Earth Changes
LOS ANGELES - A bloom of ocean algae that produces a toxic acid has sickened and killed hundreds of birds, sea lions and dolphins in California, environmentalists said.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday.
Five plague-infected squirrels and a wild rabbit found in a Denver park are a reminder that Coloradans should take precautions to protect themselves from the potentially deadly disease, health officials say.
A parasite carried by cats is killing off sea otters, a veterinary specialist has told a major US science conference.
The Californian researcher has called for owners to keep their cats indoors.
Cat faeces carrying Toxoplasma parasites wash into US waterways and then into the sea where they can infect otters, causing brain disease.
The parasite is familiar to medical researchers, as it can damage human foetuses when expectant mothers become infected while changing cat litter.
The Californian researcher has called for owners to keep their cats indoors.
Cat faeces carrying Toxoplasma parasites wash into US waterways and then into the sea where they can infect otters, causing brain disease.
The parasite is familiar to medical researchers, as it can damage human foetuses when expectant mothers become infected while changing cat litter.
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What is causing many California sea otters to become weak, disoriented, and even unable to eat properly? The answer may hint at trouble for humans too.
What is causing many California sea otters to become weak, disoriented, and even unable to eat properly? The answer may hint at trouble for humans too.
The possibility is growing that Britain in 2007 may experience a summer of unheard-of high temperatures, with the thermometer even reaching 40C, or 104F,a level never recorded in history.
The likelihood of such a "forty degree summer" is being underlined by the tumbling over the past year of a whole series of British temperature records, strongly suggesting that the British Isles have begun to experience a period of rapid, not to say alarming, warming. This would be quite outside all historical experience, but entirely consistent with predictions of climate change.
The Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, in a joint forecast with the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, has already suggested that 2007 will be the hottest year ever recorded globally.
The likelihood of such a "forty degree summer" is being underlined by the tumbling over the past year of a whole series of British temperature records, strongly suggesting that the British Isles have begun to experience a period of rapid, not to say alarming, warming. This would be quite outside all historical experience, but entirely consistent with predictions of climate change.
The Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, in a joint forecast with the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, has already suggested that 2007 will be the hottest year ever recorded globally.
The death toll of seals washed ashore on the oil-rich Caspian in Kazakhstan since March 31 has risen to 724, the Central Asian state's emergencies ministry said Saturday.
"The overall number of dead seals as of Friday night reached 724, including 528 baby seals," the ministry said. "The coast is continuing to be monitored."
The dead seals have been found along the seashore between two major oil fields in western Kazakhstan. But officials in Kazakhstan cite weather conditions as a possible reason.
"Until February 20, most of the northeastern Caspian did not freeze, and on February 21-22 the northern Caspian had a covering of thin ice that melted by March 20. It could have had a negative effect on the baby seals," the Ministry of Environmental Protection said earlier.
"The overall number of dead seals as of Friday night reached 724, including 528 baby seals," the ministry said. "The coast is continuing to be monitored."
The dead seals have been found along the seashore between two major oil fields in western Kazakhstan. But officials in Kazakhstan cite weather conditions as a possible reason.
"Until February 20, most of the northeastern Caspian did not freeze, and on February 21-22 the northern Caspian had a covering of thin ice that melted by March 20. It could have had a negative effect on the baby seals," the Ministry of Environmental Protection said earlier.
A minor earthquake measuring five on the Richter scale struck Kent County in southeast Britain Saturday morning, causing damage but no injuries, British television said.
Sky News quoted witnesses as saying that houses had been damaged and chimneys torn from roofs. The earthquake alarmed many local residents because tremors are rare in Britain. Many thought the jolt was an explosion wave.
"We were virtually thrown out of bed at 8:15 a.m., we thought something had exploded in our house," Andrei Ostalsky, head of the Russian BBC Service, said over the phone from Folkestone, Kent, adding that the town had no electricity, the trains had stopped, and telephones were not working.
Sky News quoted witnesses as saying that houses had been damaged and chimneys torn from roofs. The earthquake alarmed many local residents because tremors are rare in Britain. Many thought the jolt was an explosion wave.
"We were virtually thrown out of bed at 8:15 a.m., we thought something had exploded in our house," Andrei Ostalsky, head of the Russian BBC Service, said over the phone from Folkestone, Kent, adding that the town had no electricity, the trains had stopped, and telephones were not working.
The message that God wants believers to be green is emerging from a Vatican conference on climate change in the latest sign of growing concern by religious groups around the world over the fate of the planet.
A mysterious affliction is killing fish once again in the Shenandoah River region.
