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Smoke and ash from urban wildfires, like those in Los Angeles, may put people at risk of short- and long-term health problems The fires raging in Los Angeles have destroyed thousands of structures, and the death toll is rising. Along with the wildfires, residents must deal with other hazards: smoke and ash. Smoke is made of tiny particles. Smoke particles 2.5 micrometers or smaller in size — known as PM2.5 — are particularly concerning in terms of health. This is because they can enter deep into the airways and tissue of the lungs. The particles can even travel from the...

An £18,000,000 plan to redevelop Highgate Cemetery, the final resting places of Karl Marx and George Michael, has divided local residents. The graves of Marx and Michael are among those currently ‘at risk’ of damage from falling ash trees, which have been decaying due to longstanding disease and drainage issues at the famous cemetery. Ash dieback, a fungal disease that could eventually kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK, has seen trees topple in the cemetery and forced many more to be cut down. Marx’s grave is surrounded by ash trees, whereas George Michael’s burial spot lies...

There was an incident earlier this afternoon involving a contract employee near an ash landfill, located to the south of the Ray Nixon and Front Range Power Plants. We contract with this company to maintain our heavy equipment/large trucks that move material – such as ash and coal – at the site. The Colorado Springs Fire Department will lead the investigation effort. The contractor’s employee has been airlifted to Denver for medical treatment. We cannot speak to his condition at this time. While our focus is on the health of this individual, we can report to our community that the...

Avolcano has erupted in Russia after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of the country, according to state-run media. The Russian news agency, TASS, reported that the Shiveluch volcano in the region of Kamchatka started to erupt on Saturday. CNN noted that the volcano is about 280 miles from the coastal city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.

Speculation is mounting (except, of course, among the “professional” press), as to the identities of six of the eight individuals included in the Libby subpoena to The New York Times (see Clarice Feldman’s piece here). The Times deemed the identities of only two of the parties worthy of release, former CIA director George Tenet and former White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer. The names of the other six remain elusive

Trees can decline for a number of reasons: insects, disease, soil compaction, winter injury, drought stress, and many other factors.

It's rarely great news when an area gets blanketed in volcanic ash – but University of Barcelona researchers have discovered it has a rare combination of useful properties, which make it remarkably useful as an energy storage medium. We've written a number of times about super-cheap thermal energy storage, and a number of other times about highly efficient heat batteries operating at super-high temperatures. The cheapest of these 'brick toasters' use the most abundant of materials, and the most efficient can handle extraordinarily high temperatures using materials like liquid tin and carbon materials – but volcanic ash, as it turns...

Mexican authorities on Sunday raised the warning level for the Popocatepetl volcano to one step below red alert as smoke, ash and molten rock spewed into the sky posing risks to aviation and far-flung communities below. The huge volcano that towers above Mexico City is considered one of the most dangerous in the world because some 25 million people live within a 60-mile radius. Sunday's increased alert level - to 'yellow phase three' - comes a day after two Mexico City airports temporarily halted operations due to falling ash, which also forced 11 villages to cancel school sessions.

New method can pull rare earth elements from electronic waste and coal ash.. When a pulse of current goes through a tube containing coal ash, a flash of light indicates rapid heating. Rare earth elements then become much easier to extract.. As chemists scramble to find ways to reclaim valuable metals from industrial waste and discarded electronics, one team has found a solution that sounds a little like magic: Zap the trash with flashes of electric heat. Rare earth elements (REEs) present an environmental paradox. On one hand, these dozen or so metals, such as yttrium and neodymium, are vital...

The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, located off the northwestern coast of Africa, has been erupting for nearly eleven weeks with no signs of abating. Soon the eruption could be La Palma’s longest in over 500 years. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Sept. 19 and led to the evacuation of thousands of residents. For the last 75 days, the volcano has spewed lava out of fissures, unleashed plumes of ash and toxic gasses, and acid rain. After two and a half months of non-stop volcanic eruptions, some parts of the island...

SPIEGEL ONLINE talks to historian and Oxford professor Timothy Garton Ash about the European Union's weak image in the world, the limits to EU expansion and how Europe should tackle Russia and Iran.Timothy Garton Ash is Professor of European Studies at St. Antony's College, Oxford, a senior fellow at the Stanford University-based think tank the Hoover Institution and a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a new European think tank. He has earned renown for a genre of writing he calls the "history of the present." His eight books feature historical analysis of transformations undergone in Europe...

