News Summaries - archives page 1
Important, Unusual, but from real sources, mainstream, and CLO inside information.

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Update as of March 26th, 2006

Here is another article posted by space.com we thought you might find interesting.

Comets Posing as Asteroids Might be Source of Earth’s Water
By Tariq Malik - Staff Writer

Icy comets embedded the in belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter may point to the origin of Earth’s own water supply, scientists said Thursday.

Three comets exhibiting quite uncomet-like behavior have been found orbiting the Sun in a manner more expected of rocky asteroids. Dubbed “main-belt comets” by researchers, the objects suggests that comets and asteroids share more in common than previously thought, and that water found on Earth may have also taken root in the asteroid belt.

“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said University of Hawaii astronomer David Jewitt in a telephone interview. “We said in our study there may be hundreds of them out there, but there could be thousands.”

The difference

Asteroids tend to be made of rock and metal. Comets, which typically spend most of their existence beyond Neptune and visit the inner solar system infrequently if ever, hold more water ice and other icy chemicals and are often called icy dirtballs.

Jewitt and graduate student Henry Hsieh, who led the study, used the Gemini North Telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea to find that on object dubbed Asteroid 118401 was not really an asteroid at all.

Their observations found the “asteroid” was ejecting dust like a comet. The Nov. 26 discovery came one month after a similar object was discovered by the Spacewatch project in Arizona. Astronomers have known of a third comet-like object, 133P/Elst-Pizarro, for about 10 years; it no longer seems an isolated oddball.

“The main-belt comets are unique in that they have tight, circular, asteroid-like orbits, and not the elongated, often tilted orbits characteristic of all other comets,” Hsieh said in a statement. “At the same time, their cometary appearance makes them unlike all other previously observed asteroids.”

The research was detailed March 23 in the online version of the journal Science.

Watering a planet

Astronomers believe that the Earth formed under hot and dry conditions, relying on ice from comets to build up its stores of water and become habitable. But studies of traditional comet ice have found that their water composition is quite different that that of Earth’s oceans, Jewitt said.

Main-belt comet ice appears to have formed while the solar system was still a vast protoplanetary nebula of raw material under much warmer temperatures than the conditions where traditional comets formed, out in the Kuiper Belt on the frigid fringe of our planetary neighborhood, Jewitt said.

Because of their proximity, main belt comets could have served as a major source for Earth’s water, the researchers said.

More study is needed to determine if the main-belt comet ice is chemically similar to that found on Earth. To do that, Jewitt says, a full-sky survey is required to scan the myriad asteroids in the for other comet-like objects.

Since main-belt comets are somewhat predictable in their orbits and relatively close to Earth, they might even prove attractive targets for future missions.

“These guys are close astronomically, so yes, we could probably do something with a spacecraft,” Jewitt said. 

Update as of March 25th, 2006

We thought this was an interesting one published by the UK's "The Times".

London 'under water by 2100' as Antarctica crumbles into the sea
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent

DOZENS of the world’s cities, including London and New York, could be flooded by the end of the century, according to research which suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought.

The first study to combine computer models of rising temperatures with records of the ancient climate has indicated that sea levels could rise by up to 20ft (6m) by 2100, placing millions of people at risk.

The threat comes from melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, which scientists behind the research now believe are on track to release vast volumes of water significantly more quickly than older models have predicted. Their analysis of events between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, when the Arctic last warmed to temperatures forecast for 2100, shows that there could be large rises in sea level.

While the Greenland ice sheet is expected to start melting as summer temperatures in the Arctic rise by 3C degrees to 5C (5.4F-9F), most models suggest that the ice sheets of Antarctica will remain more stable.

The historical data, however, show that the last time that Greenland became this warm, the sea level rise generated by meltwater destabilized the Antarctic ice, leading to a much higher increase than can be explained by Arctic ice alone.

That means that the models of sea-level rise used to predict an increase of up to 3ft by 2100 may have significantly underestimated its ultimate extent, which could be as great as 20ft.

Such a rise would threaten cities such as London, New York, Bombay and Tokyo. Large parts of the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Florida would be inundated, and even smaller rises would flood extreme low-lying areas, such as several Pacific islands and New Orleans.

“Although the focus of our work is polar, the implications are global,” said Bette Otto-Bliesner, of the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who led the study. “These ice sheets melted before and sea levels rose. The warmth needed isn’t that much above present conditions.”

Her colleague, Jonathan Overpeck, of the University of Arizona, said: “This is a real eye-opener set of results. The last time the Arctic was significantly warmer than the present day, the Greenland ice sheet melted back the equivalent of two to three metres (6ft-10ft) of sea level. Contrary to what was previously believed, the research suggests the Antarctic ice sheet also melted substantially, contributing another 6ft to 10ft of sea level rise.”

The findings, which are published today in the journal Science, have emerged from a study that used data from ancient coral reefs, ice cores and other natural records to reconstruct the climate during the last gap between Ice Ages. In this interglacial period, between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, temperatures in the Arctic were between 3C and 5C above present levels — a similar level to that predicted for the end of this century.

