Earth Changes
People reported pictures falling off walls, said Chrystal Stacy, a Eureka-area emergency services dispatcher. There were no injuries.
The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported a steam-driven explosion from the summit of the 1,559-meter volcano at 10:58 p.m. on Tuesday. It lasted 20 minutes and was accompanied by an earthquake.
The report paints a grim picture of life on earth, with declining numbers of plants, animals, insects and birds across the globe, and warns that the current extinction rate is up to 1,000 times faster than in the past. Some 844 animals and plants are known to have disappeared in the last 500 years.
Powerful bolts had peppered nearby Buckhannon that morning, some striking close to the underground coal mine where two 13-man crews were just starting the day shift.
Two-and-a-half months later, the mine's owner said Tuesday it has evidence to prove the theory. Although it cannot fully explain how, International Coal Group Inc. officials said they believe electricity from above found some conduit into the earth, sparking methane gas that had accumulated in a worked-out, sealed-off chamber.
The fire, which broke out at 3 a.m. Central Standard Time early on Sunday at the mine in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, had forced 70 miners to rush to safety in emergency refuge rooms.
Wind-blown flames have raced across more than 1,000 square miles since Sunday, killed 11 people and forced about 1,900 others to evacuate.
But the snow -- containing dust or sand from the desert regions of northern China -- could pose a health hazard, the country's meteorological office warned.
"It's tough to say whether it's yellow sand mixed in snow or if it's snow mixed in yellow sand," a met official told Reuters.
A high concentration of the dust particles prompted the weather bureau to issue a yellow dust warning for the second time in three days.
South Korea frequently gets sand or dust storms, but a yellow snow storm is very rare.
The huge wooden poles splintered in two about 1 p.m., some crushing cars, and fell across all four lanes of the highway in what many said looked like a hurricane scene - or a disaster movie.
"This was a cross between 'War of the Worlds' and 'Earthquake,' " said Bernie Baker, contest director for the Triple Crown of Surfing who had been at the Buffalo's Big Board Surfing Classic in Makaha.
According to new research, the ability to dance may have been a factor in survival for our prehistoric ancestors, who used their moves to bond and communicate with each other when times were tough.
A study published in a recent issue of the Public Library of Science's genetics journal, suggests that, as a result, today's creative dancers actually share two specific genes. Both genes are associated with a predisposition for being good social communicators.
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