Inuit cartography
We’re fascinated by the art of cartography, so it’s a subject that has shown up repeatedly in Wonder on the Web. One of our favorite web finds so far are these hand-carved, handheld navigation devices, designed by the Inuit people of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to help navigate coastal waters. The design is perfect for the job: the maps are buoyant, portable (they fit inside a mitten), and can even be read in the dark. Also, you don’t have to charge them.
Back from the abyss
Lit from the inside and almost entirely translucent, this never-before-seen deep-sea jellyfish (caught on film!) really does look like the stuff of sci-fi (especially The Abyss). The oddly entrancing creature was discovered in April near the Mariana Trench on a dive conducted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As of May 20, the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer has begun the second leg of its exploratory cruise, with a third leg scheduled for June 17–July 10. Livestream coverage of the cruise means you can dive in and keep up with the Okeanos whenever you wish! More on light-up sea creatures here.
Somewhere beyond the sea
In keeping with previous subjects, more maps, more sea. When you’re standing on the beach thinking deep thoughts about the bigness of the world, have you ever wondered what’s straight across the ocean from you? Cartographer Andy Woodruff answers all with a new series of maps that trace out the direct connections from coast to coast. Woodruff’s maps help illustrate how much our perception of the world is based on our own very limited models of the way things really are. For example: if you jumped in at the beach of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and swam in a straight line, you’d end up not in Europe (as you might assume, looking at a flat map), but South America. PSA: it’s too late to sign up for this year’s English Channel swim season, but you can start training for next year. And while we’re at it: check out National Geographic’s new map blog, All Over the Map.
Not normal places
Here’s yet another example of Internet gold curated by our online community of Behemoth fans, Entheos. (Which you can still join, by the way—just click here, and include your Facebook email address in the body of the email.) CT associate publisher Jake Walsh says, “As a lover of weird things, I enjoyed these photos of ‘not normal’ places.” Some of the images really do seem too strange to be real—this National Geographic photo of camel thorn trees in Namibia stands out in particular. So you might just have to take a trip and investigate these “out of this world” places for yourself.
