A number of mysteries surround the crash yesterday of HeliosAirways Flight 522, bound from Cyprus to Prague via Athens.The plane lost contact with ground controllers and Greekfighters were dispatched to observe it and escort it to theground. Two Greek Air Force F-16s intercepted the 737 at34,000 feet.
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In the latest incident of wacky weather, the National Weather Service in Phoenix reports a lightning bolt so powerful it looked like a volcano and sounded like a dynamite blast. It damaged 13 homes in the area.
After striking one house, the lightning spread to other houses in the neighborhood through wet soil and underground wiring. Firefighters in the town of Mesa say they’ve never seen another lightning bolt this fierce.
The lightning’s high heat exploded underground wires and cables. After diving into the soil, the lightning bolt flew upwards, scattering debris like a volcano and leaving scorched areas around the metal fittings on houses. No one was injured.
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Even a minor stroke can change the way painters create art. Their painting style can change, as well as the colors they choose. In the Journal of Neurology, scientists report on their studies of two professional painters, both of whom had a stroke, and how it changed their art.
In one artist, the stroke was in the occipital lobe of the brain, which is involved in processing visual imagery. The second artist had a stroke in the limbic thalamus, which is connected to the frontal lobes of the brain, the seat of creativity. After resuming their work, neither painter changed the types of subjects he chose. But an art critic noted that both had definite changes in style.
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A massive, unexpected thaw that covers an area of Siberia the size of France and Germany combined is now releasing billions of tons of the super global warming gas methane into the atmosphere. This will cause the kind of methane spike that preceded the last period of extreme warming 15,000 years ago, which was followed by a violent change to a much different climate. This is poised to happen again.
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