Home  »  Headline News

On:

Scientists trying to isolate which faults under Southern California present the greatest earthquake hazard have found that people have a bigger impact on local ground motion than tectonic activity does.

Groundwater pumping is apparently causing the Earth?s surface to rise and fall every year. Scientists made the discovery by comparing their data with space-based instruments designed to measure the subtle movements of Earth.

It turns out that the Los Angeles basin undergoes a tectonic squeeze, as drinking water is pumped out each summer, resulting in a drop as large as 100 feet in the water table. In winter and spring the ground bounces back, as water is pumped into the ground and stored in natural reservoirs.
read more

On:

Mysterious Fish Deaths Around the World

We recently reported that hundreds of dead fish are washing up on the shores of Lake Erie in the U.S. Now we?ve learned that an official investigation in Kuwait has been unable to determine the cause of death of 1,000 tons of fish washed up on its shores. Environment officials have suggested that a heat wave which has sent water temperatures soaring might be to blame.

The government responded to the sudden influx of dead fish by imposing a ban on fishing in Kuwaiti waters and setting up a committee to examine the issue. But the committee has failed to discover the cause of the phenomenon. ?A thousand tons of dead fish have been found [since mid-August],? the committee reported.
read more

On:

Accounts of strange, loud noises and mysterious lights in the sky have been coming from witnesses in Maine. No explanations have been found, but the number of theories is growing.

An astronomer in Greene suggests meteor fragments burning up in the atmosphere, like those recently seen in Colorado, are the cause. Another Greene man is convinced that the military is at the root of the phenomenon. And two men, including one who used to work on military craft, spotted jet fighters in the sky on a night when the lights were seen. There are also people who said they have not ruled out the possibility of beings from another planet.
read more

On:

Mercury Pollution from Wildfires

As thousands of acres continue to burn across the western United States, scientists from The National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Washington are flying over the wildfires to measure mercury emissions in their smoke.

During a wildfire, mercury stored in the foliage and ground litter is released and carried into the atmosphere, says NCAR scientist Hans Friedli. He and Lawrence Radke are conducting research flights over wildfires and prescribed burns. Scientists are trying to understand the global sources of atmospheric mercury, as well as how much of the dangerous substance ends up in the food chain.
read more