Wallpapers number 2 May 2009

 

Today's internal combustion engines are inefficient at converting fuel to motion.
Cars waste up to 85 percent of the energy from the fuel in their tanks, losing a big chunk as heat.




Even as a baby, a blue whale can make a grown man seem like a minnow.
Decades ago, with their numbers plummeting, this species became a symbol of environmental woes.
Now such healthy youngsters offer hope that the giants can be saved.



Dusted in winter white, a timeworn cypress looms over Long Lake, some 10,000 feet up in the Min Mountains.

Thailand--In a race to emerge at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, one eight-inch Siamese crocodile wins by a head.
 Few such crocs exist in the wild, yet 20,000 are born each year during the zoo's May-to-August hatching festival.



The patterns of azure, green, and gray that mottle the back of a blue whale and the patch of white on the tip of its flipper will last its whole life.
Such unique markings allow scientists to catalog individual animals.




Thermographic photography offers clues to where energy is being wasted in this older house in Connecticut.
Red and yellow patches indicate escaping heat, while new double-pane windows appear cool blue.
By sealing in warmth, the windows cut heating costs, which can account for up to half a family's energy bill.