At Henry Cowell State Park in Felton, California, a waxy white bush leans against the majestic trunk of a 500-year-old, 20-story-tall coastal redwood tree. The bush is (1) distinctive, it has an unusual incandescence and only stands about four feet tall. Surprisingly, though, the bush is almost genetically identical to the enormous redwood that dwarfs it. The (2) bush-a rare botanical anomaly- is an albino coastal redwood. 

These exceptional shrubs lack the most essential plant characteristic: the ability to produce chlorophyll, which absorbs light most strongly in the blue portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. (3) Without chlorophyll, photosynthesis cannot occur, leaving albino coastal redwoods without a means of producing(4) its own food.

(5)Contrastingly, in order to survive, these plants become (6) parasites. Latching onto the roots of nearby redwoods to tap into their nutrients. During periods of drought, albino redwoods often wither and (7)enter a dormant state. Later, during periods of heavy rainfall, they (8)resurrect back to life and latch onto their hosts.

(9) Although these plants may seem like little more than botanical leeches, they are actually a testament(10) from the tree's remarkable genetics and adaptability.  Coastal redwoods have six pairs of chromosomes. This allows them an extraordinary degree of genetic diversity. Every time a new coastal redwood sprouts, an abundance of possible genetic mutations can occur. Most of these mutations benefit the tree, such as making it more resistant to fungi or viruses. But on occasion an a_.lbino mutation(11) of the forest can occur, creating this tare phenomenon.

Botanists (12) appraise there are only about sixty albino coastal redwoods in the world. Geneticists are now (13)thinking more or less about the chromosomal makeup of these rare specimens. While scientists are still baffled by what function albino coastal redwoods serve in (14)forests. Conservationists continue to advocate their preservation. At the very least, albino coastal redwoods are not only a rare phenomenon but also a stunning illumination (15)in the diversity found in the natural world.

In 1962, one of the main producers of lead in the United States for almost a century, the Bonne Terre Mine in Bonne Terre, Missouri, was shut down due to falling profits. With equipment and (16) tools still deep within the mine, the entrance was boarded up, the pumps that had kept the mine dry for decades turned off. (17) Now, the site is visited by thousands of scuba divers every year, those (18)who looked for an unusual dive in what (19) sometimes is considered as like an underwater mining museum. The abandoned mine is shaped like a giant cone, with each of its five levels becoming successively narrower. A series of chutes, passageways, and ore dumps connects the levels. Sprawling beneath the four-square-mile town of Bonne Terre, (20)however, the mine contains over eighty square miles of (21) larger-than-life rooms and at least seventeen miles of tunnels. The cool water that fills (22) the mine that is below the city of Bonne Terre is remarkably clean and clear.

[1] Divers enter the mine through a small outbuilding in Bonne Terre. [2] At the very bottom of the mine still stands the timekeeper's (23)shack, where workers clocked in at the beginning of a shift. [3] Inside, 500,000-watt flood lights (24) gleam the dry top level of the mine, where walking tours are held. [4]The main diving docks are about a quarter mile within the mine, on the second level. [5] On guided tours, divers explore tunnels filled with ore carts, rock drills, dynamite boxes, and other artifacts from (25)the mine's possession. [6] Smooth walls and ceilings stretch for (26)miles, and shimmer with deposits of cobalt, copper, calcium, and (27)iron; pillars of un excavated rock support the ceilings. [7] Near the shack, a rusting locomotive lies on,, side. [28] 

The site was explored by (29)internationally renowned French diver Jacques Cousteau and has been featured in many travel and adventure publications. Divers from around the world visit the Bonne Terre Mine site (30)keep swimming into a fascinating past.

Even at age seven, Mozart (31) presented audiences with his musical talents, including the ability to identify accurately any note he heard.  This  (32) aptitude, recognizing notes without aid — is called absolute  (33) pitch. People with absolute pitch usually possess related musical skills, such as being able to sing any requested note perfectly.

For decades, the  (34) fraction sited in scientific literature has been that only one person per ten thousand has absolute pitch. Such rarity renders absolute pitch  (35) so wicked sweet to scientists, many of whom have long suspected that the ability has a genetic basis. Absolute pitch appears to run in families, after all. And in 2009 a team led by geneticist Jane Gitschier found a positive correlation between specific chromosomes and absolute pitch.

