Logging The Cyber World

Tags: heat wave, lack of rain, moscow hottest day, mowcow smogs, wheat crops

A month-long record-breaking heatwave has sparked nearly 50 fires in the Moscow region and the capital is sweltering under a thick layer of smog.
Health experts say pollution levels in parts of the city are 10 times higher than normal safety limits and advise locals to stay indoors or wear masks. A state of emergency has been declared in more than 20 drought-hit regions.

It is estimated a fifth of the country’s wheat crop has now died due to the lack of rain in what is thought to be the country’s worst drought for more than a century. Scores have died in the heatwave, some drowning having taken a swim after drinking too much vodka.

More on BBC News

Tags: arctic ocean, doomsday, frozen methane, global warming, methane, siberian sea, temperature rising

Doomsday scenario goes something like this: If global temperatures keep rising, some methane hydrates will melt, sending methane gas bubbling up through the ocean and into the atmosphere. Like any good greenhouse gas, the methane will trap heat close to Earth’s surface, causing temperatures to climb even higher. Hotter temperatures will melt more hydrates, and on and on. In other words, methane hydrates could trigger the mother of all feedback loops. The story, says David Archer, a geophysicist at the University of Chicago, “has a great apocalyptic side to it.”

A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov.

The research results, published in the March 5 edition of the journal Science, show that the permafrost under the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, long thought to be an impermeable barrier sealing in methane, is perforated and is leaking large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.

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Tags: Bubal hartebeest, extinct animals, Golden Toad, photograph, Quagga, syrian wild ass, tasmanian tiger

The current rate of extinction is 100 to 1000 times higher than the average, or background rate, making our current period the 6th major mass extinction in the planet’s history.

Although fossil reconstructions or pictorial representations can sometimes be difficult to connect with, it’s impossible to ignore the experience of seeing a photograph of an animal on the brink of extinction.

Thus, what follows is a list of 11 extinct animals that were photographed while still alive.

More photos at ecoworldly.com

Tags: albino dolphin, louisiana lake, pink dolphin, pink mammal, reddish eyes dolphin

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: “I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

“It was absolutely stunningly pink.

“I had never seen anything like it. It’s the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.

“The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.

“The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it’s albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

“I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.

Full Article at Telegraph.co.uk

Tags: barreleye, fish, macropinna microstoma, Nature, solving, transparent fish, transparent head

Since 1939, scientists have thought the “barreleye” fish Macropinna microstoma had “tunnel vision” due to eye that were fixed in place. Now though, Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers show that the fish actually has a transparent head and the eyes rotate around inside of it. From the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

(Bruce) Robison and (Kim) Reisenbichler used video from MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to study barreleyes in the deep waters just offshore of Central California. At depths of 600 to 800 meters (2,000 to 2,600 feet) below the surface, the ROV cameras typically showed these fish hanging motionless in the water, their eyes glowing a vivid green in the ROV’s bright lights. The ROV video also revealed a previously undescribed feature of these fish–its eyes are surrounded by a transparent, fluid-filled shield that covers the top of the fish’s head.

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Tags: australia, crime scenes, fire zone, forest fire, wild fire

WHITTLESEA, Australia – Suspicions that the worst wildfires ever to strike Australia were deliberately set led police to declare crime scenes Monday in towns incinerated by blazes, while investigators moving into the charred landscape discovered more bodies. The death toll stood at 130.

Officials believe arson may be behind at least some of the more than 400 fires that tore a destructive path across a vast swath of southern Victoria state over the weekend. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, visibly upset during a television interview, reflected national disgust at the idea.

“What do you say about anyone like that?” Rudd said. “There’s no words to describe it, other than it’s mass murder.”

Police have sealed off at least two towns — Marysville and Kinglake — where dozens of deaths occurred — setting up roadside checkpoints and controlling access to the area.

Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said specialist fire investigators were on the ground at one fire site, in Churchill, east of Melbourne, and would go to others.

Read more… Yahoo News

Update: See Photos here