The scientists found that meltwater from Greenland raised the sea level by up to 11ft, but coral records showed that the total global rise was between 13ft and 20ft. Dr Overpeck said that the melting of Antarctic ice sheets was the most likely explanation. As sea levels rose, the floating ice shelves off the coast of the continent would have become more likely to break up. That in turn would have allowed glaciers to dump more ice from the continent itself into the sea.

He said that this was particularly worrying at present as the base of the West Antarctic ice sheet lay below sea level, which would allow ice to escape to the sea easily.

Several recent studies have indicated that the Greenland ice sheet, which contains enough water to raise sea levels by 23ft, and the West Antarctic sheet, which holds enough for a 20ft rise, are thinning. Both are expected to take several centuries to melt completely, but could release substantial quantities of water by 2100.

Dr Overpeck said that the results added to the urgency of measures to control the greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2100776,00.html

Update as of March 24th, 2006

Some Say World Events May Mean End Of Days - CBS, Chicago reported that some Christian sects are expecting Jesus to return to earth in the prophesized second coming of Christ. 

According to the Book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible, it says right after before Jesus comes, there will be a time of great tribulation. 

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The War in Iraq. The Southeast Asian tsunami of December 2004. Hurricane Katrina and much more. Could this be THE "time of great tribulation"?

All of these were catastrophic events that happened within a short period in the planet’s history, and as CBS 2’s Jim Williams reported, some Christian sects believe they might indicate that the end could be near.

And as to recent disasters and events, the author of "Left Behind" Jerry Jenkins says, "It sure seems like we're headed toward something."
Jenkins added: "We do believe that everything on prophetic calendar that is to predict the second coming of Christ has happened, so it could be today, it could be tomorrow."

Whether you believe in the "rapture" or that the world is going to come to an end or not, Christians aren't the only one's who have the end of the world in our life time as a prophecy. The Hopi Indians, Hawaii's Kahunas, some Jews, Mormons, and so many others. 

If you open your eyes and look around, it's not to hard to see. Look at what's going on in the world, let alone in nature, and it's bound to get worse. Reading the news and what's going on can help put the "walk with death by your side" concept in perspective.

Update as of March 23rd, 2006

Below is an article published by the San Diego City BEAT. It contains a lot of information on what's happening with the Earth and what scientists have to say. 

It’s getting hot in here
Ice sheets are melting, the weather is changing and Eugene Linden wonders why no one seems to care

by Kit Stolz 

You don’t need to be a climatologist to see which way the weather is heading. It’s getting warmer. Glaciers around the world are vanishing into the sky; if the current warming trend continues, Glacier National Park will be without glaciers by 2030. The Greenland ice sheet is melting at 250 percent the rate it was 10 years ago, according to a report just published in Science magazine. The Antarctic ice sheet is also shrinking, which has come as a surprise to experts. In Canada, the mountain pine beetle—no longer controlled by cold winters—is expected to destroy most of the forests of British Columbia. The Canadian Forest Service says it is the largest insect epidemic in North American history and expects it to continue to spread.

But will this matter to us? Eugene Linden, a former science writer for Time, fears it will. In his recently published book, The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations, he looks at how climate shifts have devastated civilizations in the past, and connects that to the recent discovery, based on eons-old ice records, that “in the past, climate made many large, sudden shifts from warm to cold and cold to warm.” This he calls a “flickering climate.”

For decades, scientists thought climate was like a dial that could be turned up or down without causing chaos. Now, studies of Greenland ice cores have convinced scientists it’s more like a switch, and that, if thrown, the basic structure of the climate could change hugely and rapidly, with potentially extreme winds and drops in average temperatures of as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few years. This is what Linden is trying to bring to our attention. He discussed it recently in an interview:

How does our state of knowledge regarding global warming compare with what people in the Middle Ages knew about the Black Plague? Are we equally ignorant?

I would say we’re ahead of the people of the Middle Ages, who didn’t understand disease theory, but we’re not anywhere near close to a full understanding of what we’re facing. Everything is a surprise right now. We think the Antarctic ice sheet should be getting bigger, but it’s not. The Greenland ice sheet is wasting far more quickly than we thought it would. But we do know that we have put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than at any point in the last 400,000 years, and we can normalize for everything else, including sunspot activity. Since CO2 started going off the charts, crazy things have started to happen.

According to the White House, the president focuses every day on the hazards facing the American people. In ignoring global warming, is he ignoring a threat as great as or greater than Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein?

The weather is a weapon of mass destruction. I think Bush was blindsided by Katrina because he somehow has been convinced that climate is a non-issue that doesn’t involve national security. But the fact is that Katrina did more damage than 9/11; there was less loss of life, but much greater economic damage, and we were warned about Katrina. I agree with Sir David King [the scientific adviser to Great Britain], who argues that global warming poses a greater threat to humanity than terrorism.

Regarding the dangers of a flickering climate, you write that the cities would be hard pressed to maintain their infrastructure, that FEMA would be bankrupted and that businesses would struggle to show profits. This would mean that “governments would find tax receipts drastically reduced, and in the world’s tightly coupled markets, financial tsunamis would rocket through the system, leaving banks and corporations insolvent. Financial panics, largely absent for over 70 years, would return with a vengeance.” Could this be worse than the Great Depression?

