Earth ChangesS


Frog

When Threatened, A Few African Frogs Can Morph Toes Into Claws


Science Daily
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:18 UTC
Biologists at Harvard University have determined that some African frogs carry concealed weapons: When threatened, these species puncture their own skin with sharp bones in their toes, using the bones as claws capable of wounding predators.

The unusual defense mechanism is described by Harvard's David C. Blackburn, James Hanken, and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., in a forthcoming issue of the journal Biology Letters.

Image
©David C. Blackburn
Close-up of the foot of a living Trichobatrachus robustus showing the white bony claws protruding from the tips of the toes.

"It's surprising enough to find a frog with claws," says Blackburn, a doctoral student in Harvard's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. "The fact that those claws work by cutting through the skin of the frogs' feet is even more astonishing. These are the only vertebrate claws known to pierce their way to functionality."
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Roses

US: Climate change threatens two-thirds of California's unique plants

Margot Roosevelt
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:28 UTC
Two-thirds of California's unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their current geographic ranges by the end of the century because of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, according to a new study.

The species that cannot migrate fast enough to higher altitudes or cooler coastal areas could face extinction because of greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, according to researchers.

Comment: The dangers of climate change are real, but the standard global warming scenario as explained in the vast majority of media outlets leaves something to de desired. Read some comments on one of the most prominent of the global warming "demonologists" here:

Global Warming Demonology

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Bizarro Earth

Update: Dozens on Philippine sunken ferry rescued; 700 plus still missing

Jim Gomez
Associated Press
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:14 UTC
Bodies in life jackets washed up on islands and drifted at sea Wednesday as divers resumed the grim work of exploring the inside of a Philippine ferry that capsized during a powerful typhoon.

While the divers have only found bodies so far, officials were not willing to give up hope of finding more survivors among the more than 800 people missing since the seven-story ferry listed and went down in a half-hour or less Saturday.

"There is a slim chance that we can still find survivors" insided the ferry, coast guard Lt. Cmdr Rogelio Villanueva said. "As the days pass, indeed the chance is getting slimmer."
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Better Earth

US: Saharan dust may have you wheezing

Scott Streater
Star-Telegram
Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:00 UTC
Texas - If you're coughing and sneezing more than usual this week, you can blame it on the Sahara Desert.

An enormous cloud of Saharan dust stretching from the African coast to the Gulf of Mexico will begin moving through the Dallas-Fort Worth area today and could blanket much of North Texas off and on through next week, said Bryan Lambeth, senior meteorologist at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
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Heart

Pandas evacuated from earthquake-hit area in China


Associated Press
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00 UTC
Pandas living in an earthquake-hit part of southwestern China have been evacuated to temporary shelters due to the continuing threat of landslides and other hazards, a forestry bureau report said Tuesday.
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Question

China earthquake missing rises to 18,522


AFP
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00 UTC
The number of people missing from China's massive earthquake has risen abruptly by more than 1,000 state media reported Monday.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Waterlogged levee under pressure from Mississippi River


Associated Press
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:56 UTC
WINFIELD, Missouri - The weakest spot left along the swollen Mississippi River may be the Pin Oak levee, a barrier so tenuous that soil slides down its slope.

Only National Guard soldiers and firefighters in life vests are allowed to stack sandbags, because volunteers and heavy equipment could sink. A single muskrat recently created a geyser of riverwater by digging into the berm.
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Cloud Lightning

LA resorts to cloud-seeding in attempt to relieve drought

David Usborne
The Independent
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:35 UTC
Heaven forfend that the good folk of Los Angeles should have to stop watering their lawns or rinsing the suds off their shiny cars even if the city, indeed the entire state of California, is officially now in the grip of a drought. If we can't save water, then let's wring more of the stuff out of the clouds, by seeding them.

Cloud-seeding, you may be thinking, went out of fashion decades ago, perhaps in 1969 when the hippies swore that it was CIA scientists fiddling with nature who caused the downpours at the Woodstock music festival. Not so. In fact, it seems to be more in vogue than ever, in California and elsewhere.

Cloud seeding
©The Independent

Comment: See: Russia: Sometimes it rains cement.

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Cloud Lightning

New Zealand: Auckland hit by freezing hail storm as wintry weather grips nation

Imogen Neale
The New Zealand Herald
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:37 UTC
Auckland was hit by freezing hail storms just before 6pm and the AA sent out a general road safety warning as a wintry blast gripped much of the country.

Cold southerly winds laced with rain, sleet, hail and snow currently lashing parts of the country are expected to head offshore tonight.

Earlier today snow fell to 200m in Southland and the road warnings were issued for much of the country.

In the South Island State Highway 60 was closed north of Motueka and chains were required west of Oamaru and near Reefton.

Image
©Malcolm Gayfer
Thick snow and hail blanketed much of the South Island today.
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Hourglass

Australia: Scientist warns of water catastrophe


Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:18 UTC
Leading water experts have urged the Federal Government to tackle the country's water shortages at next week's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.

A briefing in Melbourne has been told water reform has been talked about on a federal level for 14 years, but there has been no action.
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