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The breathtaking majesty of volcanoes via jaw-dropping photographs

There are few sights on Earth’s landscapes as awe-inspiring as a volcano – active or dormant. And a new book underscores this, offering ‘a visual celebration of the most impressive, infamous and active volcanoes from all corners of the globe’. The book “Volcano” by Robert J Ford, takes the reader on an eye-opening photographic tour from Hawaii to Chile and from Portugal to New Zealand, taking in phenomena that, as Ford says in his introduction, are reminders of Earth’s raw power. He writes: ‘We humans have felt for centuries that we have mastery over our world – transforming it to suit our needs and ways of life. Yet our planet now and again sends reminders that we are but residents upon its back. ‘Volcanoes are the most powerful of these, which humans snuggled up against over time as we expand our built environment into every corner of the natural world.’ So, let’s see this pick of the pictures in the mesmerising tome. Puyehue-Cordon Caulle, Ranco Province, Chile A stunning photograph of one of this century’s most colossal eruptions. Puyehue-Cordon Caulle in the Southern Volcanic Zone is a complex of two volcanoes: Puyehue and the fissure system of Cordon Caulle. After 51 years of inactivity, in 2011–12, it exploded in what became the biggest eruption of the 21st century so far. An estimated 100million tons of ash, sand and pumice were ejected, some of which circled the globe, reaching other parts of South America, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. Lagoa De Santiago, Sete Citades, Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal The Lagoa de Santiago fills one of the cones that arose in the caldera of the Sete Citades Massif, an ancient stratovolcanic complex at the western end of Sao Miguel Island. The caldera is dominated by the twin lake of Lagoa das Sete Citades (seen in the background), which is said to have been created by the tears of two young lovers forbidden to see each other by the king Mount St Helens, Washington, Usa The landslide that preceded and triggered the blast of pyroclastic material in the 1980 eruption was caused by the collapse of the entire north face of the mountain after an earthquake and carried with it debris that covered an area of 62 square km with many metres of rubble. It was the largest landslide in recorded history and left a clear view into the volcano’s crater for the first time. Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania Ol Doinyo Lengai varies between eruptions of liquid lava that form lava lakes and fountains (known as effusive eruptions) and explosive eruptions that create large cinder and ash cones. An episode of the latter type in 2007 spewed ash thousands of metres into the air, which also fell on the surrounding countryside, forcing local residents to flee with their livestock. Explosive eruptions continued into 2008, building a cone over 100m (330ft) high that encircled a steep-sided crater. Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy This volcano poses a deadly threat to millions. Mount Vesuvius, part of the Campanian Volcanic Arc, dominates the Bay of Naples and the population centres lying within its reach. It is these nearby settlements that make Vesuvius one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, with three million people in Naples near enough to be threatened by an eruption and the mountain being the only mainland European volcano to have erupted in the past 100 years (1944 being the last incident). Devils Tower, Wyoming, Usa It’s a volcanic tower that’s out of this world, having made an appearance in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Ford reveals that this 264m (867ft) geological feature is considered sacred by Northern Plains Indians and is thought to have been formed ‘by an intrusion of magma into surrounding sedimentary rock’ and ‘would only have become a visible landmark when all the sedimentary material eroded away’. Ford adds: ‘Some believe, however, that Devils Tower is all that remains of what was once a huge explosive volcano’ Bardarbunga Volcanic System, Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland ‘Baroarbunga is a stratovolcano located under the Vatnajokull ice cap (known as a subglacial volcano), Iceland’s biggest,’ explains Ford. ‘During the 2014–15 eruption, the emptying of Baroarbunga’s magma chamber saw a subsidence of its caldera by around 65m (213ft), which also caused a sinking of the surface of the glacier under which the volcano sits’ Cotopaxi, Cotopaxi Province, Ecuador ‘Cotopaxi’s biggest known eruptions were in 1742, 1744, 1768 and 1877,’ reveals Ford. ‘The latter three events destroyed Latacunga town on each occasion. During the 1877 eruption, pyroclastic flows on all sides of the mountain melted the entire ice cap to cause lahars [mudflows] that travelled more than 100km (62 miles) to the Pacific Ocean. Modern eruptions threaten flash-melts of the new glacier and lahars that pose a great risk to the land and population nearby’ Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain The summit of Teide is the highest point in Spain and the islands of the Atlantic at 3,718m (12,198ft). It rises out of the caldera of another giant volcano that helped birth Tenerife, reveals Ford. He continues: ‘The island was created through the accretions of three large shield volcanoes that formed their own small landmasses. Between these another volcano, Las Canadas, formed, joining all four together in a small island, which then grew over the millennia. Las Canadas later collapsed to create the caldera, out of which Teide grew over the course of the last 160,000 years’ Zendan-E Soleyman, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran ‘The hollow cone of Zendan-e Soleyman is a 107m- (351ft) tall ancient extinct volcano formed of mostly calcium sediments,’ writes Ford, ‘with the remains of various temple buildings surrounding the peak. Its crater, 65m (213ft) wide and 85m (279ft) deep, was filled with water centuries ago but has long since dried up. The mountain takes its name – “the Prison of Solomon” – from the biblical king Solomon, after a local legend that tells how the Hebrew king imprisoned monsters within the mountain’s >>Read more
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Dinosaurs may have suffered from respiratory diseases like pneumonia, fossil neck bones show

As if dodging carnivorous predators in the Jurassic swamp was not stressful enough, life would have been miserable for “Dolly” the dinosaur. Key points: Paleontologists scanned the neck bones of a large plant-eating dinosaur that lived around 150 million years ago Lesions suggest the dinosaur had a respiratory illness that caused a secondary infection in its bones These types of infections are common in birds today but have not been seen in fossils of non-avian dinosaurs before The large plant-eater probably suffered from a respiratory illness that triggered a bone infection, a new study of its neck bones suggests. If the diagnosis is correct, Dolly would have been plagued by pneumonia-like symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, headaches, weight loss, and fever. Cary Woodruff of the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Montana said Dolly would have looked visibly sick. “If you could get in a time machine and go back to when Dolly was alive, you would have very easily been able to tell that something was not right,” Dr. Woodruff said. This kind of infection, known as airsacculitis, is very common today in dinosaur descendants — birds. But this is the first evidence of respiratory infection in a non-avian dinosaur, Dr. Woodruff and his colleagues report today in the journal Scientific Reports. Well, hello Dolly Dolly — officially known as MOR 7029 — was a hefty long-necked type of dinosaur known as a diplodocid. When it roamed Montana about 150 million years ago, the area was a warm, humid coastal river system packed with plant-eating and carnivorous dinosaurs large and small. About 18 meters long, Dolly still had a lot of growing to do and half its life to live when it died at around 15 years of age. In 1990, a team of paleontologists dug up the front half of its fossilized skeleton, including its skull, some of its neck, shoulder, and rib bones. Thinking it was diplodocus, the classic long-necked dinosaur, they nicknamed it “Dolly the diplodocus”. This is a type of sauropod, a creature that belonged to the branch of the dino family tree that eventually evolved into birds. “From an evolutionary perspective, Dolly is more closely related to a pigeon than it is to triceratops,” Dr. Woodruff said. Given this lineage, paleontologists have long believed that sauropods and birds share anatomical traits including a complex respiratory system. Just like birds, sauropods had a series of air sacs near and in their bones, said Stephen Poropat, an Australian sauropod expert not involved in the study. “Sauropod dinosaurs are generally huge as adults. They have long necks, they have long tails,” Dr. Poropat of the Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum said. “If all of their bones were solid, their skeletons would have been immensely heavy.” ‘This has got to be a respiratory infection’ In 2014, Dr. Woodruff decided to dust off the fossil, which had been stashed away in a museum storeroom. After scraping away the hard rock encasing the skull, he realized that Dolly was actually a different species related to diplodocus. Then he decided to look at its neck bones. Strangely, the CT scans revealed the edges of the bone that would have been attached to air sacs were lumpy and bumpy. “But I don’t work on injuries and traumas in the fossil record, it was out of my wheelhouse, so I literally just posted a picture on social media and just asked my colleagues, ‘What is this?'” He immediately got responses from other paleontologists as well as anatomists and vets around the world. “The group answer was basically, ‘Holy cow, this has got to be a respiratory infection.'” There’s lots of evidence in the fossil record of dinosaurs suffering from injuries and bone diseases such as cancer, arthritis and infections like osteomyelitis, Dr. Poropat said. But, he said, finding evidence of a soft tissue disease such as a respiratory disease was “pretty amazing”. “A lot of the times when any disease or trauma is found in a dinosaur skeleton, it’s often in limb