California: Hot Spot Hits 812 Degrees, Starts Fires

This is a scientific mystery. Why one patch of land hits 812 degrees and literally sets things on fire is under investigation."High atop a steep grass-covered mountain overlooking the Little Sespe Canyon near Fillmore, the earth is on fire. Wisps of smoke rise from a brown...

How to grow a mountain (just add water)

Here's an odd discovery: mountains that experience heavy rainfall actually grow because of it, scientists say. My first guess was that it was due to a build-up of plant life and compacting soil over millions of...

Tibetan tectonics triggered China quake

Geologists have concluded that the shift in the Tibetan plateau to the north-east triggered the quake of 7.8 in the Sichuan province. A strained political relationship paves the way for shaky ground? "The violent...

Beware the toads...what's in your emergency kit?

UPDATE:  CNN has a video of the Bakersfield "frogswarm"Here's an interesting article from the "Unknown Country" website that just might make you go, "hmmmmm.""In the days prior to the gigantic earthquake that devastatedSichuan province in China, oddswarmsof frogs were...

Reality

A cogent, brief assessment of where our capitalist, consumption based global economy is now, how we got here, how it is affecting everything, and what we are facing in a world of ever declining resources and...

Underground Fires that Burn For Decades

" Sometimes a fire just won't go out. Uzbekistan is home to a place called Darvaz, nicknamed by locals "the door to hell." It's a semi-underground gas fire that's been burning nonstop for 35 years. Find out why, and see some close-up pictures of this hellmouth after the jump,...

Superman's kryptonite confirmed in Canada

"Warning to Superman: Stay clear of Ottawa. With the help of our very own National Research Council, scientists have identified a mineral with virtually the same composition as kryptonite, the space rock that makes...

Rock Slides Force Colo. Highway Shutdown (AP)

AP - Engineers and geologists were trying to stabilize the side of a mountain Sunday after three rock slides in less than 24 hours spilled onto an interstate.

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