Celebrate This
Today is Zipper Day: Swedish-American scientist and inventor Gideon Sundback received a patent for his "hook-less fastener" on this date in 1913.
Still on the Books
In Oklahoma, it is illegal to have a sleeping donkey in your bathtub after 7 p.m.
Quotable
by Karl Augustus Menninger, American psychiatrist (1893-1990)
"Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out."
Lap of Luxury
Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic ------- two Pomeranians and one Pekingese; they were from first-class cabins.
Lore Has It
In China, where long noodles symbolize a long life, cutting them up, instead of slurping them without breaking them, means you're cutting life short.
No Small Threat
Despite its tiny golf-ball size, the blue-ringed octopus is the deadliest of all cephalopods, carrying enough poison to kill 26 adults within minutes.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (April 25, 2014)
Impact Odds
A group aiming for early detection of asteroids that threaten to collide with Earth says our planet experienced 26 powerful asteroid explosions in the atmosphere from 2000 to 2013. The nonprofit B612 Foundation says data collected by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which uncovered the blasts, demonstrates that the chance of an asteroid inflicting catastrophic damage is higher than previously estimated. Former astronaut Ed Lu, who now heads the California-based foundation, told reporters that an asteroid as small as 130 feet across has the potential to level a city. While the 2013 blast above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk got global news coverage, the B612 Foundation says asteroid impacts with a force greater than 20 kilotons also occurred above the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2009, over the Southern Ocean in 2004 and above the Mediterranean in 2002. The group is currently constructing an asteroid-hunting, infrared space telescope called Sentinel. It's likely to track more than 200,000 asteroids once launched in 2018.
March Contrasts
The U.S. environmental agency NOAA says March 2014 was the fourth-hottest on record for the planet, even though America notably bucked that trend. The agency calculated that the overall global temperature for the month was 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average. But the continental United States was almost a full degree cooler than normal, making it the country's 43rd coolest March on record. The Eastern European nation of Slovakia had its hottest March on record while South Korea experienced its second-warmest. Northern Siberia came in at 9-degrees warmer than normal for the month.
Ebola Variant Strain
Scientists have found that a new strain of the Ebola virus is responsible for the latest outbreak in West Africa, where more than 140 people of the nearly 230 believed infected have died from the disease. In a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers say that the virus may not even be new to the area, and could have been circulating undetected for some time. It suggests that there was probably "a single introduction of the virus into the human population" prior to December 2013, adding, "the virus was (probably) transmitted for months before the outbreak became apparent." It's now thought that "patient zero" was a 2-year-old girl who died in December. A variant of the most virulent Zaire strain has been identified as the cause of the girl's death in Guinea, before Ebola spread elsewhere across that country and into neighboring Liberia. The study said fruit bats were likely carriers of the virus.
Java Rumblings
Increased seismic activity from within Indonesia's Mount Merapi was punctuated before dawn on April 20 by a blast that showered ash over areas within about 7 miles of the volcano's summit. While a glow was observed at the top of Merapi around the time of the blast, vulcanologists said no new lava was observed flowing from the volcano. That means the mountain was probably not entering a new eruptive phase. An eruption of Merapi in 2010 released poisonous gases and blanketed the region in ash, killing more than 300 people.
* Explosions from Guatemala's Fuego (Fire) volcano intensified, prompting officials to warn some nearby residents that lava flows could soon threaten their homes.
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical Cyclone Jack formed briefly over the open waters of the eastern Indian Ocean. The storm was initially a threat only to shipping lanes in the region, but its remnants later forced a temporary halt to the aerial search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
Earthquakes
A wide area of southwestern and central Mexico was rocked on the morning of April 18 by a 7.2 magnitude quake, centered near the Pacific resort of Acapulco. At least 127 homes were damaged near the epicenter in the state of Guerrero.
* Earth movements were also felt in the northeastern Caribbean, the northwestern Philippines, eastern Papua New Guinea, northwestern Vancouver Island and central Oklahoma.
Stork Revival
Two wild storks recently observed nesting in eastern England could be the first pair to breed in Britain for nearly 600 years. The BBC reports the birds are nesting on a chimney at Norfolk's Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens and are engaging in mating rituals. The last wild stork documented to be nesting in Britain was at St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, back in 1416. Conservation efforts elsewhere in Europe during recent years have resulted in a modest return of the birds, which now appear to have ventured across the North Sea to raise a proper English brood. The storks nest in North Africa, across Europe and into Asia. They are known around the world as symbols of fertility.