Yeah. It would be. I put a lot of thought into that paragraph; I was very measured. And I don’t even think that’s the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is simply unimaginable: mass starvation. We had one little hurricane last year that played a big role in knocking two points off the GDP in the fourth quarter, but we’re not talking about one little hurricane; we’re talking about lots of different events happening around the world simultaneously. Not to act to reduce the risk is lunacy.

What sort of prudential measures, if any, have you and your family taken against societal breakdown caused by global warming?

We haven’t taken prudential measures. I’m not a survivalist. I compare our situation to that of Europe in World War II. When you think about that history, you wonder: Why on earth did people stay in Europe? But if you look at what happened, once Stalin and Hitler took control, people found there was nowhere to go. If the wheels really do come off, there will be no place to go. Somebody said to me, well, if that happens, the rich will still have their vehicles. But if nobody else has vehicles, the rich won’t be able to keep theirs, either.

When did you first get interested in climate change?

I’ve followed this issue forever, but back in l988 we had that incredibly hot summer in Washington during which [Sen.] Tim Wirth [a Democrat from Colorado] held hearings that put the issue on the map. Scientists first started speculating about this issue decades earlier, and George Woodwell and Roger Revelle started to raise alarms about loading the atmosphere with carbon, and accurately predicted that without action on greenhouse gases, the weather would be changing by 2000. If we’d listened back then, we might not be seeing the effects we’re beginning to see now.

You quote Wallace Broecker of Columbia University on Greenland ice: “Through the record kept in Greenland ice, a disturbing characteristic of the Earth’s climate system has been revealed, that is, its capability to undergo abrupt switches to very different states of operation....” Could such an “abrupt switch” lead to a decades-long El Niño?

That would be one of the possibilities. I’m hedging on El Niño because there are still a lot of unknowns about how El Niño links with other climate cycles, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Some speculate that El Niño might be a delivery system for global warming…. If you change the geometry of atmospheric circulation over the Pacific, for instance, it might lead to a shutdown of the California Current, and in short order you’d have no more redwoods.

A prominent climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Bill Patzert, jokes that El Niño has always been part of our climatic pattern and ought to be called “El Nincompoop” for people who aren’t prepared for its effects. Is it possible that a decades-long El Niño wouldn’t be so bad?

El Niño barely budges the needle as a climate-change event. Even the big l998 El Niño that caused $100 billion damage represented a global temperate change on the order of one degree. The threat is change many times that magnitude.

Most people don’t realize that the consensus IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] projections in the 21st century, although sometimes criticized for being too extreme, are actually very middle-of-the-road.

The fact that the international consensus statement from the IPCC was as strong as it was is something of a miracle, but you know, consensus doesn’t matter to nature. Nature isn’t going to say, well, the humans made their best effort to reduce emissions, and we’ll try to meet them halfway.

What reaction do you hear from scientists on this?

Enormous frustration. They feel they’ve done all they can do, but no one seems to be listening. Thomas Karl, in a 2003 paper in Science, wrote that we are now entering the unknown, with potentially catastrophic consequences.

A reporter for ABC, Bill Blakemore, blogged recently that the few reporters who cover this beat exclusively often find themselves checking in with colleagues, partly “to do some mutual therapy.” Has the story taken a psychological toll on you?

I haven’t talked about it that much with other reporters, but I understand why you might need a support group, because we’re kind of out in the wilderness on this subject. Every time something dramatic happens, such as the collapse of an ice shelf in Antarctica, then the experts get wheeled out of storage, but then something else happens and the story gets pushed to the back burner.

Do you ever hear complaints that reporting on this issue is too negative, too depressing? Or is that the kind of question you only get from Californians?

The complaint that the issue is too depressing seems kind of silly to me. Either climate change is a threat, or it’s not. Our emotional reaction to the facts is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what we’re doing, and we’re doing nothing. The issue ought to be galvanizing.

In your book, you write that the coverage of global warming has been “fitful” and “timid.” Can you talk a little about the reporting on this issue?

You used to see the same four naysayers trotted out in every story to supply the contrarian view, long after the scientific consensus was settled. It never seemed to dawn on anybody that it was the same four guys dismissing it, whereas any number of scientists are eager to talk about the threat. I’d like to believe the media is getting over that. When you see a story about the dangers of smoking, you don’t see a reporter on a story about tobacco searching out someone to say that smoking is good for you, but even though the consensus on global warming rivals the consensus on the dangers of smoking, reporters still feel that obligation.

But it’s not just reporters who are at fault, is it?

A lot of the confusion is the result of a well-organized effort to mau-mau editors by fossil-fuel companies who did not want to see the U.S. join the international effort [to control CO2 emissions]. And the attention span of editors is like an 8-year-old’s—they’re always looking for the next story. The media and the public look at the story as something far off in the future, but what happens if the future comes up and taps you on the shoulder?

Climatologist James Hansen did get coverage lately, but for being muzzled by a public relations official from the Bush Administration, not for what he advocated, which is an end to the construction of new power plants.

You’re right, he has been covered more for being muzzled than for anything else… but Jim Hansen had the guts to stand up to the administration and say, “You’re not going to muzzle me,” and it totally backfired on them. What you’re seeing these days is that the muzzlers and the naysayers are looking more and more like idiots. For years they were out there saying, “Don’t believe your eyes on the melting glaciers, looking at these temps from the stratosphere or whatever,” but the evidence of warming is so incontrovertible now that this isn’t working anymore.

