What's Going On With the World's Most Destructive Mud Volcano?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Now abandoned, part of Sidoarjo town is entombed in mud metres thick. (Credit: sawerigading) The world’s most destructive mud volcano was born near the town of Sidoarjo, on the island of Java, Indonesia, just over 11 years ago – and to this day it has not stopped erupting. The mud volcano known as Lusi started on May 29, 2006, and at its peak disgorged a staggering 180,000 cubic meters of mud every day, burying villages in mud up to 40 meters thick. The worst event of its kind in re ...read more

California's dangerous Detwiler fire: The amazing GOES-16 satellite sees the blaze itself, not just the billowing smoke

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

With its vastly improved capabilities, the new satellite has the potential to save the lives of firefighters Heat and the massive smoke plume from California’s Detwiler Fire are seen in this animation of visible and infrared imagery from the GOES-16 satellite acquired on July 18, 2017. (Source: RAMMB/CIRA) For decades, satellites have been helping fire managers identify and monitor blazes, based on their smoke plumes and the hot spots they create in infrared imagery. But as the animation ...read more

Shark Survives Over A Year With A Hole Between Its Stomach And The Sea

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Think you could survive this? Photo ©Joanne Fraser/Ocean Artworks LLC Sharks are pretty incredible animals. They’ve lived on this planet for more than 400 million years, and in that time, come to dominate the oceans they inhabit. That kind of survival when so many other lineages have gone extinct requires serious resilience. Now, a lemon shark off Florida has shown off just how tough these animals can be: he survived for at least 435 days with a hole in his body created as ...read more