Diego Ortega

Evolutionary Arms Race

Greenland subglacial flood bursts through ice sheet surface Using data from several Earth-observing satellites, including ESA’s CryoSat and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions, scientists have discovered that a huge flood beneath the Greenland Ic...

¡Increíble hallazgo en Groenlandia!

En solo 10 días del verano de 2014, 90 millones de m³ de agua se liberaron de golpe desde un lago subglacial oculto, formando un enorme cráter en la capa de hielo. 😱

Equivale a 9 horas de agua cayendo a por las cataratas del Niágara.

www.esa.int/Applications...

Concept art for the upcoming show Surviving Earth depicting Dimetrodon in various orthographic views as well as details of the skin, the eye and the head

More exciting news! I am now able to share with you more of the concept art I did for the amazing upcoming NBC Universal show “Surviving Earth” premiering next year! This time for a fan favorite, Dimetrodon!

I can’t say much more than this for now 🙊

#Terremoto M 8.8Kamchatka Peninsula, ayer a las 23:24:50 (UTC) 20.7 km de profundidad.
Es el octavo terremoto de mayor magnitud registrado.
Ha llegado un tsunami a las costas de Japón
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

🌌
#brart

Prehistoric Planet Ice Age image showing two homotheres interacting in a snowy landscape.

Prehistoric Planet Ice Age image showing two Woolly rhino, a calf and old adult.

Prehistoric Planet Ice Age image showing a glyptodont.

Prehistoric Planet Ice Age image showing a mother sloth climbing up a rocky surface, baby on her back.

It's true, #PrehistoricPlanet Ice Age is coming to #AppleTV for November 2025. These images show how good our animals are, but... believe me, this barely scratches the surface!! It has been a massive thrill and privilege to help bring this series together... you're in for an incredible treat.

¿Cómo eran los primeros reptiles voladores, mucho antes de ser los titanes alados del Cretácico? ¿Qué sabemos acerca de sus parientes más cercanos?
En este vídeo revisamos las últimas investigaciones acerca de los primeros pterosaurios y su origen.

youtu.be/LmqwCZi23So

🦀Migración veraniega de centollos para mudar sus exoesqueletos en aguas poco profundas

Homotherium hadarensis ambushing unfortunate Australopithecus afarensis #Sciart

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Acrylic inks and acrylic gouache on MDF coaster, 98 mm square.

Created as part of the #BirdWhisperer Project curated by @amandamakepeace.bsky.social & @melissagayyy.bsky.social. Referenced from a photograph by Penny Ash. bsky.app/profile/bird...

1/3

12 moths, circling around a barn ow. With hand lettered words by Sarah Williams. And the constellation Orion behind the Owl.

12 moths. One barn owl. Orion. Words by Sarah Williams.

I know it's a busy painting but I really hope you like it.
It's always good to try something new and I do love moths and owls.

From paper: Figure 1. Skulls of Aenigmatorhynchus rarus from the latest early or earliest middle Eocene of Messel in Germany. (a) The holotype specimen (SMF-ME 11857A) coated with ammonium chloride. (b), (c) µCT scans of the holotype. (d) The holotype before it was transferred to artificial resin (photograph by Bruno Behr). (e), (f) a referred skull of Ae. rarus in the Pohl collection (PBP-MES−590A+B); coated with ammonium chloride. Abbreviations: car, cartilago arytenoidea; cdo, condylus occipitalis; hyo, hyoid apparatus; ios, ventral margin of interorbital septum; jug, jugal bar; lmd, articular (caudal) end of left mandibular ramus; lqd, left quadrate; pal, palatine (os palatinum); ppo, processus postorbitalis; rmd, articular (caudal) end of right mandibular ramus; rps, rostrum parasphenoidale; rpt, right pterygoid; rqd, right quadrate; sym, symphysis mandibulae; tra, tracheal rings. The scale bars equal 10 mm.

Love fossils from the Messel Pit!

From June: A remarkable beak morphology in a #bird skull from the Eocene of Messel (Germany) signifies unusual feeding specializations 🪶

Gerald Mayr, Krister Smith

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Obligatory close-up lift-off shot :)

#VegaC #CSG #VV27 #ESA

We celebrate 12 years of Alphasat's launch 🥳 This satellite provided mobile coms to Africa, and parts of Europe and Asia 🤳 Images of phenomena on Earth, taken by Sentinel-1A, were also sent back to Earth thanks to Alphasat back in 2014 🌍

#space #satellites #telecom

🚢 El buque oceanográfico Odón de Buen visita por primera vez Canarias

Durante el fin de semana, más de 300 personas visitaron el buque antes de iniciar su primera campaña en aguas canarias.