In your book, you write that one of the world’s biggest insurance companies, Swiss Re, has warned some of its clients, such as ExxonMobil, that they may drop coverage for liability on climate change-related lawsuits if Exxon continues to oppose action to reduce emissions. Will they act?

As soon as Swiss Re sees that liability for climate-change related lawsuits is a serious possibility, they will likely take some action. If they see some clear paths for action, and [statistical] outlier corporations that refuse to respond, then they will call for an exclusion in their insurance for directors and officers. That’s what they’ve told me, and I’ve been talking to insurance executives on this issue since the early 1990s. If you as a corporation are going to knowingly court the risk of lawsuits, why should we, the insurance company, be responsible? One executive compared it to the situation with asbestos, where damages were apportioned according to market share. Since ExxonMobil is estimated to produce 1 percent of the CO2 emissions around the world, that’s a lot.

In Winds of Change, you write of insurance companies “off-loading” increased risk caused by global warming. Have you seen any evidence of that?

Insurance rates in Southern Florida have already doubled. We’re already seeing off-loading of risk. Insurance executives are taking this seriously. They were blindsided by 9/11 and bore that risk for free, and they took a big hit. That has opened their eyes to other risks they’re insuring for free. It’s complex, because insurance uses past behavior to assess violent, extreme events, but the past is no longer a guide to the future. We’re seeing insurance costs rise in anticipation of more frequent and extreme climatic events. For example, in Massachusetts, which is facing increased hurricane risk, the [state] FAIR plan rates have risen in anticipation of more claims.

You wrote a piece on a flickering climate for Fortune magazine in January. What kind of response did it receive?

Fortune ran the piece because they think their audience is getting interested in these issues, and it got a very big response, and mostly positive. Even the Wall Street Journal takes this issue seriously in their news coverage; it’s the editorial page that’s in cloud-cuckoo land.

Some of the facts of climate change are, as you say, very complex and even paradoxical. Is it too complex for the average citizen to understand?

It’s not complexity. It’s that in the 17 years since global warming was first explained, the issue has been muddied by disinformation. If people think this is something that’s far off in the future and a matter of debate, they’ll wait for the scientists to sort it out. But if people realize that the scientists agree, then I think they’ll be perfectly capable of understanding the threat.

As I read this book, it’s about 50-50 whether the switch toward a flickering climate will be thrown.

We don’t know what the tipping point is. I say that having surveyed scientists on this question intensely. We do know that we’re headed for 550 parts per million [of CO2] and probably more, but nobody knows where the runaway effect begins, and nobody can tell you that 550 ppm equals two degrees of warming. [Currently the world is at about 380 ppm of atmospheric CO2; in 1950, it was at about 310 ppm; in 1850, it was at about 280 ppm.] There are so many unknowns. We can only hope that we’re not seeing the beginnings of a transition to a flickering climate right now.

In your book, you get depressed when you see the comparison between us as a species and fruit flies, because we seem equally blind to our environment. Where, if anywhere, do you see hope?

Katrina opened our eyes to the destruction potential of extreme weather, just as the heat wave of 2003 that killed 35,000 in Europe opened eyes over there. We should have some advantage over past civilizations that fell because of climate change in that we can look back at their example as well as better understand how changing climate might impact our future. The scientists have done their job; we just have to listen, and I have to believe we will. There’s an old Chinese proverb: If you don’t change direction, you end up where you’re headed. Makes sense to me.

3/22/06
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=4182

Update as of March 21st, 2006

The Year’s First Cyclone Rips Across Australia- Looks like we’re headed for more record- breaking cyclone/hurricane seasons this year (and probably to continue). Cyclone Larry- a category 5 cyclone (the equivalent of our hurricanes)  – came ashore recently, on Australia’s Queensland Coast, with winds of 180 mph.  The good news is that they sustained a lot of property damage, but no one lost their life. Hopefully some folks will use the extra time to love more. (Reminds me of a “joke” email I recently got, which had some cute picture on it and said, “If you woke up this morning and you are still breathing, congratulations – you have another chance.”  But, I digress.  Anyway, the “bad” news is that the second storm of the season - Cyclone Wati is in the wings, building strength and is expected to follow a similar track right to their door again. We’ll get the scoop on that and post it soon, and a projection regarding our own upcoming hurricane season here in the US.

Update as of March 20th, 2006

Report faults humans for extinctions - People are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaur era and must make unprecedented efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, warns a new United Nations report.

Habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests face mounting threats from pollution, expanding cities, deforestation, introduction of invasive species and global warming, says the report, issued Monday at the start of a U.N. meeting on biological diversity in Brazil.

"In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago," says the "Global Biodiversity Outlook 2" report.

Apart from the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the other “Big Five” extinctions were about 205, 250, 375 and 440 million years ago. Scientists suspect that asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions or sudden climate shifts may explain the five.

