© Randy Becker
A crack opened up in the Big Horn Hills of Wyoming
A crack opened up in the Big Horn Hills of Wyoming
© Randy Becker
Earth Changes
© Chen Leopold/FLASH90
The flooded Weizman Street, in the central Israeli city of Raanana, due to heavy rain, October 28, 2015.
The flooded Weizman Street, in the central Israeli city of Raanana, due to heavy rain, October 28, 2015.
Heavy rains down power lines, leave hundreds stranded in major cities in Sharon region
Residents of Herzliya, Ra'anana and Kfar Saba faced heavy floods Wednesday as a brief but intense winter storm swept the area, closing major roads and flooding whole neighborhoods.
Three days after a storm knocked out power for tens of thousands of Israeli homes, Wednesday's downpour left some 15,000 households in the dark for the second time in less than a week.
Ahead of the storm, police and fire crews raised their alert level and beefed up deployment, while the Israel Electric Company called on the public to report any fallen electrical wires and readied crews in case of electricity outages.
Despite preparations, severe disruptions were reported across the area.
© gertrudda / Fotolia
Even as larvae, honey bees are tuned in to the social culture of the hive, becoming more or less aggressive depending on who raises them. The researchers don't yet know how the social information is being transmitted to the larvae.
Even as larvae, honey bees are tuned in to the social culture of the hive, becoming more or less aggressive depending on who raises them. The researchers don't yet know how the social information is being transmitted to the larvae.
"We are interested in the general issue of how social information gets under the skin, and we decided to take a chance and ask about very young bees that are weeks away from adulthood," said University of Illinois entomology professor and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology director Gene Robinson, who led the research with postdoctoral researcher Clare Rittschof and Pennsylvania State University professor Christina Grozinger.
"In a previous study, we cross-fostered adult bees from gentle colonies into more aggressive colonies and vice versa, and then we measured their brain gene expression," Robinson said. "We found that the bees had a complex pattern of gene expression, partly influenced by their own personal genetic identity and partly influenced by the environment of the colony they were living in. This led us to wonder when they become so sensitive to their social environment."
In the new study, the researchers again cross-fostered bees, but this time as larvae in order to manipulate the bees' early life experiences. The larvae were from a variety of queens, with sister larvae divided between high- and low-aggression colonies.
© File photo of Flamingos on Iran’s Lake Urmia
"The reason behind this accident is not clear yet and is under investigation," said the director of wildlife protection organization of the province of West Azarbaijan on Tuesday.
Omid Yousefi ruled out the possibility of a bird flu outbreak, and added that samples had been sent to a number of veterinary diagnostic laboratories and research centers and universities for detailed analysis.
Referring to speculations that the birds may have been poisoned by the sewage and wastewater from treatment plants in the city of Urmia and other surrounding cities, he said, "A certain answer cannot be given without the results of the tests."
He added that there are still a large number of sick birds that may perish in the near future due to their small stature.
Floodwater in Kuwait
Officials from Kuwait University and the Ministry of Education released statements regarding the suspension of studies at schools and universities due to the bad weather conditions. The measure also took into consideration the safety of students and teaching staff at educational facilities.
The Kuwait Meteorological Center warned that the weather would remain unstable and cloudy, with moderate to strong southeasterly wind with speeds of 25-50 km/h, causing rising dust and low visibility of less than 1,500 m in some areas and a chance of rain that might be thundery at times.
Dead minke whale
The body of the juvenile whale washed ashore on a beach near Bacton on Wednesday.
North Norfolk District Council said it was looking at how to remove the whale, which is beneath the Bacton Gas Terminal site.
The council said its environmental services team hoped to remove the whale "when the tide allows".
A spokeswoman said: "The location of the whale beneath the Bacton Gas Terminal site has caused some difficulty in terms of access, but working with local contractor Renosteel, the teams will be able to use specialist equipment which will be drafted in to bring an end to this sad situation."
Luapula Province commissioner of police Hudson Namachila identified the victims as John Chinyimba, 36, Good Kwempe, 41, and Mwelwa Katuba, 10, all of Chipepa village in Mwansabombombwe district.