bones where you expect it to happen,” Dr Poropat said. “Seeing it where the air sacs penetrate the vertebrae in a sauropod is quite unusual.” And something was definitely amiss with the dinosaur’s neck bones, he said. Instead of having a thin plate of solid bone running through the center of each vertebra, the middle of the bones was infiltrated by air sacs and telltale signs of disease. “That’s abnormal; that’s not what we’d expect to see in a healthy sauropod.” So what did Dolly in? Looking closely at Dolly’s scans. Dr. Woodruff and the team quickly ruled out volcanoes as a culprit. Inhalation of volcanic ash can cause a disease similar to mesothelioma. “When these animals breathe in ash, the internal aspect of the bone is perfectly fine, they just develop weird growths on the outside,” Dr. Woodruff said. They also found no evidence of volcanic ash in the sediment from where Dolly was extracted all those years ago. The pattern of lesions also didn’t fit with lung cancer. Instead, Dr. Woodruff and his colleagues think bacterial or fungal infections such as chlamydiosis and aspergillosis are prime suspects. These respiratory infections are common in birds today. “We didn’t find anything that was 100 percent perfect match,” Dr. Woodruff said. “[But] if living dinosaurs get these symptoms when they have respiratory infections, evolutionarily a dinosaur in the past with a respiratory infection very likely could have had the same types of symptoms.” We don’t know for sure if the infection was bad enough to ultimately do Dolly in. “In the entire dinosaur record, there really maybe only just a few fossils that we can say what killed the animal,” Dr. Woodruff said. The Jurassic swamp would have been a very lonely place for a sick sauropod. If Dolly was anything like herd animals today, it may have tried to isolate to recover, or just simply fallen behind the pack, Dr. Woodruff said. “We don’t know whether Dolly could’ve just tipped over dead one day or was on its own and so visibly sick, making an easy target for a predator. “But either >>Read more
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Avoiding scams after a disaster

Don’t be a victim of dishonest service providers If your home was destroyed by a hurricane, wildfire or other disaster, be cautious. Unfortunately, there are dishonest service providers that prey on disaster victims. They know that people who have lost their homes and valuables may not be thinking clearly. If you have suffered this type of loss, don’t make any rash decisions. Talk to your insurance agent, who may recommend service providers in your area. Here are some basic guidelines for hiring service providers. Roofers and builders Don’t be rushed into signing a contract with any company. Instead, collect business cards and get written estimates for the proposed job. Beware of building contractors that encourage you to spend a lot of money on temporary repairs. Payments for temporary repairs are covered as part of the total settlement. If you pay a contractor a large sum for a temporary repair job, you may not have enough money for permanent repairs. In most cases, you should be able to make the temporary repairs yourself. Ask your insurance agent. And remember to keep receipts. Investigate the track record of any roofer, builder or contractor that you consider hiring. Look for professionals that have a solid reputation in your community. You can call your Better Business Bureau for help. Also, get references and never give anyone a deposit until after you have thoroughly researched their background. A common fraud scheme is for a so-called “contractor” to convince a homeowner that a large deposit must be provided before repair work can begin. Frequently, the job will be started, but not completed. Unfortunately, these con artists are never seen or heard from again. Public adjusters and attorneys Don’t make any rash decisions about hiring someone to handle your claim. Be especially wary of individuals who go door-to-door soliciting business in the aftermath of a catastrophe. Most importantly, don’t let anyone scare you into signing a contract. You don’t want to be victimized by someone who comes into town, hoping to make a fast buck. You could end up forfeiting a significant portion of your insurance dollars. Before hiring a public adjuster or an attorney, try to settle your claim directly with your insurance company. Your insurer provides an adjuster at no charge to you. Ask your insurance agent or company representative to help you with your claim and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you decide to work directly with your insurer, you still have the right to hire a third-party professional to help you. If your claim is complicated and you want to hire a public adjuster or attorney, make sure that person is qualified to handle your case. Ask your friends, relatives or business associates for the names of well-regarded professionals in your community. Also, call your state insurance department regarding a public adjuster, and your state or county bar association about a prospective attorney. Understand that you will have to pay a public adjuster 15 percent and an attorney as much as 30 percent of your total claim settlement.
