The problems climate change looks likely to bring in the future may increasingly be visible in the records of the past. Not just in the far-off ages of surging sea levels following ice-age thaws, spikes in prehistoric temperatures correlated with natural releases of greenhouse gas and ancient civilisations brought low by drought, but in records from living memory - which are based on reliable measurements made at the time. Using such data researchers have now compiled an estimate of global changes in crop yields which can be put down to recent increases in temperature and decreases in rainfall (the world as a whole is getting wetter, but the rain has stayed away from some agricultural plains). The bad news is that they find that climate change has lowered the amount of maize (or corn, if you prefer) and wheat produced in a given area. The good news is that the effect is so far reasonably small.

Guatemalan departments of Quetzaltenango and Retalhuleu were declared this Friday in yellow alert due to the increased activity of the volcano Santiaguito.

According to the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology of Guatemala (Insivumeh), the increase is manifested in the number of explosions per hour.

The video Steve Hoag shot of an April tornado bearing down on him in Wilson, N.C., is taking the Internet by storm.

More than 1 million viewers have watched the video and heard his calm narration as an EF2 twister blew up a transformer, exploded a building and then swirled debris around him on April 16.

Gutsy? Idiotic? Crazy?

Accident, Hoag said.

And it's not something amateurs should try, say storm experts - and Hoag himself.

"If I came upon a similar situation today, I'd see if I could turn around and drive the other way," Hoag said in an interview Thursday.

But it's also something that apparently is becoming more common in this digital age, when it seems that just about everyone has a camera as close as a cellphone.

That was apparent again last week when more than 300 tornadoes touched down in six Southern states and killed at least 318 people. Some amateur videos taken during that outbreak have added to concerns being voiced by National Weather Service officials.

Heavy rain the past month, particularly in Southern Illinois, has wheat growers on high alert for an outbreak of fusarium head blight (FHB), commonly known as scab.

Steve Stallman, a wheat grower from Chester in Randolph County and president of the Illinois Wheat Association, last week contracted for aerial applications of fungicide on his wheat fields.

"We have the perfect conditions for a widespread outbreak of scab and disease problems," Stallman said. "I'm going to do whatever I can to protect my crop."

This unusual specimen might look like something out of a horror movie, but it proved to be one of the highlights of Peter Bailey's most recent trip to the prolific waters off the north of Norway.

The prehistoric-looking wolf fish, which pulled the scales around to 16lb 15oz, is one of the biggest landed on rod and line so far this year.

It was caught on a baited pirk when Peter braved strong winds and snow in an area around Kokelv - which is perhaps better known for producing monster cod to well over 70lb in recent months.

Friday afternoon from about noon to 1 p.m. some folks in west central Minnesota looked up in the sky and saw a mysterious halo around the sun.

"What does it mean?" observers inquired.

"It's an angel," one person commented.

"Nah, it's some scientific thing," said another.

"I think it's God," declared another.

This article was first published in issue 13, volume 1 / 2011 of The Dot Connector Magazine, official publication of Sott.net.

"Comets are vile stars. Every time they appear in the south, they wipe out the old and establish the new. Fish grow sick, crops fail, Emperors and common people die, and men go to war. The people hate life and don't even want to speak of it." -Li Ch'un Feng, Director, Chinese Imperial Astronomical Bureau, 648, A.D.

In 2007, a meteorite fell in Puno, Southeastern Perú. José Macharé - scientist of the Geologic, Mining and Metallurgic Institute in Perú - said that the space rock fell near a muddy area by Lake Titicaca, making the water boil for around ten minutes, and mixing with the soil and emanating a gray cloud, the components of which remain unknown. Having discarded radioactive poisons, this toxic cloud is said to have caused headaches and respiratory problems in at least 200 persons from a population of 1500 inhabitants. Other than this event, how often do we hear about people getting sick due to a rock coming from space? How about birds, fish or other animals? Ancient astrologers cite comets as ill omens of death and famine, but are there any other causes other than the ones due to physical/mechanical consequences of comet impact devastation in our fragile environment of which we should be aware?

