Scientists from the United Kingdom on Friday published a study in the journal Environmental Research Letters showing vast groundwater reserves in some of Africa's most arid regions. That water, according to researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London, could be used to dampen the effects of global warming and aid some of the continent's 300 million people who lack access to clean drinking water. The reserves are 100 times larger than the continent's available su... Read More
On Friday, Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano erupted violently, sending skyward a cloud of ash that was visible from Mexico City 40 miles away. Residents of the town of Xalitzintla, which sits at the foot of the 17,886-foot mountain, awoke on Friday to rattling windows and ash and rocks that shot more than half a mile downhill. Authorities have readied 50 buses and alerted the town's 2,600 residents to stand by for evacuation should mud and ash flood the village, which sits in a ravine. In a porte... Read More
Residents of Cape Town, South Africa, are calling on the crew of the television show Shark Men to stop production after a great white fatally attacked a champion bodyboarder on Thursday. Residents are concerned that the crew's practice of chumming has drawn more sharks to the area and may have precipitated the death of David Lillenfeld, 20, who died after a great white severed his leg at the hip. Following the attack, South Africa's environmental authorities immediately pulled the crew's resea... Read More
On Friday, police in Japan's Akita prefecture were scrambling to contain a herd of bears that escaped an animal park and mauled to death two zookepers. Hachimantai bear park, home to 38 brown bears, contacted police on Friday morning to report that an unknown number of bears had gone missing. Two staff members have been found dead and local hunters have killed six bears within the park. Police were unable to secure the area before nightfall and officials have asked local residents to stay in t... Read More
