The blobfish, the pig-nosed turtle, the proboscis monkey, etc....what is the world's ugliest animal?
All animals are beautiful. Except, perhaps, for some of these. But just because they aren't as easy on the eye as a newborn puppy or a fluffy pony, it doesn't mean they don't need looking after. So the Ugly Animal Preservation Society (yep, it exists) has launched a campaign to save these endangered species and encourage young people into careers in conservation: they are searching for a new ugly mascot
Zombie Birds, Astronaut Fish, and Other Weird Animals
National Geographic Readers: Weird Sea Creatures
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Alien Gargoyle
A gargoyle on an historic 13th century abbey has caused a social media sensation with its resemblance to the monster from the Alien films.
Reverend Alan Birss, minister at Paisley Abbey, said most of the gargoyles were replaced during a refurbishment in the early 1990s. He thinks that one of the stonemasons must have been having a bit of fun.
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Fukushima In Freefall
After a 29-month cover-up, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) is now calling for international help and has all but admitted Fukushima's radiation leaks are spiraling out of control. In addition to the leaking water storage units that are unleashing hundreds of tons of radioactive water each day, Tepco now says 50% of its contaminated water filtration capability has been taken offline due to corrosion.
The result is that radiation leaks are escalating out of control and attempted remediation efforts are faltering. This is in addition to the fact the Japanese government's attempted brainwashing propaganda campaign has also been exposed. It attempted to convince people that if they drank beer or smiled, they would be immune to radiation poisoning. (Yes, this is how desperate they've become...)
From day one, the Fukushima fiasco has been all about denial: Deny the leaks, shut off the radiation sensors, black out the news and fudge the science. Yet more than two years later, the denials are colliding with the laws of physics, and Tepco's cover stories are increasingly being blown wide open.
As Businessweek.com now reports, Japan seems to have no practical interest in solving this problem:
Russia's nuclear company, Rosatom, of which Rosenergoatom is a unit, sent Japan a 5 kilogram (11 pound) sample of an absorbent that could be used at Fukushima almost three years ago, Asmolov said. It also formed working groups ready to help Japan on health effect assessment, decontamination, and fuel management, among others, Asmolov said. The assistance was never used, he said.
That's because for Tepco to welcome any assistance, it would first have to admit it has a problem. And that's unacceptable in a business culture where egos run rampant and the idea of taking responsibility for your actions is considered abhorrent.
To save their own careers, Tepco experts would gladly sacrifice the health of millions of Japanese citizens. - Natural News
Fukushima Meltdown & Modern Radiation: Protecting Ourselves and Our Future Generations
Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Fukushima: Impacts and Implications
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Volcanic geyser opens up near Rome airport
Experts in Italy have been puzzled by the overnight appearance of a geyser crater spraying clouds of gas 15 feet in the air, yards from the end of the runway at one of Europe’s busiest airports. Motorists on Saturday were alarmed to notice hot, stinking gas spurting from a newly formed crater in the middle of a roundabout near Fiumicino, close to the perimeter fence of Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport -- less than 900 yards from the end of a runway.
Spectators gathered around the smoking crater, which measured about six feet wide and three feet deep, before firefighters and vulcanologists arrived to seal off the roundabout to prevent inhalation of the gas, suspected to be a cocktail of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and methane. Tests are now underway. While initial reports suggested the gas came from rotting organic matter trapped underground, one expert said volcanic activity was more likely.
“From Mount Etna in Sicily up to the Alban hills around Rome there is a good deal of underground volcanic activity,” Alberto Basili, a seismologist at the Italian National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, said. The area covers Mount Vesuvius, which buried the Roman city of Pompeii when it erupted in 79AD, to a number of lakes formed in extinct volcanoes north of Rome.
“Gas underground can remain hot for tens of thousands of years after volcanoes erupt, and every now and then it can rise to the surface from miles underground,” said Mr Basili. “We have seen things like this elsewhere around Rome, with farm animals being killed after they breath in the gas,” he said. Despite being a stone’s throw from the end of a main runway at Fiumicino, Europe’s sixth largest airport, which handles 37 million passengers a year, Mr Basili said there was no cause for fear over flight safety. “This is a limited phenomenon – it will not have created alarm at the airport,” he said. - Telegraph
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Cities to be drowned by rising seas by 2100
A leaked report from the IPCC has painted a grim picture of the future implications of climate change.
Comprised of several hundred international scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been conducting detailed research that is due to be included in the next United Nations report on global warming.
Their findings indicate that human activities are indeed behind the temperature rises observed over the last few decades and that sea levels are likely to rise by up to three feet by the end of the century if nothing is done to bring down harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
"It is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010," the report stated.
"There is high confidence that this has warmed the ocean, melted snow and ice, raised global mean sea level and changed some climate extremes in the second half of the 20th century."
If these predictions turn out to be true then the rising sea levels could hold disastrous consequences for high population low-lying cities in countries all over the world.
High Tide On Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis
Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact
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