As a physician, I usually concentrate strictly on medical and health-related issues, not history or catastrophism. However, like so many other people, I see signs of atmospheric changes on our planet which, according to many experts, may well be due to increasing comet dust loading. When I read about increasing reports of fireballs all around the world, and I know that these factors must have an effect on the health of individuals and societies, it motivates me to do the research to find the connections so that I am better prepared for what may lie in our future. If our planet is entering a new cometary bombardment cycle, and if these comets harbor new species of microbes unknown to mankind's collective immunological systems (as may well be the case), then being forewarned is being forearmed.

According to the late Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe of the University of Wales at Cardiff, viruses can be distributed throughout space by dust in the debris stream of comets. Then as Earth passes though the stream, the dust and viruses load our atmosphere, where they can stay suspended for years until gravity pulls them down. They compare numerous plagues throughout our history which coincide with cometary bodies in our skies. These researchers are certain that germs causing plagues and epidemics come from space.

In a letter to Lancet [1],Wickramasinghe explains that a small amount of a virus introduced into the stratosphere could make a first tentative fallout east of the great mountain range of the Himalayas, where the stratosphere is thinnest, followed by sporadic deposits in neighboring areas. Could this explain why new strains of the influenza virus that are capable of engendering epidemics, and which are caused by radical genetic mutations, usually originate in Asia? Wickramasinghe argues that if the virus is only minimally infective, the subsequent course of its global progress will depend on stratospheric transport and mixing, leading to a fallout continuing seasonally over a few years; even if all reasonable attempts are made to contain an infective spread, the appearance of new foci almost anywhere is a possibility.

In the last few years, there has been an unexplained spike in the number of whales washing ashore. While the National Marine Fisheries Service has declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, it's more than just oil spills that are causing increased strandings worldwide. And experts are worried.

The numbers of beached whales have been gradually rising, peaking in 2009 with 46 whales coming ashore, and The Department of Environment and Conservation is conducting an investigation into what could be causing the rise, reports ABC news.

It could be anything from nutrition issues to sonar that drives whales off course, disorients them, or can even cause internal damage. While there has been a rash of strandings in Florida, including at least 15 pilot whales that washed ashore this week in the Florida keys, experts are quick to point out that the BP gulf oil spill is a possible cause, but not the only factor. Earth Times points out that, "A number of recent strandings in other regions happened well before the Deepwater spill occurred. In March 2009, 194 whales and a small dolphin pod became stranded on the coast of Tasmania, and most did not survive. The previous November, 150 pilot whales died in another mass stranding in Tasmania... In February 2011, 107 whales died on the coast of New Zealand."

Blasting open a levee and submerging more than 200 square miles of Missouri farmland has likely gouged away fertile topsoil, deposited mountains of debris to clear and may even hamper farming in some places for years, experts say.

The planned explosions this week to ease the Mississippi River flooding threatening the town of Cairo, Ill., appear to have succeeded - but their effect on the farmland, where wheat, corn and soybeans are grown, could take months or even years to become clear. The Missouri Farm Bureau said the damage will likely exceed $100 million for this year alone.

"Where the breach is, water just roars through and scours the ground. It's like pouring water in a sand pile. There is that deep crevice that's created," said John Hawkins, a spokesman for the Illinois Farm Bureau. "For some farmers, it could take a generation to recoup that area."

The issue is vital to farmers and the state of Missouri, whose attorney general repeatedly tried to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan to break the levee. Opponents of the move argued it would leave the farmland buried under feet of sand and silt, rendering it useless for years.

It's still not clear how much damage the intentional flooding will cause and how farmers will be compensated for losses to the land and roughly 100 houses scattered through the area. Experts said the extent of the damage can't be accurately assessed until the floodwaters recede, and that likely will take months.

Lava erupted continuously within Pu'u 'O'o over the past week, feeding a small lava lake in the center of the crater. Changes in eruptive output commonly resulted in overflows from the lake that slowly built up the crater floor, which is about 70 m (230 ft) below the east rim of Pu'u 'O'o. No lava is erupting outside the crater.

A small, stable lava lake was also present deep within the Halema'uma'u Overlook vent during the past week. Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated, resulting in relatively high concentrations of sulfur dioxide downwind.