A group aiming for early detection of asteroids that threaten to collide with Earth says our planet experienced 26 powerful asteroid explosions in the atmosphere from 2000 to 2013. The nonprofit B612 Foundation says data collected by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which uncovered the blasts, demonstrates that the chance of an asteroid inflicting catastrophic damage is higher than previously estimated. Former astronaut Ed Lu, who now heads the California-based foundation, told reporters that an asteroid as small as 130 feet across has the potential to level a city. While the 2013 blast above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk got global news coverage, the B612 Foundation says asteroid impacts with a force greater than 20 kilotons also occurred above the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2009, over the Southern Ocean in 2004 and above the Mediterranean in 2002. The group is currently constructing an asteroid-hunting, infrared space telescope called Sentinel. It's likely to track more than 200,000 asteroids once launched in 2018.
March Contrasts
The U.S. environmental agency NOAA says March 2014 was the fourth-hottest on record for the planet, even though America notably bucked that trend. The agency calculated that the overall global temperature for the month was 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average. But the continental United States was almost a full degree cooler than normal, making it the country's 43rd coolest March on record. The Eastern European nation of Slovakia had its hottest March on record while South Korea experienced its second-warmest. Northern Siberia came in at 9-degrees warmer than normal for the month.
Ebola Variant Strain
Scientists have found that a new strain of the Ebola virus is responsible for the latest outbreak in West Africa, where more than 140 people of the nearly 230 believed infected have died from the disease. In a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers say that the virus may not even be new to the area, and could have been circulating undetected for some time. It suggests that there was probably "a single introduction of the virus into the human population" prior to December 2013, adding, "the virus was (probably) transmitted for months before the outbreak became apparent." It's now thought that "patient zero" was a 2-year-old girl who died in December. A variant of the most virulent Zaire strain has been identified as the cause of the girl's death in Guinea, before Ebola spread elsewhere across that country and into neighboring Liberia. The study said fruit bats were likely carriers of the virus.
Java Rumblings
Increased seismic activity from within Indonesia's Mount Merapi was punctuated before dawn on April 20 by a blast that showered ash over areas within about 7 miles of the volcano's summit. While a glow was observed at the top of Merapi around the time of the blast, vulcanologists said no new lava was observed flowing from the volcano. That means the mountain was probably not entering a new eruptive phase. An eruption of Merapi in 2010 released poisonous gases and blanketed the region in ash, killing more than 300 people.
* Explosions from Guatemala's Fuego (Fire) volcano intensified, prompting officials to warn some nearby residents that lava flows could soon threaten their homes.
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical Cyclone Jack formed briefly over the open waters of the eastern Indian Ocean. The storm was initially a threat only to shipping lanes in the region, but its remnants later forced a temporary halt to the aerial search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
Earthquakes
A wide area of southwestern and central Mexico was rocked on the morning of April 18 by a 7.2 magnitude quake, centered near the Pacific resort of Acapulco. At least 127 homes were damaged near the epicenter in the state of Guerrero.
* Earth movements were also felt in the northeastern Caribbean, the northwestern Philippines, eastern Papua New Guinea, northwestern Vancouver Island and central Oklahoma.
Stork Revival
Two wild storks recently observed nesting in eastern England could be the first pair to breed in Britain for nearly 600 years. The BBC reports the birds are nesting on a chimney at Norfolk's Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens and are engaging in mating rituals. The last wild stork documented to be nesting in Britain was at St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, back in 1416. Conservation efforts elsewhere in Europe during recent years have resulted in a modest return of the birds, which now appear to have ventured across the North Sea to raise a proper English brood. The storks nest in North Africa, across Europe and into Asia. They are known around the world as symbols of fertility.
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (April 18, 2014)
U.N. Climate Warning
The latest report by the U.N. group responsible for assessing climate change says the world is running out of time to keep global warming from exceeding the 2 degrees Celsius limit (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) agreed to in 2010. If greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed sharply, and soon, climate experts say that by 2100, temperatures will rise by between 3.7 and 4.8 degrees Celsius (6.6 and 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times. China, the United States and Europe are the top emitterss. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) cautions in the new report that there must be a "massive shift" to renewable energy to avert more severe heat waves, droughts and rising sea levels. The IPCC has said there is a 95 percent probability that climate change since 1950 is mainly due to human activities rather than natural variations.
Orchid Renewal
Botanists in Miami are enlisting local students to help raise a million native orchids in an attempt to repopulate the plants, which once covered South Florida. Collectors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries virtually wiped out the plants by selling them to northern customers. "We want to bring back not just the orchids, but the insects that pollinate them." said Carl Lewis, who leads the Million Orchid Project and is director of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. The garden has been trying various methods to see what stimulates the fastest growth. Once the initial batchof orchids is gently placed in trees that line South Florida roadways, students from 250 area schools will keep track of the orchids in their neighborhoods. Those observations will help the botanists determine how best to introduce even more of the colorful plants.