A rising human population of 6.5 billion was undermining the environment for animals and plants via pollution, expanding cities, deforestation, introduction of “alien species” and global warming, it said.“Unprecedented additional efforts’ will be needed to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target at national, regional and global levels,” it said. The report was bleaker than a first U.N. review of the diversity of life issued in 2001.

According to a “Red List” compiled by the World Conservation Union, 844 animals and plants are known to have gone extinct in the last 500 years, ranging from the dodo to the Golden Toad in Costa Rica. It says the figures are probably a big underestimate.

“The direct causes of biodiversity loss -- habitat change, over-exploitation, the introduction of invasive alien species, nutrient loading and climate change -- show no sign of abating,” the report said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11926930/ 

http://www.usatoday.com/

Update as of March 19th, 2006

Mad Cow in Alabama - With the news that there's been another case of mad cow in the US, the government has announced that they're going to trim down their testing program for mad cow.

In answer to the ensuing discussions regarding the apparently bad timing of this reduction, officials explained that the rigorous testing they've been doing in the last couple of years was always intended to be temporary, and that it's simply time to reduce the surveillance based on their original plan.

USDA veterinarian John Clifford assured consumers that the cow posed no threat to the public. He explained that the cow was "non-ambulatory" (not sure why that's pertinent), and had only been there at the farm for about a year. Of course, now that the cow's been destroyed, it's definitely non-ambulatory, in case that has to do with the threat of mad cow disease in the food chain…….

Update as of March 18th, 2006

Short, Sweet and to the Point 
Established authorities (companies or corporations) are now telling their employees what they may or may not eat at work. How frightening!

Plan for the next Flu Pandemic - US tactics include closing schools, restricting travel, rationing meds

Great Britain has found traces of Prozac in their drinking water supply.

Childhood Overweight and Behavior Problems -Because of the growing obesity epidemic there is concern that it effects children negatively. Those who are over overweight are more likely to be ridiculed or teased therefore developing low self esteem behavior problems. Scientists found that obese girls entering kindergarten were displaying more behavior problems than girls who were not. However they did not find this relationship among boys. If things happen early in life it's possible these things will stay with you till adolescence or adulthood.

Update as of March 17th, 2006

A New Ocean Forming - In north-eastern Africa's Afar Triangle, hundreds of crevices splitting the desert floor. The ground has slumped by as much as 100 meters (328 feet) through out recent months. At the same time, scientists have observed magma rising from deep below as it begins to form what will eventually become a basalt ocean floor. 

Of course a life time is too short to see a new river form or a valley opening up. But geologically speaking, it won't be long until the Red Sea floods the region. The ocean that will then be born will split Africa apart. 

The Afar Triangle, is the largest construction site on the planet consisting of three tectonic plates meeting. Two of the plates drifting apart along two separate fault lines by one centimeter a year. A team of scientists working with Christophe Vigny of the Paris Laboratory of Geology reported on the phenomenon in a 2006 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research. While the two plates move apart, the ground sinks to make room for the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The third crevice cuts south, splitting not far from Lake Victoria. One branch of the rift runs to the east, the other to the west of the lake. The two branches of this third crevice are moving apart by about one millimeter a year. 

There was a dramatic event that some scentists witnessed in the Afar Desert on Sept. 26, 2005 . This was the first visual proof of this process -- and it was followed by a week-long series of earthquakes. During the months that followed, hundreds of further crevices opened up in the ground, spreading across an area of 345 square miles. "The earth has not stopped moving since," geophysicist Tim Wright of the University of Oxford says. The ground is still splitting open and sinking, he says; small earthquakes are constantly shaking the region.

Scientists have made repeated trips to the area since the drama of last September. Locals have reported a number of new cracks opening in the ground, says geologist Cynthia Ebinger from the University of London, and during each visit, new crevices are discovered. Fumes as hot as 400 degrees Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit) shoot up from some of them; the sound of bubbling magma and the smell of sulphur rise from others. The larger crevices are dozens of meters deep and several hundred meters long. Traces of recent volcanic eruptions are also visible.

In a number of places, cracks have opened up beneath the thin layer of volcanic ash that covers the region. As there is no ash in the fissures, it's clear that they opened up after the volcanic eruptions, most of which took place at the end of September or in October, 2005. A number of locals who fled the eruptions have reported that a black cloud of ash -- spewed out of the Dabbahu volcano -- darkened the sky for three days.

A number of recent eruptions have left layers of new basalt lava on the Earth's surface. And it's the exact same kind of lava that spews out of volcanic ridges deep under the ocean -- a process which slowly pushes older lava sediments away on either side. The process has only just begun in the Afar Triangle -- and scientists for the first time can witness the birth of a new ocean floor.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,405947,00.html

Update as of March 15th, 2006

Don't Let The Bed bugs Bite! Entomologists worldwide have noticed an upsurge in bedbugs in the last five years. Why this has happened is unknown. Prior to the 1940's, bedbugs were more common. With the advent of potent pesticides, bedbugs became almost unheard of. But they seem to be back, with a vengeance. So, it may be that our use of the chemicals has bred a new, improved bedbug, as with our over-use of antibiotics. Another possibility is that with more world travel today, both microscopic "bugs" and bigger bugs make the rounds too.