Mr Namchila said the three met their fate at 18:25 hours.
"The three are believed to have died after lightning struck them at Nkalamo fishing camp in Luapula Province,'' Mr Namachila said.
© Derek Barry
Large hail and destructive winds hit Chinchilla this afternoon.
Large hail and destructive winds hit Chinchilla this afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said golf-ball-sized hail and destructive winds tore through the town, in the state's Western Downs, on Wednesday afternoon.
Ergon Energy said it hoped to restore power to some of those properties overnight.
The main evacuation centre was among the buildings damaged, but Western Downs Mayor Ray Brown said the building was not needed because those affected had found alternative accommodation.
Chinchilla Christian School will be closed on Thursday due to the extent of damage.
Variegated Flycatcher
Birders have been flocking to Evergreen Cemetery since Saturday, when a South American bird only seen five previous times in the United States and Canada was spotted, sending online message boards a-twitter.
The variegated flycatcher has attracted several hundred people from across the country, who are delighted it's still hanging around the graveyard at the end of Southeast 13th Street east of Federal Highway. The bird hasn't been camera shy and is providing nice views for visitors.
But its notoriety stems more from its scarcity than its beauty.
"It doesn't look spectacular, but just think of how far this bird flew from South America," said Jacque Woodward, who drove a fair distance herself from near Lake Wales to see the bird on Tuesday.
Comment: See also the following selection of reports documenting some other extraordinary bird movements across the planet so far this year -
Flamingos migrating to Caspian Sea in mortal danger - lost in Siberia
North American flycatcher arrives on British shores for the first time at Dungeness
Lost hooded warbler a big draw for Calgary birdwatchers
Wrong place, wrong time: Yellow-rumped warbler and Hooded oriole seen in Alaska for the first time
Tropical Brown booby turns up near Cape Race in Canada
Rare endangered albatross seen off Maryland coast
Lost Tropical Kingbird turns up far north of normal range, near Savage, Minnesota
Lost yellow-nosed albatross from the South Atlantic turns up near Reykjavík, Iceland
Another albatross species turns up in the wrong hemisphere, this time on Suffolk coast, UK
Swainson's Thrush from North America turns up on Welsh island in June
Wayward bird turns up on the wrong side of the Rockies in Lodi, California
Rare tropical bird found in Scott State Park, Kansas
Non-migratory citril finch from mountains of mainland Europe found near beach in Holkham,UK
Another completely lost bird: Slate-throated redstart, resident of humid highland forests, turns up on South Padre Island, Texas
Eurasian shorebird (wader) turns up far inland near Winslow, Indiana
Dusky woodswallow seen for the first time in New Zealand
© Cindy Etheve
People in Seychelles an archipelago that relies heavily on fish as its main source of protein have been alarmed by the death of large amounts of coral reef fish in recent days and the discolouration of some parts of the sea.
People in Seychelles an archipelago that relies heavily on fish as its main source of protein have been alarmed by the death of large amounts of coral reef fish in recent days and the discolouration of some parts of the sea.
A large amount of dead fish mainly coral reef fish and other marine species have been washed onshore in various parts of the main Seychelles island of Mahé, second most populated island of Praslin and other satellite islands, in recent days.
"We found it on Friday, and they could be found on almost all the beaches especially in the lagoons and where the water is usually shallow. There were all types of fish especially those that usually lives or frequents coral reef such as moray eels, parrot fish and others," Sam Hope, the Manager of Cousin, a special nature reserve, located off the west coast of Seychelles second most populated island of Praslin told SNA this morning.
"Today [three days later], we have only seen a handful but it seems whatever have cause the phenomenon has dispersed as there are not so many dead fish recorded. We have buried most of the dead fish because as you know Cousin is open to visitors throughout the week, but we have kept a few samples as well, which we hope to get analysed."
The same thing was reported by residents of several areas on Praslin including at Anse Kerlan, Amitie and Grand Anse.
Comment: Though not much publicized, the Earth's rotation has been measured to be slightly slowing. Could this phenomenon have partly contributed to the Wyoming event?