El Nino
Weeks of speculation by various weather agencies about a possible re-emergence of El Nino later this year have led Australia's Bureau of Meteorology to predict that there is now a more than 70 percent chance of the ocean warming's return. That country is especially vulnerable to weather shifts from the phenomenon, which typically returns about every three to seven years. El Nino usually brings drier-than normal conditions to Australia, now suffering from a drought in the northeast that has forced ranchers to cull cows. The U.S. agency NOAA estimates the chance of El Nino expanding across the tropical Pacific during the Northern Hemisphere's summer at about 50 percent. During the worst El Nino on record in 1997-98, the warming brought devastating storms to California and costly drought to southern parts of the U.S.
Earthquakes
Nicaragua was rocked by a series of quakes that damaged homes and injured hundreds of residents.
* A series of powerful temblors jolted the Solomon Islands and parts of neighboring Papua New Guinea, with the strongest two prompting brief tsunami alerts across the Pacific.
* Earth Movements were felt in the English Midlands, south-central Alaska and central Idaho.
Andean Eruption
Peru's Ubinas volcano spewed ash high above the Andes Mountains in the south of the country during a violent eruption that forced the evacuation of nearby residents. The country's mining institute said the mountain awakened with explosions that also shot out white-hot chunks of rock, some as large as 1 foot in diameter.
Tropical Cyclone
Australia's northern Queensland coast was lashed by powerful Cyclone Ita, which was the strongest such storm to strike the region in three years. The cyclone made landfall as a Category-4 storm on the international Saffir-Simpson scale very near Cooktown. Officials estimate Ita inflicted more than $1 billion in damage, including the destruction of a banana plantation and large tracts of sugarcane crops. Remnants of the storm later hit New Zealand with high winds and squalls that knocked out power and caused numerous traffic accidents.
Myna Menaces
Zimbabwe wildlife experts say that the invasive myna bird has arrived in the southern African nation, posing a threat to indigenous bird species. The common, or Indian, mynas have become serious pests in many areas of the world where they have been introduced. In South Africa, the birds have been observed killing other birds chicks and taking over the nest. The first birds to escape captivity and breed in the African wild established a population around the South African port of Durban in the early 20th century. Australian officials conduct frequent and aggressive culling campaigns to protect both indigenous parrots and marsupials from the birds. Mynas, which are members of the starling family and native to South Asia, can easily adapt to new environments and have been kept as pets because of their unique ability to vocalize, or "talk." They breed in stolen nests, beneath bridges, in roofs and urban trees, as well as on lampposts and other structures.
The latest report by the U.N. group responsible for assessing climate change says the world is running out of time to keep global warming from exceeding the 2 degrees Celsius limit (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) agreed to in 2010. If greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed sharply, and soon, climate experts say that by 2100, temperatures will rise by between 3.7 and 4.8 degrees Celsius (6.6 and 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times. China, the United States and Europe are the top emitterss. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) cautions in the new report that there must be a "massive shift" to renewable energy to avert more severe heat waves, droughts and rising sea levels. The IPCC has said there is a 95 percent probability that climate change since 1950 is mainly due to human activities rather than natural variations.
Orchid Renewal
Botanists in Miami are enlisting local students to help raise a million native orchids in an attempt to repopulate the plants, which once covered South Florida. Collectors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries virtually wiped out the plants by selling them to northern customers. "We want to bring back not just the orchids, but the insects that pollinate them." said Carl Lewis, who leads the Million Orchid Project and is director of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. The garden has been trying various methods to see what stimulates the fastest growth. Once the initial batchof orchids is gently placed in trees that line South Florida roadways, students from 250 area schools will keep track of the orchids in their neighborhoods. Those observations will help the botanists determine how best to introduce even more of the colorful plants.
El Nino
Weeks of speculation by various weather agencies about a possible re-emergence of El Nino later this year have led Australia's Bureau of Meteorology to predict that there is now a more than 70 percent chance of the ocean warming's return. That country is especially vulnerable to weather shifts from the phenomenon, which typically returns about every three to seven years. El Nino usually brings drier-than normal conditions to Australia, now suffering from a drought in the northeast that has forced ranchers to cull cows. The U.S. agency NOAA estimates the chance of El Nino expanding across the tropical Pacific during the Northern Hemisphere's summer at about 50 percent. During the worst El Nino on record in 1997-98, the warming brought devastating storms to California and costly drought to southern parts of the U.S.
Earthquakes
Nicaragua was rocked by a series of quakes that damaged homes and injured hundreds of residents.
* A series of powerful temblors jolted the Solomon Islands and parts of neighboring Papua New Guinea, with the strongest two prompting brief tsunami alerts across the Pacific.
* Earth Movements were felt in the English Midlands, south-central Alaska and central Idaho.
Andean Eruption
Peru's Ubinas volcano spewed ash high above the Andes Mountains in the south of the country during a violent eruption that forced the evacuation of nearby residents. The country's mining institute said the mountain awakened with explosions that also shot out white-hot chunks of rock, some as large as 1 foot in diameter.
