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Visitors to the Mediterranean warned of an increase in jellyfish

Karl Mathiesen
The Guardian
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:55 UTC
Overfishing has reduced competition for food, allowing jellyfish whose stings can cause pain and nausea, to thrive
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© PA Archive/PA PhotosMauve stingers ... a brush with these can cause pain, burning, nausea and muscle cramps.

Holidaymakers are being warned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to take local advice in several Mediterranean countries as jellyfish numbers rise along coastlines popular with tourists in Greece, Spain and Malta. Jellyfish numbers have been rising consistently in the Mediterranean, and researchers warn that the increase in numbers poses a hazard to swimmers, fishing and the marine environment.

The FCO said: "We have been alerted to large numbers of jellyfish in the Mediterranean this summer, especially in a number of key holiday destinations for UK tourists. We have updated our travel advice for a number of Mediterranean countries to reflect this issue."

Up to 150,000 people are treated for jellyfish stings in the Mediterranean each year. The worst-hit coastlines this summer have been in Greece, Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Israel and Lebanon. The FCO recommends that swimmers speak to local authorities and follow their advice on where and when to swim.

Barcelona Institute of Marine Sciences researcher Josep María Gili told the Guardian in June that jellyfish represented a growing problem, both in the Mediterranean and across the world.
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Bug

Madagascar battling worst locust plague since 1950s

Mark Tran
The Guardian
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:39 UTC
Locusts threatening livelihood of 60% of population, and have already destroyed a quarter of Madagascar's food crops

Madagascar is in a race against time to raise enough money to tackle its worst plague of locusts since the 1950s. Locusts have already infested over half of the island's cultivated land and pastures, causing the loss of 630,000 tonnes of rice, corresponding to 25% of food consumption.

At least 1.5m hectares (3.7m acres) could be infested by locusts in two-thirds of the country by September, warns the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Findings from a damage assessment indicate that rice and maize crop losses due to locusts in the mid- and south-western parts of Madagascar vary, on average, from 40% to 70%, reaching up to 100% in some plots.

Madagascar's agriculture ministry declared a national disaster in November. The food security and livelihoods of 13 million people are at stake, about 60% of the island's population. Around 9 million people depend directly on agriculture for food and income.

"We don't have enough funds for pesticide, helicopters and training," said Alexandre Huynh, the FAO's representative in Madagascar. "What is extremely costly is to run helicopters [needed to spray pesticides]. We have to start in September, and we have two to three months to prepare. We need $22.4m [£15.1m] but we are quite short of that. Discussions are going on with donors."
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© Tiphaine Desjardin/FAO Adults locusts on a rock in Isalo national park, Madagascar.
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Question

Pygmy sperm whale mother dies, calf euthanized after beaching on Jupiter Island, Florida

Chris Alcantara and Sonja Isger
The Palm Beach Post
Tue, 09 Jul 2013 08:31 UTC
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© Lannis Waters/The Palm Beach PostRescue teams remove a dead pygmy sperm whale that was stranded on Jupiter Island Tuesday morning, July 9, 2013
A mother pygmy sperm whale died and her calf was euthanized after they washed ashore Tuesday morning onto a Jupiter Island beach.

Authorities spotted the mother and her calf at about 8 a.m. while they patrolled the shore about five miles north of the Blowing Rocks Preserve.

Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach and Marine Animal Rescue Society responded and evaluated the whales.

John Cassady, an FWC biologist, said the approximately 9-foot, 800-pound mother died after she landed on shore.

Loggerhead veterinarians decided to euthanized the 3-foot, 100-pound calf, saying it could not survive on its own.
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Bizarro Earth

Crews find child trapped in Indiana sinkhole

Cassie Hart
KSTP.com
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 20:27 UTC
Sinkhole
© Twitter/ABC7 ChicagoCrews trying to dig an 8 y/o boy out of sink hole along the Ind. lakefront near Mt Baldy in Michigan City.
Emergency crews were on the scene Friday in northern Indiana looking for a boy who fell into a hole in the sand near the Lake Michigan shoreline near Mount Baldy in Michigan City.

Officers at the Michigan City Police Department and the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office confirm to The Associated Press that an 8-year-old boy fell into a hole about 8 feet deep about 4:30 p.m. central time.

Michigan City police, fire and Department of Natural Resources used heavy equipment to find the child. WSBT reports the boy's family was moved from the scene to the beach around 6 p.m.

The boy was pulled from the sinkhole. No word in his condition.
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Igloo

Sun's bizarre activity may trigger another ice age

Dick Ahlstrom
The Irish Times
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:39 UTC
Solar Cycle 24
© NASAIllustration mapping the steady decline in sunspot activity over the last two solar cycles with predicted figures for the current cycle 24.
The sun is acting bizarrely and scientists have no idea why. Solar activity is in gradual decline, a change from the norm which in the past triggered a 300-year-long mini ice age.

