For those who saw the 1959 movie Voyage To The Center Of The Earth, with the scene where the protagonists take a walk in a forest of 7-foot tall mushrooms, this will not come as a big surprise. However, scientists had been debating for over a century about the true nature of what was quite possibly the largest organism of the Devonian era. Neither a plant, nor a lichen, this fungus went extinct some 350 million years ago, most probably because of its slow growth and inability to recover from regular disturbances.

Scientists at the University of Chicago and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., have produced new evidence to finally resolve the mysterious identity of what they regard as one of the weirdest organisms that ever lived.

Source: NewsWise

It was already known that Chinese officials wanted every single event to be perfectly ordered and organized – but now, this includes also the weather! As the chances of showers during next year’s Olympic Games are about 50%, scientists are planning to seed the clouds before the event in an attempt to prevent the risk of rain during the competitions by making if fall beforehand. Clean air and sunny weather guaranteed!

Source: Discovery Channel

If you think that cars running on E85 – a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline – are healthier and more environmentally friendly, you may have to think again. A scientist at Stanford University in California, USA, set up a computer simulation of the air quality in 2020 according to two different scenarios: one where all vehicles were using standard gasoline, and one where they were fuelled by E85.

He found that, in both cases, the number of premature death due to environmental factors was roughly the same – just for different reasons. Whereas greenhouse gasses and other typical pollutants produced by fossil fuels were significantly reduced in a world with ethanol cars, the levels of harmful ozone were elevated and thus caused severe damage to the respiratory system.

So far, the only proper alternatives to such technologies seem to be electrical/solar power, or even just compressed air.

Ethanol is widely touted as an eco-friendly, clean-burning fuel. But if every vehicle in the United States ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of pure gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations likely would increase, according to a new study by Stanford University atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson.

Source: Stanford University

A team of researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Columbia University, New York, USA) has forecasted that the Southwestern United States may well be completely dry by the middle of this century. A combination of human-induced climate change and water demand increase due to population growth will soon transform this region into a desert if nothing is done. This permanent drought is also likely to hit other sub-tropical regions of the globe, such as southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, as well as some parts of South America.

If these models are correct, the levels of aridity of the recent multiyear drought, or the Dust Bowl and 1950s droughts, will, within the coming years to decades, become the new climatology of the American Southwest.

Source: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Being caught in an avalanche is probably not the most comfortable experience, but this new life-saving device may make it a bit less of an ordeal. By wearing it, you can be sure that not only will the rescue teams be able to locate you, but they will also know your health status and be able to take appropriate measures as soon as they find you.

If you end up luckier than your friends and managed to avoid the avalanche that got them, you can then switch the transceiver to ‘search’ mode, allowing you to find them and rescue them.

Source: Oh Gizmo!