Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Departing From Aberdeen
An aircraft that departed from Aberdeen carrying 28 people had to make an emergency landing in Orkney on Tuesday.
The Loganair Saab 340 suffered a technical fault while travelling from Aberdeen to Sumburgh and was met on the tarmac by fire crews and paramedics.
Hailstorm Takes Hyderabad By Surprise, India
On Tuesday afternoon, Hyderabadis were left rubbing their eyes in disbelief as hard ice of the size of marbles and golf balls fell from the skies for nearly 15 minutes.
The once in a blue moon phenomenon, called a hailstorm, was widespread and within a span of three hours – between 2.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. – the city had received close to 35 mm (3.5 cm) of rainfall.
The hailstorm was extensive, with public from a host of locations confirming having experienced the phenomenon. The intense spell inundated low-lying areas in the city and brought traffic at several stretches to a crawl. Several sections on the Raj Bhavan and Somajiguda-Punjagutta roads were filled with knee-deep water, obstructing traffic for a long time.
The Hyderabad Meteorological Department said lightening, gusty winds, sudden spells of showers and hail were likely to continue in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts for the next 48 hours.
“The weather is unusual because every year thunderstorms occur from April. But, this year, thundershowers are taking place a month in advance,” said Assistant Meteorologist M. Narasimha Rao.
The social media was abuzz with users posting pictures and their accounts of having encountered the rare occurrence.
“I was travelling in my car in Madhapur when I suddenly felt as if someone had begun throwing huge stones on the roof. I had to search for shelter to protect my car from getting damaged,” posted Rahul V. on one of the platforms.
By Tuesday evening, however, the euphoria over hailstorms and the pleasant climate was quickly eclipsed by nightmares of traffic snarls that took occurred at major thoroughfares. Traffic crawled due to gridlocks at Begumpet, Ameerpet, Rasoolpura, Dilsukhnagar, Malakpet, Mettuguda-Tarnaka and a few areas of Kukatpally.
The GHMC’s emergency call centre received several complaints of water-logging at Lakdikapul, Masab Tank, Tolichowki, Somajiguda, Raj Bhavan road, Vijaya Nagar colony, Mehdipatnam, Basheerbagh, Red Hills and Himayathnagar.
An ancient virus has “come back to life” after lying dormant for at least 30,000 years, scientists say.
It was found frozen in a deep layer of the Siberian permafrost, but after it thawed it became infectious once again.
The French scientists say the contagion poses no danger to humans or animals, but other viruses could be unleashed as the ground becomes exposed.
The ancient pathogen was discovered buried 30m (100ft) down in the frozen ground.
Called Pithovirus sibericum, it belongs to a class of giant viruses that were discovered 10 years ago.
These are all so large that, unlike other viruses, they can be seen under a microscope. And this one, measuring 1.5 micrometres in length, is the biggest that has ever been found.
The last time it infected anything was more than 30,000 years ago, but in the laboratory it has sprung to life once again.
Tests show that it attacks amoebas, which are single-celled organisms, but does not infect humans or other animals.
Co-author Dr Chantal Abergel, also from the CNRS, said: “It comes into the cell, multiplies and finally kills the cell. It is able to kill the amoeba – but it won’t infect a human cell.”
However, the researchers believe that other more deadly pathogens could be locked in Siberia’s permafrost.
“We are addressing this issue by sequencing the DNA that is present in those layers,” said Dr Abergel.
“This would be the best way to work out what is dangerous in there.”
The researchers say this region is under threat. Since the 1970s, the permafrost has retreated and reduced in thickness, and climate change projections suggest it will decrease further.
It has also become more accessible, and is being eyed for its natural resources.
Prof Claverie warns that exposing the deep layers could expose new viral threats.
He said: “It is a recipe for disaster. If you start having industrial explorations, people will start to move around the deep permafrost layers. Through mining and drilling, those old layers will be penetrated and this is where the danger is coming from.”
He told BBC News that ancient strains of the smallpox virus, which was declared eradicated 30 years ago, could pose a risk.
“If it is true that these viruses survive in the same way those amoeba viruses survive, then smallpox is not eradicated from the planet – only the surface,” he said.
“By going deeper we may reactivate the possibility that smallpox could become again a disease of humans in modern times.”
However, it is not yet clear whether all viruses could become active again after being frozen for thousands or even millions of years.
“That’s the six million dollar question,” said Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist from the University of Nottingham, who was commenting on the research.
“Finding a virus still capable of infecting its host after such a long time is still pretty astounding – but just how long other viruses could remain viable in permafrost is anyone’s guess. It will depend a lot on the actual virus. I doubt they are all as robust as this one.”
He added: “We freeze viruses in the laboratory to preserve them for the future. If they have a lipid envelope – like flu or HIV, for example – then they are a bit more fragile, but the viruses with an external protein shell – like foot and mouth and common cold viruses – survive better.
“But it’s the freezing-thawing that poses the problems, because as the ice forms then melts there’s a physical damaging effect. If they do survive this, then they need to find a host to infect and they need to find them pretty fast.”
MAGNITUDE 5.8 – OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=363015
Subject To Change
Depth: 6 km
Distances: 128 km W of Santiago, Chile / pop: 4,837,295 / local time: 07:51:13.0 2014-03-04
69 km SW of Valparaíso, Chile / pop: 282,448 / local time: 07:51:13.0 2014-03-04
37 km W of San Antonio, Chile / pop: 85,651 / local time: 07:51:13.0 2014-03-04
MAGNITUDE 5.0 – IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000n0jz#summary
Subject To Change
Depth: 54 km
Distances: 270km (168mi) SSE of Hachijo-jima, Japan
462km (287mi) SSE of Shimoda, Japan
468km (291mi) SSE of Tateyama, Japan
476km (296mi) S of Kawaguchi, Japan
548km (341mi) SSE of Tokyo, Japan
MAGNITUDE 5.0 – JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000n0il#summary
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 718km (446mi) NNE of Akureyri, Iceland
955km (593mi) NNE of Reykjavik, Iceland
958km (595mi) NNE of Kopavogur, Iceland
963km (598mi) NNE of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland
Please Donate To Support My Work
Earth Extremities 
Comments