Tropical Cyclone
Australia's northern Queensland coast was lashed by powerful Cyclone Ita, which was the strongest such storm to strike the region in three years. The cyclone made landfall as a Category-4 storm on the international Saffir-Simpson scale very near Cooktown. Officials estimate Ita inflicted more than $1 billion in damage, including the destruction of a banana plantation and large tracts of sugarcane crops. Remnants of the storm later hit New Zealand with high winds and squalls that knocked out power and caused numerous traffic accidents.
Myna Menaces
Zimbabwe wildlife experts say that the invasive myna bird has arrived in the southern African nation, posing a threat to indigenous bird species. The common, or Indian, mynas have become serious pests in many areas of the world where they have been introduced. In South Africa, the birds have been observed killing other birds chicks and taking over the nest. The first birds to escape captivity and breed in the African wild established a population around the South African port of Durban in the early 20th century. Australian officials conduct frequent and aggressive culling campaigns to protect both indigenous parrots and marsupials from the birds. Mynas, which are members of the starling family and native to South Asia, can easily adapt to new environments and have been kept as pets because of their unique ability to vocalize, or "talk." They breed in stolen nests, beneath bridges, in roofs and urban trees, as well as on lampposts and other structures.
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (April 11, 2014)
Arctic Ice Maximum
The winter ice cap around the North Pole reached its greatest extent on March 21, but it also fell to the fifth-lowest peak coverage on record. Arctic sea ice usually grows to the largest expanse for winter on or about March 9. The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said the annual peak would have occurred about then and been even smaller than the eventual coverage of 5.76 million square miles had it not been for strong and frigid surface winds that swirled around the Arctic in mid-March. The Colorado-based center said the latest measurements reinforce previous studies that have revealed ice around the North Pole is disappearing much faster than earlier predictions. The ice has steadily declined by an average of 12 percent per decade since 1978. Experts predict the Arctic will lose all of its summer ice within decades, if not sooner.
Smog Domes
A London-based firm has a solution to China's smog crisis ---- botanical gardens enclosed in giant "bubbles" where residents can take refuge. Orproject presented the idea to Beijing officials, including plans for a light-weight dome that would house a climate-controlled park with air kept clean by the plants inside and filtered air from outside. "The buildings surrounding the park, which are connected to the controlled air system, can house apartments, offices and retail, but may also offer sports or medical facilities which make specific use of the healthy air," the company said. Critics say more should be done to combat the pollution at its sources. They also point out that the domes would separate those living inside from those unable to afford the luxury. Beijing smog has become so acute that outdoor sports are often banned.
Earthquakes
The at least 110 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher that have shaken Oklahoma so far this year totalmore than those during all of 2013. They come in the wake of the state's recent explosive growth in fracking, or underground hydrological fracturing, used in the extraction of natural gas and oil. Before fracking became common, Oklahoma experienced fewer than six quakes per year.
* A strong quake centered in southwest China's Yunnan province injured 26 people as it wrecked 75 homes and damaged thousands of others.
* Earth movements were also felt in southern Greece, southeastern France, far northern Chile and interior parts of California's San Diego County.
Volcanic Merger
Two small Japanese volcanic islands have merged into one after the younger islet grew to overwhelm its older brother. Niijima Island broke through the ocean's surface last Nov. 20 next to Nishinoshima, about 600 miles south of Tokyo. While scientists at the time questioned how long the island would survive before being eroded by the sea, it defied expectations and grew to merge with its neighbor and form one landmass. The newer portion is now larger than the original Nishinoshima, which last 40 years ago. he combined islands have reached about 200 feet in height above sea level.
Tropical Cyclone
Heavy storms that eventually collected into Cyclone Ita triggered floods in the Solomon Islands that killed 23 people and left 25 others missing. Ita strengthened to a Category 4 storm late in the week as it approached Australia's northern Queensland coast.
* Tropical Storm Peipah buffeted the western Pacific island nation of Palau, then dissipated before reaching the Philippines as a tropical depression.
* Tropical Storm Ivanoe formed briefly in the eastern Indian Ocean.
Ebola Crisis
Less than a month after West Africa's first Ebola outbreak emerged, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns it is the "most challenging" to strike since the disease first appeared four decades ago. More than 100 of the 157 people suspected of being infected have died in Guinea, where the hemorrhagic fever first struck in mid-March. A mob in the south of that country has since attacked international aid workers, whom they blame for bringing in the disease. Neighboring Liberia and Mali have also reported a few suspected infections. Despite isolated resistance. WHO is rushing in workers to teach residents how to avoid being infected, and how to handle those who are.
