Wallpapers May 2009

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Wallpapers May 2009

Madagascar--Sunrise reveals light traffic--a lone oxcart--along the Avenue of the Baobabs.
The 80-foot-tall "upside-down trees" in the Menabe region could become the island country's first national monument.

A summer sunrise gleams on the foaming ten-story plunge of Pearl Shoals Falls.
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Beneath a green sweep of fen and forest in northern Alberta lies a promise of wealth--vast layers of hydrocarbons that can be refined into petroleum products like gasoline. Undisturbed until now, these trees may soon fall: This land has already been staked out by prospectors

Lit from within by candles and "painted" with the glow of a flashlight, ancient sandstone structures called nawamis captivated photographer Matt Moyer with their strange beauty.
The buildings, dated to the fourth millennium B.C., are burial structures of the first known pastoral society, according to Israeli archaeologist Avner Goren.
"We believe [they mark] the beginning of the lifestyle that traditional Bedouin of today still practice," he says.
Seventeen clusters of nawamis have been found, all in the southern Sinai region.

Descending Mount Sinai, a Bedouin boy and his donkey return from carrying supplies to tribal-run shops on the trails above.
Biblical Israelites wandered here on their way to the Promised Land.
Today, historical sites and natural beauty make Sinai a destination in itself.

Oil sands surface mining operates on extreme scales, with crews working around the clock through hot summers and subzero winters to feed heavy demand.

If tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries, pumpkins, and other crops can grow on a barge in the Hudson River, then why not on New York City rooftops?
That was the idea behind the Science Barge, a prototype of a carbon-neutral hydroponic farm that saves energy by eliminating the need for transportation.

Blue waters of the Gulf of Aqaba ripple between Saudi Arabia (far shore) and resorts lining the eastern coast of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Long both holy land and battleground, the wedge of desert has become a mecca for pleasure-loving travelers and profit-seeking developers.

More streets are laid for mobile-home neighborhoods in Fort McMurray.
The average single-family house costs about $540,000, steep even in a region where wages regularly top $80,000 a year.

Crystal pools glisten among drifts of mist and legend.

Powerful in the water, jaguars often travel along streams, hunting peccaries and brocket deer as they go, leaving few traces of their passage.

This is the other China.
High in the mountains of Sichuan Province, in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, rare plants and animals find sanctuary,
and millions of visitors have discovered cool, clear, sapphire-andemerald- tinted waters, far removed from the sooty industrial sprawl that consumes lands and lives below.

Because aircraft exhaust is released at high altitude, scientists say it has a greater impact on climate than the same emissions at ground level.
At a General Electric test site in Peebles, Ohio, technicians check connections before firing up a GEnx-2B development engine.
Built with carbon-fiber parts, the test model uses less fuel and produces 15 percent less CO2 than predecessors.