Lisa Zyga
PhysorgSun, 23 Sep 2007 13:28 UTC
Researchers have found that bats have a special ability to detect the polarity of a magnetic field, meaning that the creatures can tell the difference between north and south. The only other animal known to have this ability is the mole rat, while birds, fish, amphibians, and all other non-mammals possess a different version of the magnetic compass.
The finding may not only explain bats' long-distance navigation and foraging abilities, but also may provide insight on when and how magnetic field detection evolved in mammals and non-mammals. So explain the researchers, Yinan Wang, Yongxin Pan, Stuart Parsons, Michael Walker, and Shuyi Zhang, who are from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, East China Normal University in Shanghai, and the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
Coast guards and police in the rain-swept fishing port of Barguna in southern Bangladesh on Sunday confirmed the deaths of at least 100 fishermen.
A score of fishing trawlers were also wrecked by the rough waves in the storm-battered Bay of Bengal, Barguna's district administrator Selim Khan said.
Earlier reports on deaths and destruction said about 1,000 fishermen along with nearly 100 trawlers were missing in the high waves of the bay on Friday.
AFPSun, 23 Sep 2007 11:02 UTC
Hundreds of thousands of people were desperate for food and shelter across Africa Sunday, as record floods and fresh downpours hampered relief efforts.
The continent's worst floods in three decades have deprived some 1.5 million people of their homes and subsistence in 18 countries and killed close to 300.
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| ©AFP
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| A Kenyan uses a canoe to cross through flood water in Budalangi.
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ATHENS - A tremor with a magnitude of 5.6 shook the Dodecanese island of Karpathos in Southeastern Greece early on Sunday but causing no injuries, officials said.
CBS4Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:22 UTC
A man making a trip from Puerto Rico to South Florida to raise money for his religious education remains hospitalized Monday after he was struck down by a bolt of lightning which flew from clear blue sky on Sunday. He was selling religious materials when he was hit.
Hailu Kidane Marian was working with members of his religious group, selling religious materials door-to-door in a Northwest Miami-Dade neighborhood, when the bolt from the blue struck him down.
Tere Figueras Negrete and Luisa Yanez
Miami HeraldSat, 23 Jun 2007 05:53 UTC
With no rain or even clouds to warn him of the danger, death came literally out of the blue Thursday to a self-employed landscaper. The killer was a powerful bolt of lightning that cracked through perfectly clear skies.
David Canales, 41, of West Miami-Dade, was on the job at a Pinecrest home when the bolt hit. It first seared a tree, then traveled and struck Canales, standing nearby.
Experts said Canales was killed by a weather phenomenon fittingly called a ''bolt from the blue'' or ''dry lightning'' because it falls from clear, blue skies. He was pronounced dead at South Miami Hospital.
Heavy rain has brought chaos to Andalucia today, with roads and rail lines blocked. Several places in Sevilla Province, including Morón de la Frontera, Osuna and Montellano, have suffered flooding, while in Málaga province many inland towns and Marbella have reported huge hailstones which have broken the windows of literally hundreds of cars. It's estimated that around 500 cars were affected in Marbella alone. 18 people were treated for injuries caused by the hailstones.
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| ©EFE
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| 500 cars in Marbella saw their windscreens smashed by hailstones the size of golf balls.
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Constant rain after weeks of unseasonable drought in Central Florida created the perfect mix to open up sinkholes.
Inspectors examined two houses in Lake County with major cracks to determine whether or not sinkholes are to blame.
Just three weeks ago a sinkhole swallowed an entire kitchen in Apopka. Ten people were renting the home when the sinkhole forced them out.
APFri, 21 Sep 2007 21:46 UTC
Torrential rains, damaging winds and large hail have swept across Minnesota, knocking out power and killing at least one person.
Rescuers have recovered the body of a 13-year-old boy who drowned last night. Police say rushing water swept him over a small concrete dam.