Ubinas Volcano Volcanic Ash Advisory: continuous ash emissions to 24000 ft (7300 m) Saturday Jul 20, 2019 04:30 AM | BY: VN Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Buenos Aires warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 24000 ft (7300 m) altitude or flight level 240 and is moving at 20 kts in SE direction. The full report is as follows:

THE STATION for today is as noted in the missal, in the church of St. Trypho, martyr; but this church having been destroyed many centuries ago, the station is now in that of St. Augustine, which is built on the same site. COLLECT Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et concede ut hoc solemne jejunium, quod animabus corporibusque curandis salubriter institutum est, devoto servitio celebremus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Give ear, O Lord, to our prayers, and grant that we may, with true devotion, observe this solemn fast which was wholesomely instituted for giving health to both our souls and...

THE STATION today is in the church of the holy martyrs, St. John and St. Paul. COLLECT Inchoata jejunia, quæsumus Domine, benigno favore prosequere: ut observantiam, quam corporaliter exhibemus, mentibus etiam sinceris exercere valeamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Graciously favor us, O Lord, we beseech thee, in the fast we have undertaken: that what we observe outwardly, we may perform with sincere minds. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. EPISTLE LECTIO ISAIÆ PROPHETÆ. LESSON from ISAIAS the PROPHET. Cap. LVIII Ch. LVIII Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam, et annuntia populo meo scelera...

ALTHOUGH THE LAW OF FASTING began yesterday, yet Lent, properly so called, does not begin till the Vespers of Saturday next. In order to distinguish the rest of Lent from these four days which have been added to it, the Church continues to chant Vespers at the usual hour, and allows her ministers to break their fast before having said that Office. But beginning with Saturday, the Vespers will be anticipated; every day (Sundays excepted, which always exclude fasting), they will be said at such an early hour that when the faithful take their full meal, the evening Office...

Violet Privileged Feria YESTERDAY THE WORLD WAS BUSY in its pleasures, and the very children of God were taking a joyous farewell to mirth: but this morning, all is changed. The solemn announcement, spoken of by the prophet, has been proclaimed in Sion: the solemn fast of Lent, the season of expiation, the approach of the great anniversaries of our Redemption. Let us, then, rouse ourselves, and prepare for the spiritual combat. But in this battling of the spirit against the flesh we need good armor. Our holy mother the Church knows how much we need it; and therefore...

A giant mushroom-shaped cloud shot up from the Philippines’ most active volcano on Monday, darkening the skies and raining ash on communities where tens of thousands have fled after warnings of an impending eruption.Mayon volcano’s new activity prompted state volcanologists to raise the alert level one notch higher than the initial warning scientists issued last week, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within days. Fine ash and sand fell on Legazpi, a city of about 200,000 people, and nearby areas after the midday explosion of Mount Mayon, forcing motorists to turn on their windshield wipers and headlamps, an AFP video...

Full Title: 12/14/2017 -- Alaska's Cleveland Volcano sends off 20,000 foot high blast -- West Coast be on watch The video at link is 18 minutes 17 seconds in length but the part about Cleveland Volcano begins at the 10:55 mark. An island volcano in the Aleutian Island chain sent ash to a height estimated to be "Flight level 200" (20,000 feet according to the vlogger?).

US scientists have found what it could be key for the future of the country’s ailing coal industry as they detected that ashes from local operations, particularly those around the Appalachian region, are very rich in rare earth elements. Researchers from North Carolina-based Duke University analyzed coal ashes from coal-fired power plants throughout the US, including those in the largest coal-producing regions: the Appalachian Mountains; southern and western Illinois; and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. One of the team main conclusions was that coal waste generated by the Appalachian coal operations was the richest in rare earth...

Thirty-five years have passed since Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, killing 57 people and raining ash throughout the state. Lisa Rainey shared a photo of jarred ash with Seattle's KIRO-TV, writing: "Ashes and a newspaper from Mount St. Helen's blast from 1980 ... my grandma and grandpa scooped up ashes in their yard from the blast.” When the photo was shared on Facebook, many viewers began to share their memories of that day – May 18, 1980.