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<p>JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes on Monday.</p> <p>Indonesia's Mount Sinabung started erupting on Monday, the biggest eruption of the volcano so far in 2018.</p>

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA—The massive Toba volcanic eruption on the island of Sumatra about 74,000 years ago did not cause a six-year-long "volcanic winter" in East Africa and thereby cause the human population in the region to plummet, according to new University of Arizona-led research. The new findings disagree with the Toba catastrophe hypothesis, which says the eruption and its aftermath caused drastic, multi-year cooling and severe ecological disruption in East Africa. "This is the first research that provides direct evidence for the effects of the Toba eruption on vegetation just before and just after the eruption," said lead author Chad...

Seabed Shifts Pose New Perils in Tsunami Region By ANDREW C. REVKIN Published: March 17, 2005 The violent thrust of the seabed near Sumatra, Indonesia, that touched off catastrophic tsunamis in December created significant new risks of earthquakes and tsunamis there, seismologists are reporting today. The researchers say that the place at greatest risk from a new earthquake is the devastated city of Banda Aceh and that the tsunami risk lies along Sumatra's heavily populated southern coasts. But they added that any fresh tremors or waves would be unlikely to have anywhere near the destructive power of the December earthquake,...

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was "highly likely" on autopilot when it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean, Australian researchers have said. A new search area for the missing Boeing 777 plane has been announced by the Australian government .... Deputy Prime Minister Warren Trust confirmed the search will move further south to an area 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the western coast of Australia.... An expert group has reviewed the existing information on MH370, revealing that is it probable that the plane was on autopilot when it ended its flight. Truss said it was "highly, highly likely...

Results from research conducted by a team of scholars and scientists on the dietary lives of orangutans in tropical Borneo have given possible clues to how very early human ancestors may have adapted, survived and changed millions of years ago. In addition, the results may help scientists better understand eating disorders and obesity in human populations today. Led by evolutionary anthropologist Erin Vogel of Rutgers University (pictured below, right), the research team analyzed samples of compounds and byproducts in Orangutan urine over a 5-year period to determine the effects of protein recycling in their dietary, or eating behavior. What they...

New evidence underscores the theory of human origin that suggests humans most likely share a common ancestor with orangutans, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science. Reporting in the June 18 edition of the Journal of Biogeography, the researchers reject as "problematic" the popular suggestion, based on DNA analysis, that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, which they maintain is not supported by fossil evidence.

Evidence for the orangutan being the closest living relative of modern humans is based on at least 35 known characters that appear to be either exclusive to humans and orangutans or largely absent in outgroups.

...for use in genetics-based population divergence studies. Abstract: The length of the human generation interval is a key parameter when using genetics to date population divergence events. However, no consensus exists regarding the generation interval length, and a wide variety of interval lengths have been used in recent studies. This makes comparison between studies difficult, and questions the accuracy of divergence date estimations. Recent genealogy-based research suggests that the male generation interval is substantially longer than the female interval, and that both are greater than the values commonly used in genetics studies. This study evaluates each of these hypotheses in...

After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 veered off its course, civilian air-traffic controllers spent precious predawn hours in befuddled exchanges with counterparts in nearby countries in an effort to locate the jet, according to documents released by investigators Thursday. A series of missteps began less than an hour after the plane disappeared around 1:20 a.m. on March 8.... Through that first stretch, the carrier's operation center continued to advise controllers that the plane was in "normal condition," remained in contact with ground facilities and was flying somewhere in Cambodian airspace—an area that was never on its flight path from Kuala Lumpur...

Tectonic Summary Re-analysis of Proposed Submarine Aircraft Crash Site for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 Map of Seismic Analysis of Proposed Submarine Aircraft Crash Site The University of Science and Technology of China has announced a possible location for the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 based on two seismic recordings (stations KUM and IPM of the Malaysia National Seismic Network; see map). The proposed site is in the Gulf of Thailand (orange hexagon on map). The time of the event reported by the Chinese was 2:55 AM (on 3/8/2014, which equates to 18:55 UTC time on 3/7/2014).