➡️ bit.ly/3UCt5De

This photo of the sunset of July 26, 2025 shows the red lighting of the last rays of the Sun to make it through the atmosphere illuminating the bottom surface of the cloud mass.

Last night's Sunset had portions of the sky adorned with beautifully lit clouds. Here a magic moment is captured when the undersides of a wide relatively flat cloud is briefly illuminated by the setting Sun. Textures across the bottom are brought out in such relatively rare lighting situations.

Queen of the Steppe
(yes it's a 3d render)

#SharkWeek BONUS!
The cast of sharks and rays in the Marine Protected Areas of southern California hold a special place in my heart and to celebrate my last year of university here I spent weeks on this mural (inspired by Joschua Knuppe) of the native species I've come to love!

double lino print of a snail fish with the words "protect the deep sea" the fish is pink

lino print of a snailfish with the words "protect the deep sea"

A handful of my snailfish prints are now available in my Ko-fi shop.
It's a little fundraiser to pay for vet bills 🐕. #SundayFishSketch 🐡 #deepsea 🐟
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Ein paar meiner Tiefseefisch-Drucke sind jetzt verfügbar in meinem Ko-fi Shop. Kleiner Tierarzt-Fundraiser ;) #kleinekunstklasse

The first 100% effective HIV prevention drug is approved and going global An epidemic that's been sustained for 44 years might finally be quelled, with the milestone approval of the first HIV drug that offers 100% protection with its twice-yearly injections. It's a landmark...

Well, I'll be damned.

It's royalty free and there's already six, generic manufacturers lined up.

newatlas.com/infectious-d...

Many people are marginally familiar with Pleistocene island faunas. Tiny elephants and deer, giant swans and tortoises etc.
However the Late Miocene/Pliocene of Italy was also host to a unique island fauna. This is Gargano island home of the terror hedgehogs and so much more.

I got a panorama at 2am, which means every piece of stitching software is really unhappy with how many frames that was, so here's a first stab at last night.

Foreground at blue hour, milk way 3x 3 minute shots.

California tomorrow??? I dunno what home is even anymore 😭 🗺️

Drawing of several prehistoric fish and other marine life

Getting back to drawing after a couple of months, now working with some Devonian creatures. Still a WIP
#paleoart #sundayfishsketch

A night-time liftoff of Vega-C clearing the launch pad

A long-exposure photo of spectators watching the Vega-C VV27 launch from a beach nearby.

A perfect liftoff and smooth flight to orbit for Vega-C carrying five satellites to orbit.

🚀 Flight #VV27 liftoff occured at 23:03 local time 25 July
🛰️🛰️🛰️🛰️ CO3D will map our planet in 3D
🛰️MicroCarb will monitor carbon dioxide from space

Tristian otto, a complete t.rex specimen with an apparently uniquely shaped skull ( #paleoart commission!)

Un avetorillo entre la vegetación.
🪶

Grey Green male Elephant with a lot of wrinkles a handmade watercolor painting of Asian elephant Male (Elephas maximus), with trunk and tusk, brown eyes, large front folded ears, one foreleg slightly bent forward, right hind leg forward and the other back. Grey, Brown tail with few black hairs. Green foliage of the forest. Beige background of the textured paper and my signature in red. Another client approved work. Asian elephant Male (Elephas maximus) Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka, India One of the paintings from my completed project for HNF(NCF) India. Asian elephant male (Elephas maximus) Title: Penance_34! Watercolor on Fabriano 300 GSM Paper. 15x11 inches Reference: Own image Location: Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka, India Duration: 54 Hours October 1st, 2024

Client approved work, here is the full watercolor artwork.

Adult Asian elephant Male (Elephas maximus) Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka, India.

Wildlife Corridor of Karnataka project for HNF(NCF) India.

My coloured pencil drawing of a merlin

It’s been ages since I last drew a bird of prey - if hypothetically I was going to draw one soon… what would you like to see?

I loved creating this drawing of male Merlin as part of the @btobirds.bsky.social book “Into the Red” 📕 back in 2022.

Reference photo: Michael Sanders

#birding 🪶

¿Alguna vez has visto una bola de fuego? En astronomía, un bólido o bola de fuego es un meteoro muy brillante, al menos tan brillante como Venus y a veces incluso más que la luna llena. Los bólidos son raros, si ves uno quizás lo recuerdes toda la vida
🤩Fotaza de Jason Rice🌠
Hilo sobre terminología⤵️

A bright streak is pictured through a starry sky over a beach spotted with the husks of dead trees. The rollover shows the resulting smoke trail from the bright meteor. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

🔭 Fireball over Cape San Blas

Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Rice

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25072...