The National Meteorological Service (SMN) reports that September was one of the driest months in some 70 years. All the signs suggest this is the worst year for drought since 1941. The worst drought in 70 years has left thousands of cattle dead and destroyed more than
In a seminar held at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) today, the ATLAS and CMS, two Large Hadron Collider experiments, presented the status of their searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that, if it exists, is thought
Things are suddenly heating up again with Fukushima. As we reported yesterday, the southern wall of Fukushima reactor #4 apparently collapsed over the past few days, calling into question the structural integrity of the remainder of the containment building
The last big meteor shower of the year — the annual Geminids shower — peaks tonight (Dec. 13), but bright moonlight could illuminate the night sky and spoil one of the most spectacular light show of the year. On a clear night, skywatchers have reported seeing up to
Dust plumes blew through Syria and Iraq in early December 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on December 10, 2011. The dust plumes arise from discrete points in Syria and
Records for extreme heat and extreme cold were broken in all 50 U.S. states in 2011, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an international nonprofit environmental organization. The extremes at time have been disastrous, costing Americans an estimated
The last full Moon in 2011 will glide through the earth shadow producing a total lunar eclipse visible from the Pacific side of our planet. The last eclipse of 2011 is a total lunar eclipse that takes place at the Moon’s descending node in eastern Taurus, four days
Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, stranded in Earth orbit since its main engines failed to fire after launch on Nov. 8th, is beginning to sink back into the atmosphere. Analysts expect re-entry to occur sometime in early to mid-January 2012. Until then, it is possible
The Geminids start appearing on Dec. 7 and should reach peak activity around the 13th and 14th. Up to 100 meteors per hour could be visible under good viewing conditions. But the presence of an 82% illuminated waning gibbous Moon from mid-evening until morning
Mt. Gamalama volcano burst to life on Sunday in a blast that dusted villages and sent thousands of people to flight on the Indonesian island of Ternate. There were no immediate reports of casualties but the eruption apparently did cause some panic among residents of
