aerial view of clouds forming over Gulf of Mexico

Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.

One expects to see an assortment of orchids in a rain-forest, but to my surprise, I have also found many stunning varieties (like this Paphiopedilum) in northern Indiana woodlands. There are secluded microclimates that have conditions just right to support these beautiful flowers.

clearly appearing like something out of a Hollywood special-effects laboratory, this unreal-looking skin is actually quite common and is perhaps devouring something right outside your back door... it is a super-closeup of a June Bug's thorax (shoulder blade equivalent). the June Bugs in our area are an uninteresting plain brown, but as we explored it's outer surface, we noticed a very small metallic-looking shiny spot. far too small to see with the naked eye, we zoomed in on this spot and discovered it to be made up of many 'skin' cells of reds, oranges, and yellows each measuring around 1/3000 of an inch across. the green jellybean-like objects are actually pits in the bug's shell and have a hair growing out of each one (similar to a human pore). these deep bowel-shaped pits (about 1/400 of an inch long) were lined with more metallic-type cells that reflected our lighting back in various greens.

Arizona wilderness

this is one of the final water drops from the 'wettest place on Earth'. The inner parts of this canyon receives over 240-inches of rainfall each year which flows through a large number of tall waterfalls throughout the canyon.

a cluster of purple vanda orchids in Brazil