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When a sparrow's nest flooded during high tide in coastal Georgia, a fish jumped at the chance to make a meal of a newly hatched chick, and a scientist's video camera caught a first-ever view of the entire deadly encounter. Footage showed a small fish called a mummichog ( Fundulus heteroclitus ) leaping into a flooded nest and attacking a hatchling seaside sparrow ( Ammospiza maritima ), demonstrating that baby sparrows in this habitat face a threat previously unknown to scientists. Corina Newsome, an ornithologist at the Hunter Lab at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, had placed cameras on the birds' nests to learn about the risks posed by predators. In this case, the predator came from an unexpected place: the water. "A lot of questions were spinning in my mind after seeing that," Newsome told Live Science. Related: Beastly feasts: Amazing photos of animals and their prey Tidal salt marshes in Georgia are home to many types of birds, and … [Read more...] about Video captures unusual death of baby bird gobbled by a fish

I was delighted last Monday to wake up to a beautiful 6 inches of snow blanketing my world. After all these years, my two teenagers would finally experience a day of real winter in Austin, Texas. I imagined the fun ahead of us. Then I turned on my phone. My ex-husband, David, had texted at 2:30 a.m. to tell me that his power was out as part of planned rolling outages. I texted back, asking when his power had returned. His response: It was still out. This was just before 9 a.m., and the temperature was in the low teens. I started to worry. David lives on one side of a duplex. My 18-year-old daughter, Shoshana, lives on the other side with two housemates, a bearded dragon and a kitten. Two friends had also spent the night. The rolling outages had failed . They were supposed to last less than an hour to help keep the Texas power grid up and running. But once an outage kicked in, it lasted for days. Austin wasn't alone. A massive snowstorm and record-breaking cold hit Texas … [Read more...] about How Nextdoor saved my family during the Texas deep freeze

The deadly earthquake in China this week was devastating and felt across a vast area. The epicenter struck central China's Sichuan Province, yet it was felt as far away as Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. And its origin was shallow. In short, it is exactly what seismologists fear could happen in Southern California some day. Scientists think the Sichuan earthquake was caused by seismic activity associated with the Indian land-mass colliding with the Asian continent (this same force has slowly built up the Himalaya mountain range). Because this week's temblor was relatively shallow — 11.8 miles (19 km) below the ground — it caused especially violent quaking on the surface, which led to extensive damage. "Some of our worst-case scenarios would involve an earthquake somewhat like this on one of the faults that run through the L.A. region," said Thomas Heaton, a professor of engineering seismology at Caltech. "If we had one like this, it would be a tremendous natural disaster. We … [Read more...] about China Quake a ‘Worst-Case Scenario’ for California

The Myanmar cyclone. The earthquake off the coast of Japan. The Chilean volcano. Has Earth gone bonkers? Not at all. This level of natural activity is normal for Earth, scientists say. "Mother Nature is just reminding us that she is in charge," Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told LiveScience . That also means the recent Midwestern quake (centered in Illinois) and temblors near Reno, though unnerving and frightening to locals, were just another day for Planet Earth. Reference point A look back at events in 2007 serves to remind just how wild this world routinely is. EM-DAT, the OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, tracks natural disasters in which either 10 or more people were killed, 100 or more people were affected, a State of Emergency was declared, or there was a call for international assistance. In the United States in 2007, EM-DAT tallied four such tornado disasters, five winter storms, seven … [Read more...] about Mother Nature Still in Charge

London: The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal has dismissed Fortnite creator Epic Games 's bid to take Apple to court in the UK over competition law . Fortnite was removed from Apple and Google 's app stores worldwide after it broke rules about in-app purchases. Claiming that the rules were unfair, Epic Games had sought permission to take both the US-based tech giants to court in the UK, the BBC reported on Monday. But the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal gave Epic Games, which is also US-based, permission to pursue only Google. While saying that the UK was not the right place for the Epic-Apple row, the judge, Justice Roth, did not have the same ruling when it came to Google for complex legal reasons. Epic Games last week said it has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union, expanding the company's fight to advance what it calls "fairer digital platform practices" for developers and consumers. The complaint complements legal processes … [Read more...] about Epic Games’ bid to pursue case against Apple in UK rejected