Three leading solar scientists presented the very latest data about the weakening solar activity at a teleconference yesterday in Boulder, Colorado, organised by the American Astronomical Society. It featured experts from Nasa, the High Altitude Observatory and the National Solar Observatory who described how solar activity, as measured by the formation of sunspots and by massive explosions on the sun's surface, has been falling steadily since the mid-1940s.

The sun goes through a regular 11-year cycle with a maximum, when sunspot activity is at its peak, followed by a minimum when sunspot numbers are reduced and are smaller and less energetic. We are supposed to be at a peak of activity, at solar maximum.
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Igloo

Sun's bizarre behavior: Weakest solar cycle in 100 years

Deborah Netburn
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 07:00 UTC
Solar Flare
© NASAA solar flare bursts from the sun.
Those of us who have been paying attention to the sun this year have been a little ... disappointed.

2013 was supposed to be the year of solar maximum -- the peak of an 11-year cycle when the number of sunspots that mar the sun's surface is at its highest.

These sunspots, which are actually cool areas on the sun's surface caused by intense magnetic activity, are the sites of spectacular solar flares and CMEs, or coronal mass ejections, which can send billions of tons of solar material hurtling into space.

But this year, the serious solar fireworks show never materialized.

Sure, we've seen a handful of major solar flares, and a few extra fast CMEs, but scientists say our current solar maximum, known as solar maximum 24, is the weakest one in 100 years.

And some scientists believe that the 25th solar maximum could be even weaker.
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Alarm Clock

Sinkhole opens in Weaverville, North Carolina

John Le
WLOS.com
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:08 UTC

As we gain ground on record rainfall totals, some businesses are losing ground in Weaverville. George Bielick of Asheville has seen enough.
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Fish

Fish kill - creek deaths baffle and upset neighbors in Colonial Heights, Virginia

Wayne Covil
wtvr.com
Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:58 UTC
The Department of Environmental Quality confirmed its investigators are working to determine what killed hundreds of fish in a Colonial Heights creek. Neighbors who live near Swift Creek in Colonial Heights discovered the dead carp after a foul stench filled the air late last week. "It was a putrid smell. We thought something was dying. We took a walk through the woods and didn't see anything," Tina Wilson said. She said over the weekend her boyfriend finally found the source of the stench.

"There was hundreds of dead carp from the bridge all the way down towards the dam," Wilson said. "They were stuck in the trees. You could see their white bellies up against the banks. They were everywhere. It stunk."

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Bizarro Earth

Severe heat-wave grips Japan: 12 dead


The Extinction Protocol
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 09:12 UTC
A severe heat-wave that hit Japan a week ago has claimed at least a dozen lives, reports said Friday. The mercury has topped 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in areas right across the country for several days, with no immediate end to the misery in sight, forecasters say. Thousands of people have been taken to hospital suffering from heatstroke or exhaustion, with at least 12 of them dying, Jiji Press and other media reported. Most of those affected are over 65, but there have also been groups of schoolchildren who were participating in school activities outside. One recent death was that of a 90-year-old man whose body was discovered by his son inside an apartment. The air conditioner was turned off, Jiji said. On Friday, the day's highest temperature was 38.3 degrees Celsius (101 F) in Kawanehon town in Shizuoka prefecture. More than 40 other spots recorded highs of 35 degrees or more, Japan's meteorological agency said. News reports feature frequent reminders to drink plenty of fluids and avoid prolonged periods outdoors, in what has become a regular feature of Japan's sticky summer months. - Space Daily

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Bizarro Earth

Northern India hit by worst flooding in 50 years: 100 villages swamped in Bihar


The Extinction Protocol
Fri, 12 Jul 2013 09:09 UTC
Flood waters entered over 100 villages in Bihar in the past 24 hours, forcing people to abandon their homes, as many rivers in the state rose and posed a threat to other villages too, officials said Thursday. All the inundated villages are in the flood-prone districts of Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Muzaffarpur and Katihar. "Flood waters entered more than 100 villages of Amaur block in Purnea, Forbesganj and Sikti in Araria and Kochadham in Kishanganj. In Muzaffarpur, dozens of villages were inundated in Aurai and Katra blocks," an official of the state disaster management department said.

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The department officials told IANS that fear of floods is gripping villages again in Bihar, with water levels rising in several rivers following heavy rain in the state and in the catchment areas in neighbouring Nepal. "Water levels in the Mahananda, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Gandak, Bodhi Gandak and Kosi rivers are showing rising trend over the past two days, threatening hundreds of villages in over half a dozen districts," the official said. An unconfirmed report said that at least eight people, including three schoolgirls, have drowned in the flood water.
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