Hotels are one of the ways bedbugs can end up in your home. You may imagine that you wont pick them up unless you stay in a seedy hotel. Unfortunately, that's not the case. CNN just aired a story about a woman who went to a lovely resort hotel in New York State, and ended up with hundreds of bites. A survey of pest control companies found that hotels accounted for the largest proportion (37 percent) of bedbug infestations nationwide.

When you check into a hotel, it's wise to check for the bugs. They're reddish brown and about ¼" long, are very flat and have no wings. They leave brown spots or smears near the spots they hide in. Even if you don't find any, don't put your bags on the floor, especially near the head of the bed. Put them on the luggage stand if you have one.

Another way they manage to cuddle up with you in bed is to be brought in on used furniture. Be sure to check it out before you bring a Trojan horse into your home. Amazingly, they can fast for a year or more, with no food source, and still be alive and biting, so don't assume that because something has been sitting around in storage, it's not infested. They can also travel into your home when they're displaced from other feeding grounds by pesticides.

Here are a few natural tips from Barbara Ogg at the University of Nebraska: (http://lancaster.unl.edu)

• Examine all items in infested rooms for bedbugs. Look for fecal spots to pinpoint hiding places. Kill bedbugs by dropping them in hot, soapy water and flushing. Remember that immature bedbugs are very tiny. Check under mattress buttons and between the mattress and box springs.
• Launder your bedding and dry it in a hot dryer to kill all stages of bedbugs.
• Thoroughly vacuum infested areas. This includes the mattress, box springs furniture, beds, headboards, sofas. Don't forget the void area underneath box springs--tear away the cambric fabric and look for bedbugs there. After you are finished, bag the vacuum cleaner bag and take it to the trash. Bedbugs are very resistant to being killed and you don't want them crawling out of the vacuum cleaner to re-infest the house. Vacuum every couple days until the infestation is gone.
• Use a steamer on mattresses to kill eggs that might have been overlooked. Steaming is effective and safer than spraying mattresses with insecticides. Steam cleaning carpets is also a good idea, but work with the pest control company to make sure you are not interfering with the effectiveness of treatments.
• Eliminate clutter in infested areas to reduce bedbug hiding places and make treatments more effective. Because these bugs like to hide in small cracks, stacks of clothing, paper items and corrugated cardboard are likely hiding places.

Update as of March 14th, 2006

Smile Power
Do you remember the beautiful old Nat King Cole song called "Smile"?
Smile, though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it's breaking,
When there are clouds in the sky
You'll get by...If you smile
Through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile….

Research shows that smiling can indeed help you feel better when you're blue or stressed.

The psychological theory called the Facial Feedback Hypothesis is a little like putting the cart before the horse, but in a good way. Turns out that there are certain physiological mechanisms that run in the opposite direction of what we would expect. What I mean is, we know that when you're feeling joy or happiness, your heart and mind send a message to your muscles, and you smile physically. Now science is learning that the physical act of smiling also sends signals of well being back to your heart and mind.

This theory states that "involuntary facial movements provide sufficient peripheral information to drive emotional experience" (Bernstein, et al., 2000). Researchers Davis and Palladino explain that "feedback from facial expression affects emotional expression and behavior" (2000). So mustering as sincere of a smile as you can may actually help you feel better! Don't just show your teeth, really smile, and I think you'll feel the mechanisms click. Sure, it may not evaporate your troubles, but every little bit helps!

One study, conducted by Levenson and Friesen, found that autonomic changes similar to those seen with emotions were experienced by participants who were instructed to make certain faces. They asked a subject to make what they considered an angry face, and sensors indicated increased blood flow to their hands and feet, which something that happens in the bodies of folks who are angry. In another study, people experienced generally more positive impressions of other people when they themselves were smiling.  In a third study, subjects were told to hold a pencil in their mouths in such a way that it either created a smile or frown in their facial muscles. Then they were instructed to rate cartoons.  The ones who held the pencil in their teeth (smiling) found the cartoons funnier than the ones who couldn't smile because they had the pencil between their lips. (Davis & Palladino, 2000).

So if you're down - try a smile!  (Along with anything else that lifts your spirit positively.) It's more important than ever that we carry on with the things that make us and the world better. Don't let the dark fog drag you down- look up. It's nice to remember that in these days of infectious hatred, apathy, hopelessness and a plethora of foul physical diseases, Love, compassion, hope and yes, smiles,  are quite contagious too!!! 

Update as of March 13th, 2006

Amazon Book Reviews -  If you can spare a few moments, we'd like to ask you to go onto the Amazon Book website at www.amazon.com and write a short comment regarding The Lost Teachings of Atlantis. I popped on there a few days ago and noticed a couple of rather unpleasant reviews, which are currently sitting right at the top of about thirty really nice ones. Problem is, visitors will see the two negative ones first. But if you write one, it will sit on top of the list, so that would be great. Thanks for your help on this!

www.amazon.com

Update as of March 11th, 2006

North Carolina health officials are investigating the death of a woman who died last week of a flesh eating bacteria 3 days after accidentally jamming her hand in a wheelchair while working at a nursing home.  - CNN

Puppy Love (or Kitty?)
We all know that dogs can be good for your heart and soul. Sometimes that sweet creature helps keep the spark of love, childlike playfulness and simple joy alive inside of your being. Now, science is catching up and discovering that dogs are indeed good for your physical heart and body too.

