Earth Changes
Tornadoes tore across the nation's midsection for a second night Saturday, 24 hours after a storm leveled Greensburg, Kansas.
GREENSBURG, Kan. The tornado that razed the Kansas town of Greensburg also snatched one of its most valuable treasures. The thousand-pound Brenham pallasite meteorite is gone.
The answer to what happened to America's vanishing honeybees is simple, a caller told entomologist May Berenbaum: bee rapture. They were called away to heaven.
No, wait, it's Earth's magnetic field, another caller told the University of Illinois professor.
No, wait, it's Earth's magnetic field, another caller told the University of Illinois professor.
Comment: Don't worry, its all a joke, you can poke fun at it!
Since 1976, whale expert Ken Balcomb has led what is perhaps the longest running study on killer whales, or orcas (Orcinus orca).
Most days, the research biologist studies orcas from the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, and from his home porch perched above Puget Sound, where the animals hunt and play in summer months.
But one day last May, Balcomb and whale-watchers along the coast observed something they had never seen before. "I first heard reports from whale-watchers that orcas where behaving very unusually," Balcomb recalled. "One pod had gathered in a tight group and were moving close to shore."
Balcomb confirmed at the time that strange underwater pinging noises detected with underwater microphones were sonar. The sound originated from a U.S. Navy frigate 12 miles (19 kilometers) distant, Balcomb said. The vessel eventually moved within 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of Puget Sound.
Most days, the research biologist studies orcas from the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, and from his home porch perched above Puget Sound, where the animals hunt and play in summer months.
But one day last May, Balcomb and whale-watchers along the coast observed something they had never seen before. "I first heard reports from whale-watchers that orcas where behaving very unusually," Balcomb recalled. "One pod had gathered in a tight group and were moving close to shore."
Balcomb confirmed at the time that strange underwater pinging noises detected with underwater microphones were sonar. The sound originated from a U.S. Navy frigate 12 miles (19 kilometers) distant, Balcomb said. The vessel eventually moved within 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of Puget Sound.
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When the killer whales of Washington State's Puget Sound began vanishing, a biologist had to get an earful from the U.S. Navy to pick up clues to the mystery (Washington map).
Using supersensitive microphones, Ken Balcomb has been eavesdropping on the region's resident killer whales, also known as orcas. Unlike their transient brethren, these animals spend their entire lives in the sound.
But Balcomb's years of research unveiled a disturbing trend: Mature orcas were disappearing in the prime of their lives, and no one knew why.
When the killer whales of Washington State's Puget Sound began vanishing, a biologist had to get an earful from the U.S. Navy to pick up clues to the mystery (Washington map).
Using supersensitive microphones, Ken Balcomb has been eavesdropping on the region's resident killer whales, also known as orcas. Unlike their transient brethren, these animals spend their entire lives in the sound.
But Balcomb's years of research unveiled a disturbing trend: Mature orcas were disappearing in the prime of their lives, and no one knew why.
Experts are trying to capture a bearded seal that strayed into Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, hundreds of miles from its Arctic home.
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| ©JOE RIMKUS JR/MIAMI HERALD STAFF |
| An emaciated bearded Artic seal in the Tarpon River in Ft. Lauderdale off Rose Drive tries to look over the seawall at an ice bed put down to entice it to stay in the area. |
CROP POLLINATION: Experts struggle to explain why numbers down.
Weekend storms that swept through Kansas claimed the life of a 10th person, the Kansas Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.
The National Weather Service said Sunday that more than a dozen new tornadoes have been reported in the area where the tornado caused its heavy damage Friday.
The National Weather Service said Sunday that more than a dozen new tornadoes have been reported in the area where the tornado caused its heavy damage Friday.
The city of Casper easily eclipsed a 36-year-old record for snowfall on the fifth of May, less than a week after many residents were firing up their air conditioners.
The National Weather Service's Riverton office reported that a foot of snow had fallen on Casper Mountain as of 5 p.m., and that similar amounts had fallen in lower elevations in the city.
That obliterated a record set on May 5, 1971, when the previous record -- one inch -- fell on the city.
The National Weather Service's Riverton office reported that a foot of snow had fallen on Casper Mountain as of 5 p.m., and that similar amounts had fallen in lower elevations in the city.
That obliterated a record set on May 5, 1971, when the previous record -- one inch -- fell on the city.
GREENSBURG, Kan. - Emergency crews called off the search for more victims of a tornado that killed eight people and devastated this southwest Kansas town Friday as fresh rounds of severe weather threatened the area Saturday evening.
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| ©AP |
| Much of Greensburg lies in ruins. |
