EARTHWEEK
Yellow fever panic
Residents around the Brazilian resort city of Rio de Janeiro have slaughtered scores of wild monkeys in fear that the primates could be spreading yellow fever.
The disease has caused 25 human deaths so far this year in Rio state alone, and killed untold numbers of monkeys in the forests across southern Brazil during 2017.
Health officials are alerting residents that the disease is spread by mosquitoes, not monkeys. They add that infected monkeys often provide the first indication of where the disease has spread, so killing them is not helping to fight the outbreak.
Rising tides
The rate at which sea level is rising around the world has increased in recent years, according to a study of satellite observations over the past quarter-century.
Scientists writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences say sea level could become 26 inches higher by the end of the century. The rate then would have increased from the current 0.1 inch per year to about 0.4 inches annually. “This acceleration, driven mainly by accelerated melting in Greenland and Antarctica, has the potential to double the total sea level rise by 2100 as compared to projections that assume a constant rate,” said study author Steve Nerem. He adds that the prediction is a conservative estimate. Scientists have long predicted that melting glaciers, combined with the thermal expansion of the ocean due to global warming, will create a far different coastal landscape for the next generation of humans.
La Niña fading
The La Niña ocean cooling across the tropical Pacific is predicted to disappear during the next few months, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.
The phenomenon is typically less disruptive to weather patterns than its warming counterpart, El Niño.
But the last two months have seen much of North America, Europe and Asia plunged into the coldest polar vortex chills in years. And drought-prone California has suffered from a protracted dry spell this winter.
Balinese calming
Geologists assured residents of Bali that the Indonesian resort island’s Mount Agung volcano is calming down and not likely to produce a violent eruption in the near future. Thousands of people living for months in evacuation shelters can now return home. Tourists are also coming back.
Tropical cyclones
Cyclone Gita was the strongest typhoon on record to strike the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga as it reduced the parliament, churches and other buildings in the capital to rubble.
• At least 13 people on Mindanao in the Philippines perished in mudslides triggered by Tropical Storm Sanba’s downpours.
Ant triage
A species of sub-Saharan ant has been observed administering medical care to wounded comrades after battle by intently licking the injury.
Matabele ants are among the largest on Earth and were already known to carry those wounded in battle back to the nest for treatment, where most lived to fight again.
In further studies, lead researcher Erik Frank of the University of Lausanne found that the soldier ants actually conduct a type of triage on the battlefield. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Frank said it is actually the wounded ant that decides whether it lives or dies by simply not cooperating with the helpers if it feels too injured to recover.
Earthquakes
A rare and unusually strong quake jolted residents of France out of bed before dawn on Feb. 12 without causing any damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in India’s Andaman Island, China’s Hubei province, South Korea and New Hampshire. Earth Environment Service