Earth ChangesS

Bizarro Earth

Warning of major aftershock sparks panic in China

Chengdu, China - A government warning of a major aftershock sent thousands of panicked survivors running into the darkened streets Monday night following an unprecedented display of mourning for more than 34,000 people killed in a powerful earthquake one week ago.

Ladybug

Thousands of bees spark buzz in Staten Island shopping center

A parking lot in the New Springville section of Staten Island went to the bees this afternoon, as thousands of the insects swarmed from a makeshift hive built on a shopping cart.

Phoenix

Raging wildfires continue, casting a haze over South Florida



Helicopters fighting Florida fir
©TIM CHAPMAN / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Two National Park Service helicopters pick up water from a south Miami-Dade canal to be used in containing a fire on the eastern edge of Everglades National Park to the west of SW 232 Street.

The Everglades wildfire burning in Southwest Miami-Dade continued to spread Sunday, scorching thousands more acres. And there was more bad news: the winds are not helping.

Steady south-westerly winds are blowing thick, smoky haze and the smell of fire over Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Bizarro Earth

Florida under dense smoke adivsory amid wildfires

Miami - Parts of southern Florida were under a dense smoke advisory on Sunday as firefighters worked to control several wildfires that have burned about 62 square miles.

Magnet

The mystery of the missing Goa beach

Panaji: The stunning Sinquerim-Candolim shoreline disappears from June to January. This isn't a natural phenomenon, it is the effect of a 240-m-long ore carrier sitting a mere 300 metres from the beach since the last eight years.

In Goa, most beach stretches are partly submerged during the three-month monsoon period because of the turbulent tides.

By October, the waters recede to reveal the sandy shore. Not however, in this tourist centric beach stretch.

Cloud Lightning

Belleville school zapped by lightning

Illinois, U.S. - Workers this morning repaired a basketball-sized hole created when lightning struck near the roof of Roosevelt School in Belleville.

District 118 Superintendent Matt Klosterman said the strike was at about 8:50 a.m. Tuesday where fifth and sixth grade classrooms are located. No students were in the area at the time because they were at Jefferson School for field day. Field day was canceled by the storm.

Frog

California: Frogs invade Rosedale neighborhood

Bryant and Laura Loke said thousands of tiny frogs that have invaded their Rosedale neighborhood.

They said on any given day, the little critters can been seen hopping their way through yards, and even into homes.

Bell

Mysterious Arctic whale under threat from changing habitat



narhwal
©Paul Nicken
The narhwal's spiral tusk has been likened to that of the mythical unicorn.

Polar bears may get more attention - and later this week a
court-ordered decision by the US government will almost certainly see
them listed as a threatened species - but new research suggests the narwhal, the mysterious whale with a long spiral tusk, may be more at risk from climatic change. Researchers fear that the narwhal is so attuned to its environment, so narrow in its range of habitat and specific in diet, that it may be one of the least able of Arctic mammals to adapt to rapid warming in the high north.

Hourglass

Tsunami quake in 2004 may have had a hand in latest disaster

FORCES that triggered the earthquake in China on Monday may have been born in the geological event that triggered the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, killing more than 230,000 people, an Australian seismologist says.

Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.1 quake hits Sichuan, China

WASHINGTON - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake shook Sichuan province in China on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, five days after a massive tremor killed tens of thousands of people.

USGS reported the latest earthquake, which follows scores of slightly less strong aftershocks during the week, was nearly 50 miles deep and hit 49 miles west of Guangyuan.