Scientists are using the site to help determine the frequency of catastrophes like the event of 26 December 2004. This is being done by dating the cave's tsunami-borne sediments, which are easy to see between layers of bat droppings. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Because people thought they had no history of such things, they thought it was impossible” End Quote Prof Kerry Sieh Director, Earth Observatory of Singapore "The tsunami sands just jump right out at you because they're separated by guano layers. There's no confusing the stratigraphy (layering)," explains Dr Jessica Pilarczyk. "It makes for...

A cave on the northwestern coast of Sumatra holds a remarkable record of big tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. The limestone opening, close to Banda Aceh, retains the sandy deposits washed ashore by huge, earthquake-induced waves over thousands of years. Scientists are using the site to help determine the frequency of catastrophes like the event of 26 December 2004.

Five men stuck in a tree surrounded by Sumatran tigers for four days Five Indonesian men have been trapped in a tree for days after being chased into its branches by Sumatran tigers, who mauled a sixth man to death. Four of the animals were still surrounding the base of the tree following their initial attack on Thursday, which they launched after the men accidentally killed a tiger cub. Humans and animals are increasingly coming into conflict in Indonesia. The men entered the Mount Leuser National Park in the north of Sumatra island on Tuesday searching for rare incense wood,...

Among the finds is the first example of rock art in Sumatra and the discovery of 66 human burials dating back about 3000 years. "Sixty-six is very strange," Prof Simanjuntak said, adding that they have never found such a big quantity of burials. Intense human occupation "It means that this cave was occupied intensely by humans and they continued to occupy it for a very, very long time," he said. These findings shed new light on the complex cultural behaviours of Indonesia's first farming communities, who lived in the limestone caves of Harimau and used them as a burial place...

More shake, rattle and roll on the other side of the planet. 8.7 this morning; Tsunami warning for Indonesia, not for Japan. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000905e#summary

Five suspected terrorists were reportedly killed during police raids at two different locations in Bali late on Sunday. Police have yet to issue an official statement on the nature of the raids and details on the casualties. The first raid took place at around 10:15 p.m. in a budget hotel, Laksmi, on Jl. Danau Poso 99X, Sanur. The area is known as one of the most famous red-light districts in Bali, where people can easily obtain a cheap room from staff at budget hotels who rarely ask for valid identification from their guests. Neighbors said that they heard a burst...

The toilet paper on your grocery store shelves may have a direct impact on the 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild. Not all tissue and paper towels are made from responsible sources. Tiger Habitat Urgently Threatened Sumatra's rain forests--and the tigers that live in them--are in danger. One threat? Toilet paper bound for U.S. stores. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is pulping rain forests and replacing them with pulp plantations to provide paper fiber for products like the fastest-growing brand of toilet paper in the United States today, Paseo. Since 1984, APP's forestry practices have cleared 5 million acres...

SUMATRA, Indonesia –Several earthquakes have struck near south Sumatra of the 5.0 and 5.1 magnitude range today- making a tense situation on the volcanically-dotted archipelago potentially even more volatile. The Anak Krakatau volcano is showing signs of increased seismic activity. Authorities fear the volcano is building towards an eruption that could dwarf the one which occurred in 2007. Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Disasters Mitigation Center reported the numbers of seismic tremors now registering from the volcano have exceeded 5,000 a day. There are also reports of a gaseous mist which has seeped from the volcano and have enshrouded it in...

An international team of geoscientists has discovered an unusual geological formation that helps explain how an undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004 spawned the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. Instead of the usual weak, loose sediments typically found above the type of geologic fault that caused the earthquake, the team found a thick plateau of hard, compacted sediments. Once the fault snapped, the rupture was able to spread from tens of kilometers below the seafloor to just a few kilometers below the seafloor, much farther than weak sediments would have permitted. The extra distance allowed it...

VIVAnews - Mt Anak Krakatau, a volcano located on the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, Indonesia, has seen escalating expulsion of toxic gas. The volcanic activities were triggered by 5.5 magnitude tremor hitting southwest of Krui, Lampung, earlier in November. In addition, the sea temperature around the volcano has been rising as well. According to Andi Arief, presidential advisor on Disaster Issues, revealed through a short message today, Nov 29, that the plumes of smoke sent off by the Anak Krakatau reached the height of between 200 and 800 meters into the air. The data gathered was an accumulation...