• Venus transit of 2012 will not be seen again until 2117

    A transit of Venus is the observed passage of the planet across the disk of the Sun. The planet Venus, orbiting the Sun “on the inside track,” catches up to and passes the slower Earth.  Venus, appearing as a small dot in the foreground, will move from left to

  • Sumatran elephant found poisoned by humans in Indonesia

    Environmental organization WWF called on the government Wednesday to investigate the death of a critically endangered Sumatran elephant allegedly poisoned at an Indonesian oil palm plantation. A ranger at the plantation in Krueng Ayon village, Sampoiniet subdistrict,

  • Millions of birds die each year at communication towers

    More than 6 million birds die every year as they migrate from the United States and Canada to Central and South America, according to a new study published in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The birds are killed by the 84,000 communication towers that dot North

  • Activity at Popocatépetl continues

    Popocatépetl, which means “smoking mountain” in the Aztec language, has seen low to moderate levels of activity throughout the past week. Activity began to intensify in mid-April 2012 Plumes have wafted from the volcano; an especially dense ash plume emerged

  • New eruption of North Sulawesi’s Mt. Lokon

    After several days of increased activity, North Sulawesi’s Mount Lokon erupted at 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has announced. The height at which lava shot out of the volcano was unknown because clouds were blocking the full