csiro.au

http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/fact-files/orders/hemiptera.html

True bugs (Order: Hemiptera)

Including shieldbugs, plant bugs, bed bugs, pondskaters, cicadas, water bugs, aphids and scale insects.

The Hemiptera are called ‘true’ bugs because everyone – entomologists included – tend to call all insects ‘bugs’. That is a loose term, whereas the true bugs are just those contained within the insect order Hemiptera.

This group of insects is very large, with around 75,000 species worldwide. Around 1,700 of these can be found in the British Isles. Many of them are very different from each other, but all of them have piercing mouthparts with which they can suck the juices from plants or animals – usually plants. Their mouthparts are contained in a beak (or rostrum) which is usually held underneath the body when not in use.

As plant feeders, some bugs – such as the aphids, for example – are serious agricultural pests, not just because they damage crops but because they can transmit viral diseases too. However, most bugs are not pests.

The true bugs often have long antennae divided into a small number of segments, and the front wings can be somewhat hardened. Some bugs resemble beetles, but beetles have wing covers that do not overlap, unlike the bugs.

Bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis – their life cycle stages include the egg, adult-like nymphs, and winged adults.

http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/hemiptera.html

Hemiptera: bugs, aphids and cicadas

Characteristics
The insects in this order are extremely diverse in their size, shape and colour. There are about 6000 described species in Australia, ranging in size from 1 to 110 millimetres in length. The name Hemiptera means ‘half wing’ and all hemipterans share the following features:

The young of hemipterans look like small adults. Some bugs may be mistaken for beetles but can be distinguished by their mouthparts as beetles have mandibulate mouthparts while bugs have sucking/piercing mouthparts.

Feeding
Most species of Hemiptera are plant feeders, sucking sap with many causing considerable damage to crops, ornamental garden plants such as roses, shrubs and trees. Some species are bloodsuckers of mammals and birds while others are predators that feed on other invertebrates, including some pest species and are therefore beneficial to man.

https://theamericanscholar.org/a-bug-is-not-a-beetle/#.VzfDTZVJlD8

What is a bug? It’s not something you come down with. (A bacterium is not a bug; a virus is certainly not a bug.) A bug is not any old thing that crawls. It’s not a tick, not a mite, not a gnat. A ladybug is not a bug. (It’s a beetle.) Certainly, a butterfly is not a bug. Bug, it turns out, is a technical term: “true bugs” are insects in the order Hemiptera.

The stinkbug is a true bug. So are the squash bug, the toad bug, the red bug, the seed bug, the box elder bug, and the assassin bug. Assassin bugs capture their insect prey with sticky front legs and stab them with their little beaks. There are ambush bugs. Ambush bugs sit like statues on flower petals, waiting, waiting … Waterbugs are true bugs. The bedbug is a bug. Ugh.

Besides being an insect with the usual six legs and three main body divisions—head, thorax, and abdomen—bugs have sucking, beak-like mouth parts and their life cycle occurs in a pattern called “incomplete metamorphosis.” They go from egg to nymph (a baby that looks like a small adult) to adult, with no larva stage.

Perhaps the most enduring gifts

from Christmas-tide festivities

are not the items bought in shops

but things that make prized memories.

From moments filled with laughter at

some zany fun activity

to having simply helped someone

through using our proclivity.

Your Grandma will delight in any

art or craftwork made by you.

Our love and personality are

captured in the things we do.

Our presence time and talents shared

are valued gifts both rich and wise.

They’re cherished in fond memories

much more than any merchandise.

“Twas the night before Christmas.

No cards have been sent.

No presents are wrapped,

there’s no tree to augment.

No air tickets purchased

to family events.

If we choose to “go green”

well that’s what is meant.

Instead, give to charity,

make our own jam

to give to the family

rather than ham.

Avoid plastic tinsel.

As home decorator

only use hand-made

from wool, wood or paper.

The night before Christmas

we chose to go green

and help to keep Earth’s

environment clean.

inspired by the New Scientist’s article on how to HAVE A GREEN CHRISTMAS

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24032061-100-green-christmas-how-to-have-an-ethical-and-guilt-free-festive-season/