Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds with a smooth layered appearance that form in the troposphere, usually above mountain ranges. One was spotted in Singapore recently...
With 30,000 individual facets, dragonflies have the most number of facets among insects. Each facet, or ommatidia, creates its own image, and the dragonfly brain has eight pairs of descending visual neurons to compile those thousands of images into one picture...
Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments...
Unlike light, lightning does not travel in a straight line. Instead, it has many branches. These other branches flashed at the same time as the main strike. The branches are actually the step leaders that were connected to the leader that made it to its target...
A T-Rex has 24-26 teeth on its upper jaw and 24 more on its lower jaw. Juveniles have small, sharp blade-shaped teeth to cut flesh, whereas adults have huge, blunt, rounded teeth for crushing bones. Is the T-Rex a bone-crushing scavenger?
Long battery life - Can last up to 3 days on basic usage!
Huge screen that's crystal clear with an amazing array of colours
Cool design - Merlion Wayfarer tested the black which looks really professional
32GB of internal memory - No MicroSD card is required for light users!
What's not-so-cool (Just 1!):
The wifi has to be manually reconnected every time the signal is dropped
Here are the photos from Merlion Wayfarer's hand-on testing:
Photos captured from other mobile devices are surprisingly clear - Here's the one from a tablet...
And one from another mobile phone - at an even closer distance...
That's how a S$10 note looks like to the LG Optimus G without zooming.
The grains on the note are actually visible!
To show the colour spectrum, here's a macro shot of the light rays at the back of a CD...
Visibility against a white background is no issue -
A bottle of correction fluid against a piece of paper...
For landscape shots, the Optimus G works well too:
A photo taken during the haze with the 13MP camera -
The contrast is not overpowering despite the level of particles in the atmosphere...
A digital zoom with the camera at the same location - The foreground is still clear...
Merlion Wayfarer gives the thumbs up for this phone for great camera functions and long battery life! (More information about the Optimus G - LG E975 can be found on LG Mobile.)
Merlion Wayfarer was one of the 15 selected to enjoy the exclusive LG Optimus G Pro (E988) Fans Preview.
Having tested the LG Optimus G (E975), she was mighty impressed by the phone and had wanted to see what the Pro version could offer. And she was blown away!
Unlike the plastic cover set tested by some reviewers earlier, Merlion Wayfarer had the chance to experience one that has the professional-looking cover of the G (E975). She likes the "glittering" look of the cool black checkered casing.
Eager reviewers enjoying themselves...
Thoughtful provision of delicious finger food while reviewers try out the food...
Based on technical specifications alone, the G Pro impresses:
A 3,140 mAh battery
Full HD display
13MP camera with geotagging, face detection, and image stabilization
16GB eMMMC internal memory
Quad-Core 1.7GHz processor (This is faster than the processor of a basic laptop!)
Perfect for macros with its close focusing distance - Food never looked this good!
To the techno-sotongs, here's what's good:
Dazzling bright display that is crystal clear
Big - really big - and wide screen
A removable battery
QuickMemo to allow you to scribble down a phone number on the screen of the phone if you are out of paper
Wireless charging without messy wires
A flashlight to be turned on for taking videos in low light conditions
Quick Translator which captures the text off the camera and syncs with Google Translate into the language you desire
There's something for sofa-loafers too:
See the game that you are playing projected onto the TV with a few simple taps.
No need to worry if your remote control is not working - QRemote 2.0 with embedded infrared technology allows the operation of multiple home devices, e.g. TV, DVD player, audio system.
Easy connectivity to TV for remote access and games...
Being a photographer, of course photo and video functions are very very very important to Merlion Wayfarer.
For times when she needs to take a self-portrait to show where she's been, the front camera is Full HD at 2.1 MP.
If she sees an interesting macro subject and does not have her DSLR with her, she can use the macro function which allows her to put the phone very near to the subject - More life-sized!
To put herself in the photo while holding the phone is no longer a constraint with the Dual Camera function.