Bovine Tragedies
Lightening from freak thunderstorms, stronger than some southern Chile residents can remember ever experiencing before, killed 63 cows in two separate strikes. A single bolt killed 54 dairy cows that hadtaken refuge beneath a tree near Los Rios. One cow survived, but was left blinded, according to rancher Cecil Fourt. In a similar incident, nine other cows died beneath a tree hit by lightning near El Pilar. "We have electrical storms here, but never like this," Carlos Godoy, administrator of the Las Cascadas estate, told Chile's El Universo daily.
The winter ice cap around the North Pole reached its greatest extent on March 21, but it also fell to the fifth-lowest peak coverage on record. Arctic sea ice usually grows to the largest expanse for winter on or about March 9. The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said the annual peak would have occurred about then and been even smaller than the eventual coverage of 5.76 million square miles had it not been for strong and frigid surface winds that swirled around the Arctic in mid-March. The Colorado-based center said the latest measurements reinforce previous studies that have revealed ice around the North Pole is disappearing much faster than earlier predictions. The ice has steadily declined by an average of 12 percent per decade since 1978. Experts predict the Arctic will lose all of its summer ice within decades, if not sooner.
Smog Domes
A London-based firm has a solution to China's smog crisis ---- botanical gardens enclosed in giant "bubbles" where residents can take refuge. Orproject presented the idea to Beijing officials, including plans for a light-weight dome that would house a climate-controlled park with air kept clean by the plants inside and filtered air from outside. "The buildings surrounding the park, which are connected to the controlled air system, can house apartments, offices and retail, but may also offer sports or medical facilities which make specific use of the healthy air," the company said. Critics say more should be done to combat the pollution at its sources. They also point out that the domes would separate those living inside from those unable to afford the luxury. Beijing smog has become so acute that outdoor sports are often banned.
Earthquakes
The at least 110 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher that have shaken Oklahoma so far this year totalmore than those during all of 2013. They come in the wake of the state's recent explosive growth in fracking, or underground hydrological fracturing, used in the extraction of natural gas and oil. Before fracking became common, Oklahoma experienced fewer than six quakes per year.
* A strong quake centered in southwest China's Yunnan province injured 26 people as it wrecked 75 homes and damaged thousands of others.
* Earth movements were also felt in southern Greece, southeastern France, far northern Chile and interior parts of California's San Diego County.
Volcanic Merger
Two small Japanese volcanic islands have merged into one after the younger islet grew to overwhelm its older brother. Niijima Island broke through the ocean's surface last Nov. 20 next to Nishinoshima, about 600 miles south of Tokyo. While scientists at the time questioned how long the island would survive before being eroded by the sea, it defied expectations and grew to merge with its neighbor and form one landmass. The newer portion is now larger than the original Nishinoshima, which last 40 years ago. he combined islands have reached about 200 feet in height above sea level.
Tropical Cyclone
Heavy storms that eventually collected into Cyclone Ita triggered floods in the Solomon Islands that killed 23 people and left 25 others missing. Ita strengthened to a Category 4 storm late in the week as it approached Australia's northern Queensland coast.
* Tropical Storm Peipah buffeted the western Pacific island nation of Palau, then dissipated before reaching the Philippines as a tropical depression.
* Tropical Storm Ivanoe formed briefly in the eastern Indian Ocean.
Ebola Crisis
Less than a month after West Africa's first Ebola outbreak emerged, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns it is the "most challenging" to strike since the disease first appeared four decades ago. More than 100 of the 157 people suspected of being infected have died in Guinea, where the hemorrhagic fever first struck in mid-March. A mob in the south of that country has since attacked international aid workers, whom they blame for bringing in the disease. Neighboring Liberia and Mali have also reported a few suspected infections. Despite isolated resistance. WHO is rushing in workers to teach residents how to avoid being infected, and how to handle those who are.
Bovine Tragedies
Lightening from freak thunderstorms, stronger than some southern Chile residents can remember ever experiencing before, killed 63 cows in two separate strikes. A single bolt killed 54 dairy cows that hadtaken refuge beneath a tree near Los Rios. One cow survived, but was left blinded, according to rancher Cecil Fourt. In a similar incident, nine other cows died beneath a tree hit by lightning near El Pilar. "We have electrical storms here, but never like this," Carlos Godoy, administrator of the Las Cascadas estate, told Chile's El Universo daily.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (April 4, 2014)
Whaling's End
Japan was ordered by the World Court to halt its annual slaughter of whales in the Antarctic under the pretext of scientific research. Japan then announced it was cancelling its hunt for the first time in a quarter century. The ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was a victory for Australia, which has fought for years to prove there is no scientific reason for targeting 850 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales each year. Critics have said Japan's harpooning of the marine mammals is strictly to provide whale meat for domestic consumption under the ruse of research. But changing appetites and cost cutting may have a far greater impact than the ICJ ruling. Stockpiles of whale meat have doubled over the past 10 years. The government-subsidized program operates at a sizable deficit, while the whaling mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, is due for an overhaul.