On the other hand, psychologist Diana (36)  Deutsch, in arguing that language is key to a person's chances of having absolute pitch. Deutsch found that people fluent in ''tone languages"— such as Mandarin, where a word conveys different meanings depending on the pitch in which it is spoken-were much more likely to have absolute pitch than speakers of English and other non-tone languages. One of Deutsch's studies (37)  paraded that more than 90 percent of music students fluent in a tone language had absolute pitch.  (38)  Clearly, that's dramatically higher than the  (39) previously mentioned statistic of one person per ten thousand.

Deutsch (40)  suggests that children learning tone languages develop the ability to associate pitch with meaning, which is analogous to someone with absolute pitch associating a pitch with the name of the note. In early childhood, as the brain goes through a phase of development during which it is primed to learn language,  (41) which can likewise be able to learn absolute pitch.  If a child is studying music during this particular period that further increases his or her chances of developing absolute pitch.[42]  As for (43)  the dismal chances of learning absolute pitch as an adult, the odds aren't  (44) good: there has never been a proven case of success.

Masa Knob, a densely (46) forested peek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, isn't (47) as majestic a park attraction as Clingmans Dome or Laurel Falls. It's a humble landmark named (48) for a man who tirelessly explored, documented, and fought to (49) protect and would become the most visited national park in the United States.

Japanese (50)immigrant, Iizuka Masahara, adopted the name George Masa in 1915 when he took a job as a bellman at an upscale hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. He often took pictures of hotel guests. Masa's photos depict prosperous (51) vacations, some enjoying hikes organized by Masa himself. Three years after settling in Asheville, (52) which was when Masa opened a photography studio.

The fog-shrouded mountains surrounding Asheville frequently lured Masa, with heavy, unwieldy camera equipment in tow, out of (53)the studio he'd opened in Asheville. Morning hikes became weeks-long expeditions. To get the perfect shot, Masa would scale the highest mountains, (54) lugging his equipment on his back. He sometimes waited hours for the clouds to arrange themselves to his liking before he took a picture.

(55) Masa's measuring instruments were innovative. Using an odometer mounted on the detached front end of a bicycle, Masa measured his routes. He pushed the contraption across the steep terrain, hiking and measuring, measuring and hiking, year after year. From these measurements, he produced detailed maps.

Masa made it his mission to ensure that the land he treasured would be preserved as a national park.  He gave his photos and maps to prominent Asheville visitors, recruiting First Lady Grace Coolidge and wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., (56)among others, to join the park campaign. (57) In reality, to build support from the wider public, Masa distributed thousands of postcards of his photos.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in 1934, a year after Masa's death. Although not many park visitors climb Masa Knob or know about (58) it's namesake and advocate, (59) I think they should.

In 2005, Houston shop owner Magda Sayeg knit a blue-and-pink cozy, or fitted cover, for the street-side door handle of her store. It was a slow day; Sayeg was bored. To her surprise, the seemingly out-of-place little cozy drew a lot of attention and often made people smile. (61) Inspired by the effects, Sayeg knit a leg warmer for the stop sign on the corner. This time, drivers actually pulled over for a closer look. Some people even took pictures of the sign. As Sayeg expanded her territory around Houston, her then-anonymous projects gained notoriety online and in newspapers, sparking similar endeavors by knitters and crocheters around the globe. 

Adopting the (62) utterances of graffiti, these yarn artists commonly refer to the act of covering something with knitted or crocheted yarn (63) such as "tagging." They take measurements of an object they wish to cover, stitch at home, and then quietly wrap the object during the night. (64) Rather, in the morning, a park full of trees wrapped in striped leg warmers welcomes joggers. Giant metal chain links on a wharf appear (65)covered in violet, green, white, blue. Sidewalk (66) cracks being filled with skinny, knitted ropes of magenta.

Some yarn graffiti (67)artists mainly want to surprise people, offering a bit of homey comfort where (68)we're least expected. Others, however, aim for a more political message, (69) they drape cannons and tanks in colorful crocheted afghans.

In 2011, (70)knitter Jessie Hemmons decided she'd had enough of people snapping pictures of the bronze statue of Rocky (a fictional boxer) in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art without ever going inside the (71) museum. She crafted a bright pink hoodie for the muscular (72)figure, who was played by Sylvester Stallon in the Rocky movies.

Although yarn tagging is a form of graffiti, (73)it's tolerated more often than other forms because the yarn can be simply snipped off. This may be the aspect that allows people to smile as they drop coins into a cozy, purple parking meter and to consider the artist's (74) sweet-or edgy point.