Rain dance: It may sound odd, but the submerged city of New Orleans needs rain, says Dr. Seth Reice at the University of North Carolina. Described as a toxic stew, the floodwaters contain household cleaners, coliform bacteria and human waste. Rainwater would water this stew down, making it cleaner for plants, animals, and humans.
Heating up: The number of Class 4 and 5 hurricanes, with wind speeds over 211 kilometres per hour, has doubled over the past 35 years. Researchers at Georgia Institute for Technology have linked this increase with a rise in ocean temperature. Whether this relates to global warming remains to be seen.
All bets off: A common respiratory disorder that afflicts racehorses slows their running speed on the track, reports Dr. Kenneth Hinchcliff of Ohio State University. The disorder, Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhaging, causes blood to leak into a horse’s windpipe, interfering with its breathing and running. Hinchcliff found that racehorses with EIPH lagged an average of 14 feet behind healthy racehorses.
-Chris Damdar
