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As if Alaska wasn’t having enough troubles due toglobalwarming, it now has a volcano threatening to erupt. MountSpurr, 80 miles from Anchorage, last erupted 12 years ago,and is now rumbling. Seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbachsays, “When we see an eruption, it commonly will start offthis way.”

In 1992, Mount Spurr’s eruption sent ash up 65,000 feet,disrupting air traffic. Seismologists are concerned abouttwo other Alaska volcanoes as well. Mount Veniaminof, about510 miles southwest of Anchorage, has been emitting smallamounts of steam and ash since April. Shishaldin Volcano, inthe Aleutian Islands, has also been emitting ash.
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Women can see more different shades of red than men becausethe gene for seeing red is on the X chromosome. Women havetwo copies of this, while men have only one.

Researchers analyzed the DNA of 236 people from around theworld and also found 85 variations of another gene on the Xchromosome that controls perception of the color green. Thismay be why 8% of men are color-blind (and have troubleseeing both red and green) while few women have thiscondition, because with two X chromosomes, it’s more likelythey’ll have at least one good copy of each gene.
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Western countries worry that the Middle East wars andterrorist threats mean there will be a shortage of oil inthe future. Both the U.S. and U.K. have plenty of coal, butburning it would cause heavy pollution as well as escalateglobal warming. But there might be a way to have our coaland use it too.

Alex Kirby writes in bbcnews.com that we could burn coalonce again if we could figure out how to get rid of thecarbon. Now U.K. scientists are investigating the idea ofpumping the carbon dioxide emissions underground or underthe ocean and storing them permanently there. This isalready being done in Norway.
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Department of Agriculture inspectors say there are big gapsin the U.S. government’s testing for Mad Cow Disease, but atop department official insists that additional cases of thedisease here won’t have any impact on our health.

In msnbc.com, Jon Bonn

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