Long-Haul Fallout
Migratory seabirds that spend part of the year around New Zealand after flying in from Japan's coastal waters are being checked for contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A study by the University of Auckland is investigating whether radioactive cesium has entered the New Zealand ecosystem or food chain via the shearwaters, known in New Zealand as muttonbirds. Vast amounts of contaminated water from the meltdown-plagued Fukushima Daiichi plant have poured into the Pacific since the disaster began in March 2011. Fish there have since been measured with unsafe levels of nuclear contamination. Because the shearwaters feed on seafood, it is feared the long-haul birds could be carying radioactive debris many thousands of miles around the Pacific Rim.
Tumbling Nuisance
A plague of tumbleweeds has hit parts of Colorado this spring with mounds of the rolling debris piling up against homes so high that some residents resorted to calling authorities to be rescued. Masses of the dried weeds have also posed a high risk of wildfires across the front range. Experts say the "opportunistic invaders" need just a sprinkle of water to sprout and grow into maturity before drying into woody orbs suitable for use in Western movies. And sprinkles are just what the drought-resistant plants got back in October, allowing them to thrive unchecked by grazing livestock, which ranchers had by then moved to greener pastures. Subsequent high winds broke off the weeds from their roots, allowing them to spread seeds as they tumbled across the plains.
Earthquakes
An estimated 17 million Southern California residents were jolted on the afternoon of March 28 by a 5.1 magnitude quake centered in interior parts of the Los Angeles Basin. The brief but powerful shaking burst water mains, tossed items off shelves and caused other scattered damage.
* Northern Chile was rocked by a massive "great" earthquake that killed six people and triggered a local tsunami that smashed between 70 and 80 boats near the offshore epicenter.
* Earth movements were also felt in eastern Romania, southeastern New Zealand, Panama and in America's Yellowstone National Park.
Tropical Cyclone
Cyclone Hellen strengthened to one of the most powerful such storms on record in the northwestern Indian Ocean just before striking northwestern Madagascar.
Smog-Dust Pall
Parts of England were blanketed with record high levels of choking smog, which was worsened by a plume of dust that blew in from the Sahara Desert. Many motorists awoke to find their vehicles coated with the red dust. Smog reached the top of the official 10-point scale of air pollution in Norfolk, the East Midlands and Yorkshire. Greater London suffered with smog that reached level 7. The environment department said the smog was caused by pollution from Britain and industrialized areas of neighboring Europe that stayed in place because of light winds.
Volcanic Instinct?
Videos posted online of bison apparently fleeing Yellowstone National Park at about the same time the area was jolted by the strongest quake since 1980 have sparked fears of a catastrophic eruption. The geothermal park sits atop a massive super volcano that produced a series of violent eruptions in prehistoric times. Catastrophic blasts 2 million years ago covered half of North America with ash and wiped out populations of prehistoric animals, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO). So bloggers and survivalists say the videos clearly show the park's bison have been "running for their lives" due to instincts that warn them of impending disaster. But the YVO denies there is an increased threat of eruption, pointing out that the bison videos were posted weeks before the March 30 quake. Seismologists have said a Yellowstone eruption is unlikely to occur within the next thousand or even ten thousand years.
Japan was ordered by the World Court to halt its annual slaughter of whales in the Antarctic under the pretext of scientific research. Japan then announced it was cancelling its hunt for the first time in a quarter century. The ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was a victory for Australia, which has fought for years to prove there is no scientific reason for targeting 850 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales each year. Critics have said Japan's harpooning of the marine mammals is strictly to provide whale meat for domestic consumption under the ruse of research. But changing appetites and cost cutting may have a far greater impact than the ICJ ruling. Stockpiles of whale meat have doubled over the past 10 years. The government-subsidized program operates at a sizable deficit, while the whaling mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, is due for an overhaul.
Long-Haul Fallout
Migratory seabirds that spend part of the year around New Zealand after flying in from Japan's coastal waters are being checked for contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A study by the University of Auckland is investigating whether radioactive cesium has entered the New Zealand ecosystem or food chain via the shearwaters, known in New Zealand as muttonbirds. Vast amounts of contaminated water from the meltdown-plagued Fukushima Daiichi plant have poured into the Pacific since the disaster began in March 2011. Fish there have since been measured with unsafe levels of nuclear contamination. Because the shearwaters feed on seafood, it is feared the long-haul birds could be carying radioactive debris many thousands of miles around the Pacific Rim.
