Free Republic

SAN DIEGO - The wildfires that charred vast areas of Southern California last fall may also have put the survival of two rare species of butterflies at risk, researchers say. Some experts say it became apparent even while the fires were still smoldering that the flames that blackened more than 745,000 acres, destroyed more than 3,400 homes and killed nearly two dozen people also threatened the existence of the Hermes copper and Thorne's hairstreak butterflies. "When I saw the magnitude of devastation, I realized in my lifetime I might see one, possibly two species go extinct," said biological consultant Michael...

Astronomers have apparently discovered an interesting twist to one of the greatest asteroid mysteries of all time. Hermes, a space rock lost to science for 66 years and recently rediscovered, could actually be a pair of orbiting asteroids, new radar observations suggest. Hermes had not been seen since its 1937 discovery until found anew in a collaborative effort last week. Once Hermes was recovered, astronomers around the world began observing it to take advantage of its relative proximity. The latest look at Hermes, also named 1937 UB, comes from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar observations were made...

ALONG ROUTE 8, Iraq -- The crew and the tank nicknamed ''Hermes'' disappeared just after midnight last Tuesday. It vanished, it seemed, in the dust and darkness just ahead of Marine Capt. Brendan Rodden. In his tank immediately behind, Rodden didn't realize the Hermes was gone until his unit had traveled five more miles -- after the column of M1A1 Abrams tanks from the 1st Tank Battalion turned away from an unfinished bridge and skirted west along the Euphrates River. They probably just got disoriented, Rodden thought, maybe mixed up with another unit. It was easy enough to get lost...