In a study of 369 patients, dog owners were significantly more likely to be alive 1 year after a heart attack than their non dog counterparts. Cat owners did not benefit. This may be due to the lack of a need to walk the cat, or some other factor. (Am J Cardiol 1995 12/15;76:1213)

A study from the American Heart Association is one of the first to use scientific measurements to document that using therapeutic dogs in hospitals lowers anxiety, stress and heart and lung pressure among heart failure patients.

Leslie Kern, director of cardiac research for the heart institute at Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, Calif., said such visits help make patients' lives more normal.

In another study, a Dr. Cole studied 76 heart failure patients - average age 57 - who got either a visit from a volunteer, a volunteer plus a dog, or no visit. Anxiety as measured by a standard rating scale dropped 24 percent for those visited by the dog and volunteer team, but only by 10 percent for those visited by just a volunteer. The scores for the group with no visit remained the same.

Epinephrine, a hormone the body makes when under stress, dropped 17 percent in patients visited by a person and a dog, and 2 percent in those visited just by a person. But levels rose about 7 percent in the group that didn't get visitors. Heart pressure dropped 10 percent after the visit by the volunteer and dog. It increased 3 percent for those visited by a volunteer and 5 percent for those who got no visit. Lung pressure declined 5 percent for those visited by a dog and a volunteer. It rose in the other two groups.

In a U.S. Department of Health study, 28 percent of heart patients with pets survived serious heart attacks. Only 6 percent of those without pets survived. In patients with severe coronary artery disease, pet owners had a greater survival rate after discharge from the hospital than those without pets. Research shows that having pets lowers cholesterol levels by 2 percent, which reduces the chances of heart attacks by 4 percent - similar to the effects of switching to a low-salt diet.

I wonder what the world would be like if we cared for and opened our hearts to each other, the way we do our pets. If we let those feelings and reactions flow freely, it would definitely improve….

www.healthatoz.com
www.azcentral.com
www.priory.com

Update as of March 7th, 2006

Cnn reported that the next solar cycle, starting 2007, was going to make the solar flares 30-50% more intense causing magnetic storms and problems with communication. We think since the magnetic field has been going down that this could even cause global areas to be incinerated if a solar flare hits towards Earth. 

Jury Duty Phone Scam
U.S. residents in several states are being targeted by phone scam artists that sound legitimate enough to scare them into revealing confidential information, potentially leading to identity theft and fraud.  Even folks who would normally be cautious about giving their personal data, were fooled and gave these criminals in depth information, including credit card and social security number. Why? The criminals claim to be with a court and threaten to issue a warrant for “failing to comply with jury service”. The fear response evoked by that approach causes people to forget their normal security standards. “Arrest me?!?!?  I’m afraid! I’d better lay down and do exactly as I’m told!."  A good lesson in remaining calm and rational at all times. 

U.S. Representative Tom Udall, D-N.M., a former federal prosecutor and New Mexico Attorney General, warned the public about the phony jury calls.

“Jury duty is an important, significant responsibility of every citizen. Unfortunately, con artists are constantly inventing new ways to persuade people into divulging their personal information,” Udall said. “This scam is a perfect example.  Federal courts do not require anyone to provide any sensitive information over the telephone.  Most contact between a federal court and a private citizen is conducted by mail."

I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.  - Corazon Aquino

Act, and God will act.  - Joan of Arc

Update as of March 2nd, 2006

US researchers say a global tuberculosis epidemic could be on the horizon. Two separate studies show super drug resistant forms of the disease could start spreading quickly. Tuberculosis kills and estimated 2 million people each year despite widespread efforts to control it. Strains that are resistant to several antibiotics are becoming increasingly prevalent in Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and China.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of  power, the world will know peace."
- Jimi Hendrix

Update as of March 1st, 2006

Polar bears are drowning at alarming rates and it appears to be a result of global warming, a new study states. The bears are being forced into long ocean swims to find food, because the ice floes from which they feed are melting.

"For anyone who has wondered how global warming and reduced sea ice will affect polar bears, the answer is simple -- they die," said Richard Steiner, a marine-biology professor at the University of Alaska. Some scientists predict polar bears could become extinct within the next century since they will not likely be able to adapt their means of hunting - on ice.

"As the sea ice goes, that will direct to a very great extent what happens to polar bears," said Steven Amstrup, a polar-bear specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage, Alaska.

In 25 years of aerial surveys of the Alaskan coastline before 2004, researchers from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said they typically spotted a lone polar bear swimming in the ocean far from ice about once every two years. In fact, bear drownings were so rare that they were not even documented.

The new study shows that between 1986 and 2004, only 4% of the bears spotted off the north coast of Alaska were swimming in open waters. Not a single drowning had been documented in the area.

The polar ice cap has retreated a record-breaking 160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska. In September 2004, researchers counted 10 of 51 polar bears (about 20% of the animals sighted) swimming up to 60 miles offshore. That's a dramatic increase from the 4% in earlier years. A few days later, the researchers returned and found four dead bears floating in the water. They had apparently given up the ghost while trying to swim during a storm.

