• Human body is equipped to handle temperature extremes

    The June and July heat waves scorched the Northeast with unusually high temperatures. Intense heat blasts our bodies with temperatures we’re not used to, so we usually spend all day in the air conditioning. But going outside and getting used to the heat can promote

  • Thousands cut off by floods and landslides in Japan

    More than 5,000 people have been cut off by landslides as more heavy rain and floods are forecast in southwestern Japan. More than 5400 people have been cut off by landslides since late Saturday as mudslides and fallen trees have cut roads and water supplies in the

  • Toshka Lakes in Egypt show signs of rapid drying

    Egypt’s Toshka Lakes were created in the 1980s and 1990s by the diversion of water from Lake Nasser through a manmade canal into the Sahara Desert. Flooding of the Toshka Depression created four main lakes with a maximum surface area of about 1450 square

  • Wave of destructive tornadoes hit northern Poland

    Powerful wave of tornadoes ripped through the north-western part of Poland on Saturday evening leaving more than 100 houses destroyed and about 400 hectares of woodlands in Bory Tucholskie forest flattened. Tornadoes hit the Kujawy-Pomerania and Wielkopolska

  • Swarm of strong earthquakes – Kuril Islands

    For the seventh day in a row a swarm of earthquakes continues near Kuril Islands, Russia/Japan. The latest one was measured with magnitude 5.5 according to EMSC – July 15, 2012, 14:34 UTC. Recorded depth was 80km. USGS recorded magnitude 5.3 for the same earthquake and

  • Can fracking contaminate drinking water?

    Hydraulic fracturing uses pressurised fluid to crack open deep shale rocks to release the methane trapped within them. Geologists say this potentially harmful fluid is unlikely to percolate up through a few kilometres of rock to reach the shallow aquifers that supply

  • Waterspout in Riga, Latvia (Video)

    A viewer in Kolka, Latvia, caught this waterspout on tape on June 13, 2012 off the coast of the Gulf of Riga.Courtesy of Jan van Ooijen, MeteoService.nlVideo autor: Uldis KrustiņšSource:

  • Record Japan rain causing floods and landslides

    Unprecedented rainfall pounded southwestern Japan causing floods and landslides. Eighteen people died and at least eight were missing as heavy rain hit southwestern Japan, particularly in the country’s southernmost main island of Kyushu, police and firefighters said

  • Tropical Storm Fabio forms in Eastern Pacific

    Tropical Storm Fabio has formed in the east Pacific, near Clipperton Island and it is the sixth named storm of the 2012 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season. Fabio could take a northward turn by next week. According to US National Hurricane center’s latest public