The Incredible Lendicular Clouds

Lenticular clouds, technically known as altocumulus standing lenticularis, are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, normally aligned at right-angles to the wind direction.




Where stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves may form on the downwind side. Lenticular clouds sometimes form at the crests of these waves. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds can form, creating a formation known as a wave cloud.



Power pilots tend to avoid flying near lenticular clouds because of the turbulence of the rotor systems that accompany them, but sailplane pilots actively seek them out. This is because the systems of atmospheric standing waves that cause "lennies" (as they are sometimes familiarly called) also involve large vertical air movements, and the precise location of the rising air mass is fairly easy to predict from the orientation of the clouds.



"Wave lift" of this kind is often very smooth and strong, and enables gliders to soar to remarkable altitudes and great distances. The current gliding world records for both distance (over 3,000km) and altitude (14,938m) were set using such lift.



Lenticular clouds have been mistaken for UFOs (or "visual cover" for UFOs) because these clouds have a characteristic lens appearance and smooth saucer-like shape.

The Amazing Blue Holes

Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation that get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters.




They can be hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to explore some of them they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life due to poor water circulation - leaving them eerily empty.



Some blue holes, however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths.

Mysterious Sailing Stones of Death Valley

In an area called the "Racetrack playa" in Death Valley near the western border of Arizona, an amazingly large number of stones, ranging in size from mere pebbles to half ton boulders regularly travel by themselves and no one has ever been able to explain why!

These huge stones move by themselves, leaving miles of zig-zagged, curved and straight tracks and continue to baffle the scientific community. As you can see these photos, the hardened surface of the landscape is marbled with the trails of water rivulets that would make concealing evidence of outside interference impossible. So the big question is, just how DO these mysterious stones move?

BBC To Make Atlantis Movie

A New British movie is to tell the story of the ancient cataclysm that's believed to be the basis for the Atlantis legend.




The BBC has announced the TV film, to be called Atlantis and directed by Primeval's Tony Mitchell, will "tell the dramatic story of the greatest natural disaster to shake the ancient world, a disaster that triggered the downfall of a civilisation and spawned a legend."



The film will be made using the same techniques as Zack Snyder's Spartan war epic 300 and will be accompanied by a documentary looking at the historical evidence.



Around 1620 BC a gigantic volcano in the Aegean Sea stirred from its 19,000-year slumber.



The eruption tore apart the island of Thera, producing massive tsunamis that flooded the nearby island of Crete, the centre of Europe's first great civilisation - the Minoans.



This apocalyptic event, many experts now believe, provided the inspiration for the legend of Atlantis. »



- David Bentley

World's Largest House of Cards

MACAU (Reuters Life!) - Crowds of baccarat-obsessed Chinese punters crammed inside the world's largest casino, the Venetian Macau, witnessed on Wednesday the mega-casino's latest claim to fame as the world's largest "house of cards."




Kneeling at a quiet spot not far from the cavernous gaming floors of the casino, Bryan Berg, an American architect placed the last of 218,792 playing cards onto his paper edifice -- a replica of the Venetian Macau -- to break his own Guinness World Record for the largest house of free-standing playing cards.

Robotic Hand That Senses Touch

Robotic Hand That Senses Touch (w/ Video)




(PhysOrg.com) -- Developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy, the Smart Hand project has given patient, Robin af Ekenstam (see video) the sense of touch in his new prosthesis hand.

Korean Man Marries Anime Character

In Korea, a man a married his Japanese anime girlfriend!

The anime exists on his dakimaura, a.k.a. body pillow which he married.
They go out to dinner where he orders two dishes of pasta.
He also takes her to a theme park where they ride roller-coasters and a carousel.



Courtesy of The Toronto Sun