Tumbling Nuisance
A plague of tumbleweeds has hit parts of Colorado this spring with mounds of the rolling debris piling up against homes so high that some residents resorted to calling authorities to be rescued. Masses of the dried weeds have also posed a high risk of wildfires across the front range. Experts say the "opportunistic invaders" need just a sprinkle of water to sprout and grow into maturity before drying into woody orbs suitable for use in Western movies. And sprinkles are just what the drought-resistant plants got back in October, allowing them to thrive unchecked by grazing livestock, which ranchers had by then moved to greener pastures. Subsequent high winds broke off the weeds from their roots, allowing them to spread seeds as they tumbled across the plains.
Earthquakes
An estimated 17 million Southern California residents were jolted on the afternoon of March 28 by a 5.1 magnitude quake centered in interior parts of the Los Angeles Basin. The brief but powerful shaking burst water mains, tossed items off shelves and caused other scattered damage.
* Northern Chile was rocked by a massive "great" earthquake that killed six people and triggered a local tsunami that smashed between 70 and 80 boats near the offshore epicenter.
* Earth movements were also felt in eastern Romania, southeastern New Zealand, Panama and in America's Yellowstone National Park.
Tropical Cyclone
Cyclone Hellen strengthened to one of the most powerful such storms on record in the northwestern Indian Ocean just before striking northwestern Madagascar.
Smog-Dust Pall
Parts of England were blanketed with record high levels of choking smog, which was worsened by a plume of dust that blew in from the Sahara Desert. Many motorists awoke to find their vehicles coated with the red dust. Smog reached the top of the official 10-point scale of air pollution in Norfolk, the East Midlands and Yorkshire. Greater London suffered with smog that reached level 7. The environment department said the smog was caused by pollution from Britain and industrialized areas of neighboring Europe that stayed in place because of light winds.
Volcanic Instinct?
Videos posted online of bison apparently fleeing Yellowstone National Park at about the same time the area was jolted by the strongest quake since 1980 have sparked fears of a catastrophic eruption. The geothermal park sits atop a massive super volcano that produced a series of violent eruptions in prehistoric times. Catastrophic blasts 2 million years ago covered half of North America with ash and wiped out populations of prehistoric animals, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO). So bloggers and survivalists say the videos clearly show the park's bison have been "running for their lives" due to instincts that warn them of impending disaster. But the YVO denies there is an increased threat of eruption, pointing out that the bison videos were posted weeks before the March 30 quake. Seismologists have said a Yellowstone eruption is unlikely to occur within the next thousand or even ten thousand years.
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (March 28, 2014)
Warming for the Ages
The head of the U.N.'s weather agency says that global warming has not stopped and will continue for at least centuries due to the burning of fossil fuels by humans. Michel Jarraud made the pronouncement as he presented the World Meteorological Organization's annual review of the world's climate. The report concludes that last year tied with 2007 as the sixth hottest since reliable records began over 150 years ago. It also says that 13 of the 14 qwarmest years on record have occurred in this century. "Greenhouse gases are at record levels, meaning that our atmosphere and oceans will continue to warm for centuries to come. The laws of physics are non-negotiable." Jarraud told a news conference.
Bird of Paradise
One of the most endangered waterfowl in the world has been found living in the wild on the Hawaiian island of Oahu for the first time in centuries. A pair of Hawaiian geese, or nene, is believed to have flown on its own from another island to nest on Oahu's North Shore. It has since successfully hatched three healthy goslings. The nene, the official state bird, is believed to have descended from Canada geese that arrived nearly 1 million years ago. It was brought to near extinction by the middle of the 20th century by the expansion of agriculture by early Polynesian settlers and then through unrestricted hunting by European colonists. Only 30 birds were left by 1952. But conservation efforts have lifted the population to about 2,000, mainly on the island of Kauai. Some pairs have been airlifted for resettlement to the Big Island and Maui, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the pair found on Oahu was not part of that program.
Blooming Response
Climate change has stretched the wildflower blooming season in the Rocky Mountains by more than a month, with half the flowers beginning to bloom weeks earlier than before. But researcher David Inouye of the University of Maryland says that the flowering plants response to climate change is complex, with different species responding in unexpected ways. Inouye began counting flowers in the Rockies in 1974, long before climate change was even on the scientific radar. He and his students have since amassed an enormous amount of data on wildflower blooming, and say the blooming times are now changing rapidly. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he says that the peak time of wildflowers bursting into blooms has moved up five days per decade during his study.
Tropical Cyclone
Cyclone Gillian lashed Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island with high winds that tore the roofs off homes and brought down trees as well as power lines. Gillian was only at tropical storm force when it skirted the island, just south of Java, but later intensified into a Category-5 cyclone over a remote stretch of the eastern Indian Ocean.
Earthquakes
People in far northern Chile became alarmed by more than 300 offshore quakes that struck in a single week. The swarm began with a 6.2 magnitude temblor that prompted more than 100,000costal residents to briefly evacuate low-lying areas.
* Earth movements were also felt in the Nicobar Islands and central Oklahoma.