The VR Panorama auto-captures the image as the phone is moved along. (No clicking required!) And it even captures images upwards and downwards! (Merlion Wayfarer really looks forward to owning this phone and testing it under outdoor and natural light settings for this function!)
The LG Optimus G Pro will be available in black and white at an RRP of S$868. More information can be found on LG Mobile.
The day that Merlion Wayfarer looked forward to has finally arrived. (See "Marvel At The Small Things In Life".) On a warm weekend afternoon, she stepped into the Science Centre and found her way to the Annexe.
Pausing at the entrance to MegaBugs Returns!, she took a deep breath. What will she expect to find?
In she goes into the Warp Tunnel...
And emerges the size of a 20-cent coin where the world of bugs is revealed to her...
Curious ants swarmed around her, feelers twitching - some were milling around bits of biscuits and donuts left behind by some careless humans, others were protecting their nests...
Mere steps away stood a gigantic Rhinoceros Beetle - its single horn glinting menacingly in the light. Although it usually uses this horn when fighting other males, Merlion Wayfarer is not taking her chances with this one!
What's that smell? It's actually coming from these beetles which have rolled some feces into a ball! These balls are used as a food source or breeding chambers...
Hey look! Why is that dragonfly moving in this weird way?
Merlion Wayfarer learnt that like all insects, dragonflies are technically ectotherms. That does not mean that they are at the mercy of Mother Nature to keep them warm or cool. Dragonflies that patrol (fly back and forth, versus those that tend to perch) will fire up their wings, using a rapid whirring movement to warm up their bodies. Perching dragonflies rely on solar energy for warmth, but position their bodies skillfully to maximize the surface area exposed to the sun's rays. Some even use their wings as reflectors, tilting them to direct the solar radiation toward their bodies. Conversely, during hot spells some dragonflies will position their bodies to minimize sun exposure, and use their wings to deflect the sun.
Look what's resting on some logs - A Monarch Butterfly on one side and a Common Rose a short distance away. Monarchs are famous for their migration patterns which last longer than the lifetime of a single generation...
A boy exclaims in surprise - Look at that human over there! She is even smaller than a housefly...
Watch out! There is a ferocious centipede on the loose! It looks headed for...
An angry scorpion! They must be headed for the housefly as dinner!
The snail watches the scene calmly, gliding by and leaving a trail of slime in its wake...
Nearby, on a blade of grass, a praying mantis is watching a grasshopper...
(To see the life cycle of a praying mantis, catch "Bugs! 3D – A RainForest Adventure",
a documentary of the fascinating universe of insects magnified up to 250,000 times their normal size where a single raindrop can be as big as whole pond.)
What's this - A giant can of insecticide!
It must be used for spraying household pests like this American Cockroach...
And this mosquito...
And yes, the Aedes Mosquito with its striped legs can cause dengue (as this boy pointed out)
so do keep your home free of stagnant water...
Stand off with a bee... Luckily it's not the side with the sting...
Taking a short break underneath the shelter of some leaves, Merlion Wayfarer spotted a few little humans enjoying some fun activities...
Pretending to be a fly on the wall...
Adding colours to ladybirds and butterflies...
Counting how many insects they can spot...
Big humans teaching little humans how to identify insect calls...
Venturing into the cosy nest of a gigantic Singapore Blue Spider and reading Bugs Facts...
Learning how bugs communicate and how they can be useful to humans...
Figuring how a squirming little "worm" can end up as an insect with wings...
Most importantly, finding out what's a "bug" and what are the different types of bugs...
Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, Merlion Wayfarer ventured into the bouncing forest path, her legs sinking knee-deep into the leaves...
With a blinding flash, she was back to her normal size at the Science Centre. What a relief!
She went on to explore the other activities for normal-sized humans outside the exhibition...
Good photo opportunities with more bugs - The dung beetle is a popular crowd favourite...
Normal-sized humans are able to try on the creative bug costumes designed by students from a secondary school...
Other fringe activities include do-it-yourself insect kits, clay-modelling and a studio photo setup...
The sun is setting, better head off home before the insects come alive at night!
Thank you, Science Centre Singapore and Golin Harris!
