If I were a bumblebee... 🌸🐝

This common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), a species of bumblebee, is looking for sweet nectar, but only finds pollen in this flower, which is also tasty. The garden lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) does not offer nectar, but has a kind of pumping mechanism in its flowers that is triggered by the bumblebee and delivers the valuable pollen. This is transported to the nest of this social species, where it mainly serves as food for the offspring. Bumblebees fly to up to 1000 flowers every day in up to 18 hours to look for food.

🐝 What would you do if you were a bumblebee?

1. Fly from flower to flower all day
2. Rest on a sunny flower and take a nap
3. Hide in a blossom and watch people
4. Something else (please explain)

⛅️ When we look at the clouds, we rarely think about life, but dream ourselves away into our own world of imagination. Suddenly, I'm telling you about an ocean in the sky where life is spread out. What lives in the clouds? Birds? Insects? Angels? Probably not. So high up, in the harsh conditions of cold and radiation, there is only very special life. I will now open your eyes to the fantastic world of microorganisms.

🦠 One of these many microorganisms is Pseudomonas syringae, a plant pathogen. It likes to live on and in plants and has a special trick to attack them. The bacterium forms a structure on its surface that acts as an ice nucleus, causing water above the freezing point to freeze. This means that ice crystals form more quickly at low temperatures, damaging the plant tissue and making it more accessible to the bacteria.

❄️ Many microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, are transported into the upper layers of the atmosphere by atmospheric buoyancy and strong winds. Some species have adapted to survive these conditions. The ability of Pseudomonas syringae to form ice crystals even influences cloud formation and precipitation. In this way, microorganisms not only influence the weather but also reach new places, encountering new plants and new genes.

🧬 Bacteria are an important factor in horizontal gene transfer. This means the direct transfer of genes to other life forms without reproduction, for example, from bacteria to animals and plants and vice versa. In very rare cases, this even influences the germ line and thus the evolution of more complex species.

♻️ Microorganisms are often only visible to us when they cause disease. However, they play a crucial role in our ecosystem. Infected plants, for example, are made accessible to other living creatures.

🌍 In other words, countless highly complex processes take place, influenced by the dynamics between life and climate - above our heads, under our feet, and within us.

Purity and goodness 🤍💧

As children, we were asked which color we liked more: black or white. I chose black simply because I liked the color. Another child chose white, explaining that it represents purity and goodness. Interestingly, this person often acted in a scheming and spiteful manner, contrary to the symbolism of white.

This personal anecdote taught me that choosing a symbol doesn’t always reflect a person’s true values or behavior. Psychologically, it is known that there can be a significant gap between self-perception and actual behavior. Honesty and authenticity in self-expression are more important than striving for an idealized image.

I’m skeptical when someone claims they never lie or act toxic. Studies show that a strong emphasis on moral purity can sometimes indicate a distorted self-perception or even inner conflict. People who idealize themselves or fail to recognize their mistakes often struggle with personal growth, as they are less likely to engage in self-reflection and self-improvement.

Such people can strain relationships and undermine trust in their sincerity. Authenticity and the ability to admit mistakes and learn from them are crucial for personal and interpersonal development. Authenticity fosters deeper connections and greater trust within relationships.

Everyone has some narcissistic traits, and a healthy level of self-love is important. However, on social media, people often share oversimplified, polarizing opinions, promoting toxic positivity that ignores negative feelings and weaknesses. Toxic positivity, as defined by scholars, involves dismissing negative emotions and responding to distress with false reassurances rather than empathy.

Those who claim to have no narcissistic traits often seem inauthentic and are more likely to display toxic-narcissistic behavior. Authenticity means admitting one’s own flaws and weaknesses. Those who are open about their imperfections show a healthier attitude towards themselves and others, which is essential for genuine self-esteem and growth.

Cloud spectacle in the evening sky 🥰

🌄 In a few days, on June 20th, it will be the summer solstice. That will be the longest day of the year. The sun will rise at 5:15 a.m. and set at 9:39 p.m.

🌞 Here in Oberursel we have four summer months, June to September, with average temperatures of over 20° Celsius. May is already very warm with an average of 18° Celsius. In October the temperatures fall to 13° Celsius.

🌇 The five big cities with the longest summers in Germany are Offenbach, Karlsruhe, Mainz, Pforzheim and Frankfurt am Main.

😊 Three of these cities are nearby. So I can count myself lucky to have so much of my favorite season, which has only just begun.

💫 What's your favourite season?

This image has a very high resolution. It consists of an enormous number of emotions per inch (epi).

It is the peace and warmth, the fragrant green and the abundance of blue that people strive for and the contrast between metropolis and countryside. It is identity and therefore an expression of myself.

The artistic element of a work is not measurable by algorithms. Algorithms can analyze technical aspects of an image, such as resolution, brightness, contrast, and even the content including certain emotional expressions. But the subjective and creative dimension that is the essence of art eludes quantitative analysis.

Artistic works are often characterized by personal interpretation, cultural context, emotional depth and individual experiences that are difficult to code and measure. The meaning and value of a work of art vary greatly between different viewers and contexts. What is deeply moving to one person may be uninteresting to another.

This subjectivity and individuality make art unique and special. Algorithms can assist and analyze, but they cannot fully capture or replace human creativity and subjective experience. Art therefore remains a field in which human perception and interpretation are indispensable.

🌤🌱😎 I think that what I am doing on Instagram and other social media is very important. People's connection to nature has diminished greatly over the course of industrialization and urbanization. This is also reflected in the media landscape, where nature has become increasingly less important over the last 200 years. While people are losing this connection, we are losing more and more species, and with the loss of this diversity we are putting our livelihoods at great risk. I impart knowledge and perspectives, and give nature an emotional closeness.🍀🐞

You can find more information on my website (link in profile). There you will also find more data on the species presented and my artwork. Since I do everything myself, there is a lot of work involved. I appreciate your moral support. 💚💛🧡

🌤🌸🦗🪻 A fragrant summer sun spot for a tiny bush-cricket (Phaneroptera species) 😊

Loki: "Nothing to eat? You are of no interest. 😒"

Dakota is the only one of my animal roommates who would most likely never snap or bite. But because he's a snake, people are afraid. A 2008 study showed that the sight of a snake silhouette triggers stress in babies as young as 8 to 14 months old. So it's not something learned, but innate. Other studies have confirmed similar reactions in non-human primates. But the stress reaction does not automatically lead to a fear of snakes. As early as the 1980s, it was recognized that rhesus monkeys only react fearfully to snakes after they have observed it in other monkeys. It was an advantage for our ancestors to be able to recognize a snake quickly and react immediately. For one thing, venomous snakes pose a danger, and for another, our ancestors were also natural prey for giant snakes. But Dakota is just a harmless corn snake that strangles its prey.😇

Bruce checks the situation 👀 There are a lot of crickets running around... Maybe one will jump into his mouth. 🛎🦗