Ebola Outbreak
Countries across West Africa began scrambling to halt a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus that is suspected of killing at least 63 people. The hemorrhagic disease emerged in mid-March in parts of Guinea, and is now feared to have spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Initial symptoms are severe fever, headaches, muscle pain and weakness. Those can advance to life-threatening diarrhea, vomiting and hemorrhaging. Humans can become infected from bats, gorillas and forest antelope, then spread it to others through contact with infected blood, bodily fluids and tissue. Fatality rates can be as high as 90 percent.
Worm Woes
Worms struggle to cope with the use of pesticides, which a new study reveals impacts both the physiology and behavior of the important soil-aerating creatures. A Danish-French research team studied earthworms that had been living for generations in soil sprayed with a fungicide. "We see that the worms have developed methods to detoxify themselves, so that they can live in soil sprayed with fungicide. They spend a lot of energy on detoxifying, and that comes with a cost," said researchers Nicolas Givaudan and Claudia Wiegand, whose report was published in the journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry. And that cost is that they are less successful at reproducing and are much smaller than worms living in organic farming fields. There are often two to three times more earthworms in unsprayed soil than in soil treated with pesticide, the report says.
The head of the U.N.'s weather agency says that global warming has not stopped and will continue for at least centuries due to the burning of fossil fuels by humans. Michel Jarraud made the pronouncement as he presented the World Meteorological Organization's annual review of the world's climate. The report concludes that last year tied with 2007 as the sixth hottest since reliable records began over 150 years ago. It also says that 13 of the 14 qwarmest years on record have occurred in this century. "Greenhouse gases are at record levels, meaning that our atmosphere and oceans will continue to warm for centuries to come. The laws of physics are non-negotiable." Jarraud told a news conference.
Bird of Paradise
One of the most endangered waterfowl in the world has been found living in the wild on the Hawaiian island of Oahu for the first time in centuries. A pair of Hawaiian geese, or nene, is believed to have flown on its own from another island to nest on Oahu's North Shore. It has since successfully hatched three healthy goslings. The nene, the official state bird, is believed to have descended from Canada geese that arrived nearly 1 million years ago. It was brought to near extinction by the middle of the 20th century by the expansion of agriculture by early Polynesian settlers and then through unrestricted hunting by European colonists. Only 30 birds were left by 1952. But conservation efforts have lifted the population to about 2,000, mainly on the island of Kauai. Some pairs have been airlifted for resettlement to the Big Island and Maui, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the pair found on Oahu was not part of that program.
Blooming Response
Climate change has stretched the wildflower blooming season in the Rocky Mountains by more than a month, with half the flowers beginning to bloom weeks earlier than before. But researcher David Inouye of the University of Maryland says that the flowering plants response to climate change is complex, with different species responding in unexpected ways. Inouye began counting flowers in the Rockies in 1974, long before climate change was even on the scientific radar. He and his students have since amassed an enormous amount of data on wildflower blooming, and say the blooming times are now changing rapidly. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he says that the peak time of wildflowers bursting into blooms has moved up five days per decade during his study.
Tropical Cyclone
Cyclone Gillian lashed Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island with high winds that tore the roofs off homes and brought down trees as well as power lines. Gillian was only at tropical storm force when it skirted the island, just south of Java, but later intensified into a Category-5 cyclone over a remote stretch of the eastern Indian Ocean.
Earthquakes
People in far northern Chile became alarmed by more than 300 offshore quakes that struck in a single week. The swarm began with a 6.2 magnitude temblor that prompted more than 100,000costal residents to briefly evacuate low-lying areas.
* Earth movements were also felt in the Nicobar Islands and central Oklahoma.
Ebola Outbreak
Countries across West Africa began scrambling to halt a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus that is suspected of killing at least 63 people. The hemorrhagic disease emerged in mid-March in parts of Guinea, and is now feared to have spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Initial symptoms are severe fever, headaches, muscle pain and weakness. Those can advance to life-threatening diarrhea, vomiting and hemorrhaging. Humans can become infected from bats, gorillas and forest antelope, then spread it to others through contact with infected blood, bodily fluids and tissue. Fatality rates can be as high as 90 percent.
Worm Woes
Worms struggle to cope with the use of pesticides, which a new study reveals impacts both the physiology and behavior of the important soil-aerating creatures. A Danish-French research team studied earthworms that had been living for generations in soil sprayed with a fungicide. "We see that the worms have developed methods to detoxify themselves, so that they can live in soil sprayed with fungicide. They spend a lot of energy on detoxifying, and that comes with a cost," said researchers Nicolas Givaudan and Claudia Wiegand, whose report was published in the journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry. And that cost is that they are less successful at reproducing and are much smaller than worms living in organic farming fields. There are often two to three times more earthworms in unsprayed soil than in soil treated with pesticide, the report says.
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