"We know short swims up to 15 miles are no problem, and we know that one or two may have swum up to 100 miles. But that is the extent of their ability, and if they are trying to make such a long swim and they encounter rough seas they could get into trouble," said Steven Amstrup, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS.

A study on Hudson Bay, Canada, by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service, shows the population fell 22% from 1,194 in 1987 to 935 last year. Also, the World Wildlife Fund has released a study done in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, which shows the region's first evidence of cannibalism among bears as they are forced to compete for food.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB113452435089621905-vnekw
47PQGtDyf3iv5XEN71_o5I_20061214.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1938132,00.html

Update as of February 26th, 2006

Here is a link to a story that CNN Headline News has been playing on the air for a while. If you haven't read or heard about the "botnet armies" out there, and how your pc could be being used as a pawn for criminal behavior without you knowing about it, read this article.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/01/31/furst/index.html

Update as of February 25th, 2006

Some tips on facing lawsuits - Getting sued is a difficult process that most people hope to never go through, but I have some advice to make it a little easier if you have to be caught in the middle of a lawsuit. First of all, if someone sues you, in most cases you will be notified by mail. The legal document will tell you what the charges are and how much time you have to respond. You can hire an attorney to represent you, but it may not be worth it in small claims court. If you want to do it yourself, check out these web sites www.abanet.org and www.nolo.com. They provide free advice, money saving legal tools, and links to state lawyers. At nolo.com you'll find a legal encyclopedia and answers to frequently asked questions. According to consumer reports, most lawsuits are auto related. If you're being sued for a traffic accident your automobile liability insurance should cover property damage or injury to others. But if you're found legally responsible for bills that exceed your coverage, you'll have to pay that difference out of pocket. If you own property or have investments and savings that are worth more than the liability limits in your policy, you may want to consider adding extra coverage. Make sure you get everything in writing. Those verbal agreements aren't going to hold up in court. Don't mess around, if you're facing a big lawsuit. Get an attorney asap. If you need help finding one, contact your state and local bar association.

Update as of February 23rd, 2006

From The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON - In the journal for the American Geophysical Union, we find a report from a panel of researchers which says they see no natural process that is likely to positively change the rate that Arctic ice is melting at. For the first time in a million years, it's possible that within a century we could see ice-free summertime oceans. For those of you who are afraid of sailing with icebergs, that may sound like good news. It's not.

The report comes just days after environmental ministers and officials from 23 countries met in Greenland to call on governments to quit debating the existence of global warming and start acting.

For example, in the town of Ilulissat, which is near the edge of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, there are reports that the glacier retreated nearly seven miles since 1960 and has become a symbol of fears that the planet is approaching a dangerous warming.

Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Says that the melting of land-based glaciers could take much longer but could raise the sea levels, potentially affecting coastal regions worldwide, and that Greenland's glaciers now dump twice as much ice into the Atlantic per year as they did in 1996. The flow accounted for about 54 cubic miles of ice lost in 2005. That compares with 22 cubic miles in 1996.

Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona and chairman of the National Science Foundation's Arctic System Science Committee that issued the report, says,
"What really makes the Arctic different from the rest of the non-polar world is the permanent ice in the ground, in the ocean, and on land." Overpeck said that the frozen soil layer called permafrost will melt and eventually disappear in some areas. That could release additional greenhouse gases stored in the permafrost for thousands of years, he said.

Update as of February 21st, 2006

Has the Earth's wobble stopped? - We've received reports that the Earth's wobble- known as the Chandler Wobble - has paused. If this is true, it's a very interesting and significant story. It could be an indication of a potential pole shift in the future, or a harbinger of increased seismic and volcanic activity. We've searched the web, and it's not clear at this point if it's true or not. There are wildly conflicting reports on this topic.

One article stated that humans have been monitoring this since 1900 and that the last time it paused, around 1938, that there was a marked increase in earthquakes over 7.0 for the next 18 years or so along with more volcanic activity, and that this last event has been going on since 1999. Another site said that there was also a flux around 1963. One site said that the current activity confirms Edgar Cayce prophesies regarding the possible upcoming pole shift. Some reports state that it's just the Earth's crust which is shifting, and others say that it's the "X axis".

Also of interest, was a fascinating piece, which referred to the fact that Earth's wobble is affected not only by the Sun, but by Jupiter too.

Do some research, and see what you think.

Update as of February 16th, 2006

Imagine an electrical storm larger than the continental United States in which the lightning bolts are more than 1,000 times stronger than conventional lightning, and you'll have a good idea of the lightning storm -- the strongest of its kind ever seen -- that University of Iowa space scientists and their colleagues currently are tracking at Saturn with the Cassini spacecraft.

One scientist says that they have learned that lightning storms can emerge suddenly and last for several weeks or even a month. Although they have only observed a single smaller lightning storm throughout 2005, which is remarkably different compared to what they know about terrestrial thunderstorms.

US researchers say a global tuberculosis epidemic could be on the horizon. Two separate studies show super drug resistant forms of the disease could start spreading quickly. Tuberculosis kills an estimated 2 million people each year despite widespread efforts to control it. Strains that are resistant to several antibiotics are becoming increasingly prevalent in Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and China.

Virologists say that chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, was found effective in treating the SARS respiratory illness 

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