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Securing your home against burglary

Make your home safer—and get insurance discounts, too Burglars won’t find your home an easy target if it’s well lit and features security measures that slow them down. Don’t let your home be an easy mark for theft and vandalism. Protect yourself and your belongings—and save on insurance premiums—by employing commonsense safety precautions. Check your home for security weaknesses and correct them Research shows that if it takes a thief more than four or five minutes to break into a home, he or she will go elsewhere. Take the time to “case” your house or apartment just as a burglar would and consider these steps to make it more crime-resistant, especially at points of easiest entry. Install simple security devices. Padlocks, door and window locks, grates, bars and bolts can increase the amount of time it takes to break into your home. Make sure the elements you already have in place are working properly. Invest in a burglar alarm. The most effective ones also ring at an outside service. Invest in security cameras. Cover key entry points and mount out of easy reach to deter tampering, these tell burglars that someone is watching. Trade a bit of privacy for added security. Trim trees and shrubs near doors and windows and think carefully before installing a high, wooden fence around your back yard. High fences and shrubbery can add to your privacy, but can also be an asset to a burglar. Shine a light. Force any would-be burglar out of the shadows. Exterior lights and motion detectors, mounted out of easy reach, can reduce the darkness shielding a would-be burglar. Keep valuables out of easy sight. If your valuable paintings, silver collection or home entertainment system are easy to see from outside the house, consider rearranging your furnishings to make your home less inviting to criminals. Home entry point security To help foil break-ins, strengthen the barriers at your home’s entry points. Of course, don’t sacrifice personal safety in this effort—whatever security features you install, make sure that you are able to easily escape in case of a fire or other emergency. Doors — Doors should be strong. Outside doors should be metal or solid hardwood, and at least one-and-three-quarters inches thick. Doorframes must be made of equally strong material, and each door must fit its frame securely. Even the most efficient lock, if it is placed in a weak door, will not keep out a determined burglar. A peephole or a wide-angle viewer in the door is safer for identifying visitors than a door chain. Sliding glass doors present a special problem because they are easy to open but, if you have these doors, you can find special locks for them. Locks — Deadbolt locks are best. They usually are locked with a key from the outside and a thumb turn on the inside. The cylinder (where the key is inserted) should be pick-resistant. Ask your hardware dealer for a reputable brand or buy your locks from a reliable locksmith. Windows — Key locks are available for all types of windows. Double-hung windows can be secured simply by “pinning” the upper and lower frames together with a nail, which can be removed from the inside. For windows at street level or on fire escapes, consider installing metal accordion gates. Home security habits Don’t inadvertently invite crime into your home—make these safety behaviors non-optional. Establish a routine to make certain that doors and windows are locked and alarm systems are turned on. Avoid giving information to unidentified telephone callers and announcing your personal plans online or in public notices (such as giving your address when advertising items for sale). Join with your neighbors to keep a close watch on what’s happening in your area—working together as a community is a good way to prevent crime. Notify the police and/or your neighborhood watch if you see suspicious strangers in your area. Don’t carry house keys on a key ring bearing your home address or leave house keys with your car in a commercial parking lot or with an attendant. Don’t hide your keys in “secret” places outside your home—burglars know where to look. Home security tips for when you’re away To prevent burglars and vandals when you’re away for vacation or business, it’s critical to make your home looked occupied and have friends and neighbors look out for suspicious activity. Some hints: Leave blinds open in their usual position. Notify dependable neighbors when you plan to be away; consider notifying police, as well. Arrange to have your lawn mowed in summer and your walk and driveway shoveled in winter. Stop newspaper deliveries and ask a neighbor to pick-up “throw-away” newspapers and circulars. Have mail and packages picked up by neighbors; alternately, have them forwarded or held by the post office. Lower the sound of your telephone ringer and answering machine so they can’t be heard outside. Use automatic timers to turn lights and a radio on and off in various parts of the house at appropriate times. Insurance benefits of home security measures Devices that make a home safer—such as dead-bolt locks, window grates and bars, smoke, fire or burglar alarm systems, and some security camera systems—make sense for your homeowners insurance bottom line, too. Most insurance companies provide discounts for qualifying security devices; check with your insurance professional for specifics.
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Philippines orders more than 25 million people into lockdown over Easter as Covid-19 cases soar

The Philippines orders more than 25 million people into lockdown over Easter as Covid-19 cases soar. Millions of people in the Philippines won’t be celebrating Easter as normal this year after the majority Catholic country imposed a strict lockdown in the capital and nearby provinces. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced the lockdown Saturday after the country reported 9,838 new Covid-19 cases — the country’s highest single-day increase, according to official state media Philippines News Agency. The Philippines has reported more than 720,000 coronavirus cases, including 13,170 deaths, making it one of the worst affected countries in Asia. The country has seen a steep rise in daily reported cases since February, and the country is now reporting more than 9,000 new cases a day. There are more than 105,000 active cases, according to the Philippines’ Department of Health. More than 25 million people across Metro Manila and nearby provinces Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal will be affected by the lockdown. The lockdown begins Monday and runs until April 4 — or Easter Sunday, a day when Christians often celebrate with special church services. Religious gatherings are not allowed during the holy week. That’s a blow for the Philippines, where more than 90% of the population are Christian, according to the CIA World Factbook. The measures include a curfew from 6 p.m. until 5 a.m. — tightened from the previous 10 p.m. curfew. Gatherings of more than 10 people outside are not allowed, and non-household members cannot gather indoors, the government said. Diners are not allowed to eat in restaurants, although take-out and delivery services can go ahead. The Philippine National Police has deployed thousands of officers in checkpoint areas to help enforce the rules, according to a PNA report. Vaccines are being rolled out to medical frontlines, and last week the Department of Health urged people who were not health care workers to refrain from jumping the queue. “Do not worry. Our goal is still to ensure that everybody will be vaccinated. But while we do this, the government is prioritizing healthcare workers as they are the most exposed and the most at risk of getting Covid,” National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar secretary Carlito Galvez said. “More vaccines will arrive, we are sure of that. We just have to wait for our turns to be vaccinated.” Source: CNN.com
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