Category Archives: The Liminal Times

R.I.P…Er, Ribbet


Weligama The Alaskan Wood Frog – Nature’s Frozen Wonder

Every winter, the Alaskan wood frog performs one of the most extraordinary survival feats in the animal kingdom.

As temperatures plummet, this small frog doesn’t burrow deep underground or seek shelter. Instead, it allows itself to freeze completely.

Its heart stops beating, lungs cease breathing, and brain activity halts—by all scientific definitions, it’s dead.

But it’s not.

Thanks to a natural antifreeze trick, it floods its cells with glucose, preventing ice from forming inside them. This sugary shield protects its vital organs while the rest of its body freezes solid.

When spring returns and temperatures rise, the frog thaws out—its heart starts beating again, its brain reactivates, and within hours, it’s hopping around like nothing ever happened.

A real-life resurrection… courtesy of evolution.

Pathlow

loosest Pathlow

Everywhere I am
is where something
used to be.

The grass straightens
after I pass—
relieved,
maybe.

My shadow
is not a harbinger
but a promise
that light
is still trying.

The crows wait
until I’m gone
to reclaim the wire—
not because they fear,
but because
they’ve learned patience.

I take no offense.
I’ve been
the interruption
long enough
to know
it’s not personal.

The world doesn’t owe
acknowledgment—
only room.

Up And Atom

A real photograph of a single strontium atom suspended in an electric field.

This image was taken by David Nadlinger, a physicist at the University of Oxford, and it won the 2018 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) science photo competition.

In the photograph, the atom is held almost motionless in place by a pair of metal electrodes.

The purple glow is the result of a laser causing the atom to emit visible light, which is then captured using a standard camera with a long exposure.

Atoms are typically millions of times smaller than anything a regular camera can capture.

However, when they are excited by lasers, certain atoms emit enough light to be photographed individually — as is the case here.

The atom appears as a tiny dot in the middle of the apparatus, made visible through a phenomenon called laser cooling and trapping, which slows down its motion to keep it still long enough for imaging.

This photo is considered historic because it’s one of the few times humanity has visually captured a single atom with the naked eye (through the camera lens), instead of via electron microscopy or indirect imaging methods.