By Andrew Freedman The weather pattern responsible for bringing frigid air to Europe, like this heavy snow fall on the Colosseum in Rome, is driven in part by a naturally-occurring pattern known as the Arctic Oscillation. While the U.S. cruises through winter with a snow drought and above-average temperatures, much of Europe and Eurasia are locked in the grips of a deadly cold air outbreak, with more than 300 people reported dead so far. According to news reports, entire communities in Italy,...

A rare Chioninia lizard from Cape Verde climbed into a tourist’s luggage before she boarded her flight from the African islands to the UK. The lizard survived a 3,000-mile (5,000 km) flight in a cold luggage hold, followed by a machine wash cycle at the tourist’s home in Somerset, UK. Sue Banwell-Moore found the lizard after removing her washing from the machine. She assumed it was dead until it surprisingly recovered.   From the Guardian: I was hanging out the washing on the clothes...

City driving is frustrating to put it simply; stop and go traffic every other block, pedestrians walking in front of cars without regard for safety, even cars weaving in and out of lanes as if they own the road. These annoyances can turn into increased stress for drivers on the road today and a major factor in causing that stress might just be the city they’re driving in. Part of the issue with added stress while driving is found within the...

Though the economic recession caused UK greenhouse gas emissions to fall in 2009 (8.7% from 2008 levels), in 2010 they climbed back up by 3.1%, according to a new government report. This is the first rise in emissions since 2003 and can be attributed to the unusually cold winter of 2010. Power generation used more fossil fuels during the year. An article in the Guardian associates the rise in emissions with the economic recovery after the recession (has there been an ‘after...

Europe's commissioner for climate action, Connie Hedegaard, has stated that the current model for economic growth is not sustainable and could result in a global economic crisis if continued. Hedegaard equated the current Eurozone crisis with a future one of global scale. She said that economic models based solely on production and consumption are a recipe for failure and only serves to encourage overconsumption. Furthermore, the environment must be taken into account and these issues must be comprehensively addressed at the...

The practice of having sex with animals is becoming an epidemic in Germany. “There are even animal brothels. The abuse seems to be increasing rapidly and the internet offers an additional distribution platform”, said Madeleine Martin, the animal protection official for Hessian state government. The law needs to be changed to make it possible to prosecute and punish these animal abusers. “It is punishable to distribute animal pornography, but the act itself is not”, Madeleine Martin told the 'Frankfurter Rundschau'. Sex with animals was...

Scientists recently made an eye-opening discovery at Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa. Several nests of Massospondylus, a 20ft (6m) long sauropod, including fossilized eggs and hatchling footprints, is increasing scientists knowledge of the nesting, breeding and mothering habits of dinosaurs. The dinosaur nesting site is believed to be 190 million years old, some 100 million years older than any dinosaur nest previously found. At least 10 nests were uncovered at several different rock levels. Each contained up to 34 round...

Species: Giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) Status: Endangered (EN) Interesting Fact: The giant otter is also known as the ‘river wolf’. The giant otter is one of South America’s top carnivores, and is the largest of the otter species. The giant otter generally lives in family groups of three to ten individuals, composed of a monogamous, breeding pair and their offspring born during previous years. These groups rest, play, travel, fish and sleep together. When cubs are born, they are cared for in a...

By Andrew Freedman NASA released a new, high-resolution "Blue Marble" image of Earth this week, taken from instruments aboard the recently launched Suomi NPP satellite. The image is actually a composite of many pictures from Jan. 4, 2012 that were stitched together, and shows North America in stunning detail. One feature that is notably absent from the picture is snow cover, which is confined to parts of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. In many parts of the country, snowfall has been...

Folding bikes are great. I’ve owned two inexpensive models and even used one of them in the snow. You can park them everywhere, keep them indoors in your apartment or house so they aren’t at risk of being stolen and take them on trains and buses. Germans are often spotted on them on holiday. I guess they bring them on boats or in their cars. A folding car, however, makes me think of the Jetsons or some other comical view of...

Rubbish is piling up in Mexico’s capital after the city’s largest waste dump, Bordo Poniente, was closed after the landfill was, for lack of a better word, filled. The landfill, in fact, was meant to close back in 2005, but the city managed to delay closure by 6 years. Now garbage is accumulating in illegal dumps in Mexico City, on street corners and even in front of monuments. The fact that Mexico lags behind in waste reducing measures, such as recycling programs,...

In general, conservatives don’t like social welfare programs. They do claim, however, to value freedom of choice, so long as it has nothing to do with social welfare programs – those are gifts from taxpayers to welfare queens and they have strings attached. So it’s no surprise that Florida Republican state senator Ronda Storms thinks federal food stamps should only be used for healthy foods – but maybe she’s right. A bit of good old-fashioned social engineering is what welfare is...

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability is presenting its report today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to address global problems of growing inequality, economic instability and environmental crisis. The report, entitled Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing ‘contains 56 recommendations to put sustainable development into practice and to mainstream it into economic policy as quickly as possible’.   From the report: The signposts are clear: We need to change dramatically, beginning with how we think about our...

US Republican presidential candidate and blowhard Newt Gingrich has stated that he will build a base on the moon by his second term should he get elected. Gingrich said he’d like to get there before the Chinese do. Well, the US did put someone there before the Chinese and everyone else back in 1969, though it was the Soviets who first put an unmanned craft on the lunar surface. OK, so they didn’t stay there and colonize as Newt would like. Republican...

Species: American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) Status: Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting Fact: The American burying beetle buries a whole carcass to feed its young! The largest carrion beetle in North America, the American burying beetle is an attractive species with bright orange markings. These beetles are named for their specialised mechanism of parental care that involves providing the growing larvae with carrion upon which to feed. At night, beetle pairs will locate a suitable carcass and then cooperate to bury it in the...