Earth Changes
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake was recorded 46 km east of Santo in the South Pacific island archipelago of Vanuatu, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Monday.
Professor Thomas "Tommy" Gold, who has died aged 84, was the initiator, the pragmatist and the persuader among the trio of young Cambridge scientists who turned cosmology upside down in the 1950s by proposing their controversial and comforting "steady state" hypothesis of the universe. This held centre stage for several years, with Fred Hoyle as its underpinning cosmological philosopher, Hermann Bondi in mathematical support, and Tommy Gold as its extrovert propagandist.
In the modern world, science and society often interact in a perverse way. We live in a technological society, and technology causes political problems. The politicians and the public expect science to provide answers to the problems. Scientific experts are paid and encouraged to provide answers. The public does not have much use for a scientist who says, "Sorry, but we don't know". The public prefers to listen to scientists who give confident answers to questions and make confident predictions of what will happen as a result of human activities. So it happens that the experts who talk publicly about politically contentious questions tend to speak more clearly than they think. They make confident predictions about the future, and end up believing their own predictions. Their predictions become dogmas which they do not question. The public is led to believe that the fashionable scientific dogmas are true, and it may sometimes happen that they are wrong. That is why heretics who question the dogmas are needed.
More than 500 people have been evacuated from the slopes of Mount Karangetang, which has been spewing lava and hotclouds on the northern Indonesian island of Siau.
The conditions have forced authorities to raise the area's alert status, with a total of 151 families or 564 people being evacuated from three villages on the slopes of the 1,784-metre volcano.
The conditions have forced authorities to raise the area's alert status, with a total of 151 families or 564 people being evacuated from three villages on the slopes of the 1,784-metre volcano.
Are bees dying because factory farms are "overworking" them? California bee farmers who let their hives take it easy find their colonies are thriving.
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| ©Jamie Soja |
| Leah Fortin's rooftop hive. |
North Korea has reported widespread damage to homes, railways and roads following heavy rains that battered the nation last week, in a rare admission of problems within the reclusive country.
"Officials and working people in various parts of the country have turned out as one in the relief and rehabilitation activities," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
"A large acreage of land under cultivation" has been washed away or buried, with roads, railways, houses and public buildings destroyed, it added.
"Officials and working people in various parts of the country have turned out as one in the relief and rehabilitation activities," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
"A large acreage of land under cultivation" has been washed away or buried, with roads, railways, houses and public buildings destroyed, it added.
Nineteen people were killed and 37 missing after violent rainstorms triggered floods in northwest China, state media reported Saturday.
The rainstorms, which started to hit the southeastern part of Shaanxi province Monday, destroyed homes and ruined crops, causing 280 million yuan (37 million dollars) in damages, a provincial flood control headquarters official told Xinhua news agency.
The rainstorms, which started to hit the southeastern part of Shaanxi province Monday, destroyed homes and ruined crops, causing 280 million yuan (37 million dollars) in damages, a provincial flood control headquarters official told Xinhua news agency.
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake shook parts of western Greece on Sunday but no damage or injuries were reported, authorities said.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake occurred at 14:20 p.m. (1120 GMT) northeast of Paxos island in the Ionian Sea, some 330 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Athens.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake occurred at 14:20 p.m. (1120 GMT) northeast of Paxos island in the Ionian Sea, some 330 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Athens.
CNN UPDATED REPORT:
MADRID, Spain -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 shook central Spain on Sunday and was felt from Madrid to the southern and eastern coasts, the National Geographic Centre said.
The quake struck near Ciudad Real, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Madrid, at 9:47 a.m. (0747 GMT). No damage was immediately reported.
The Geographic Centre had originally reported the magnitude as 4.7.
"We live close to Ciudad Real and we felt it really strongly," one caller told Cadena SER radio. "This noise came up from beneath us and rumbled away under our feet."
Residents of Madrid said they were woken by the quake.
MADRID, Spain -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 shook central Spain on Sunday and was felt from Madrid to the southern and eastern coasts, the National Geographic Centre said.
The quake struck near Ciudad Real, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Madrid, at 9:47 a.m. (0747 GMT). No damage was immediately reported.
The Geographic Centre had originally reported the magnitude as 4.7.
"We live close to Ciudad Real and we felt it really strongly," one caller told Cadena SER radio. "This noise came up from beneath us and rumbled away under our feet."
Residents of Madrid said they were woken by the quake.
HONOLULU - Hurricane Flossie strengthened to a Category 4 storm Saturday as it spun more than 1,000 miles south of Hawaii.
The hurricane could pass by Hawaii late Tuesday or early Wednesday, forecasters said, but by then cooler waters should weaken Flossie considerably to a tropical storm.
The hurricane could pass by Hawaii late Tuesday or early Wednesday, forecasters said, but by then cooler waters should weaken Flossie considerably to a tropical storm.
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| ©Accuweather |
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