ALL IS NOT WELL: BP plans to pump cement into its mud-plugged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico today, hoping to solidify the muddy blockage that stopped it from leaking oil earlier in the week. But while crude is no longer gushing from the well — and the U.S. government reported Wednesday that three-quarters of what already escaped is now gone — people along the Gulf Coast aren't buying that things are getting better. "I don't think we've finished with this," a shrimper in Grand Isle, La., tells the AP. "We haven't really started to deal with it yet. We don't know what effect it's going to have on our seafood in the long run." Many independent scientists agree that the situation isn't as sunny as the federal report makes it out to be. "There's a lot of ... smoke and mirrors in this report," a biological oceanographer at Florida State University tells the Washington Post. "It seems very reassuring, but the data aren't there to actually bear out the assurances that were made." In the absence of those data, the government either relied on information from past oil spills, or apparently just made assumptions, according to scientists who worked on the report. For example, the report touts the good news that 24 percent of the spilled oil has been dispersed, while 26 percent is still unaccounted for. But some experts argue that the two categories should be combined, since the "dispersed" oil is still missing. "The form of the oil has shifted," says an ecologist at Tulane University, but he adds that "dispersed oil is still oil. It's just in a different form." (Sources: Associated Press, MSNBC, Washington Post) 

 

THE HEAT IS ON: A ruthless heat wave continues to scorch parts of the Southern, Northern and Midwestern United States today, creating dangerous conditions that have already killed at least 12 people — three from Mississippi alone — and spurred federal heat advisories for 18 states. The sweltering temperatures even claimed the lives of seven puppies aboard an American Airlines flight Tuesday to Chicago from Tulsa, where temperatures spiked at 103 degrees Fahrenheit that day (the temperature was around 85 degrees at 5 a.m., an hour before the plane took off). The heat was no better back on the ground, either — U.S. Highway 49 had to close its southbound lanes for several hours after parts of the road buckled under 100-degree temperatures around Florence, Miss. The danger comes from a brutal combination of triple-digit temperatures and high humidity, and the National Weather Service warns Americans to expect a "prolonged period of dangerously hot temperatures," with heat-index readings likely to peak at 110 degrees or higher. 2010 has already broken several heat-related records so far, and the National Weather Service hinted last month that July 2010 could overtake July 1936 as the hottest month in U.S. history, once all the data are analyzed. August is already shaping up to be a scorcher, too, but most of the current heat warnings are only in effect through Friday evening. (Sources: CNN, ABC News, USA Today)

 

EARNING STRIPES: The world's largest tiger reserve just tripled in size, with the government of Myanmar — aka Burma — setting aside the entire 8,450-square-mile Hukaung Valley as a protected area. It's a major victory for the endangered big cats, whose global population has fallen below 3,000 in the wild, most of them scattered around Southeast Asia. Up to 100,000 tigers roamed the region as recently as a century ago, but poaching and human encroachment on their habitats has completely wiped out some tiger populations, and left others hanging by a thread. The Hukaung Valley today is home to only about 50 tigers, largely because of habitat loss from gold mining and intensive farming, but the area could hold several hundred, according to the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society. "Myanmar now offers one of the best hopes for saving tigers in Southeast Asia," the society's director for Asian programs tells the AP. "The newly expanded protected area in the Hukaung Valley will be a cornerstone of tiger conservation throughout this iconic big cat's range." By expanding the wildlife park, Myanmar will inadvertently also save other animals, too, the CEO of conservation group Panthera tells TIME magazine. Clouded leopards, Asian elephants and hundreds of bird species all inhabit the region, and all will benefit from having their homeland protected, he says, but adds that the most exciting development is still the rare good news for tigers: "I have dreamt of this day for many years. ... This reserve is one of the most important stretches of tiger habitat in the world, and I am thrilled that the people and government of Myanmar understand the importance of preserving it." (Sources: AP, TIME)

 

CROCODILE SHOCK: The skeleton of small, catlike crocodile has emerged from the earth underneath Tanzania, and the paleontologists who dug it up say the "morphologically bizarre" animal (pictured) suggests a crocodile-crazy Cretaceous Period between 144 million and 65 million years ago. "This entire group of crocodiles deviates radically from the 'typical' crocodile, most notably in their bizarre [teeth]," says one of the researchers, "demonstrating a diversification not seen in the Northern Hemisphere during this time interval." On top of being small — its head could fit in a person's palm — the newly discovered crocodile had a short, low skull with sharp, mammal-esque teeth that evoke a warm-blooded animal, not cold-blooded killers like most of today's crocs. "At first glance, this croc is trying very hard to be a mammal," says the study's lead author. "If you only looked at the teeth, you wouldn't think this was a crocodile. You would wonder what kind of strange mammal or mammal-like reptile it is." According to another of the study's co-authors, it also "occupied a dramatically different feeding niche than do modern crocodilians," living primarily on land and feeding on insects and small animals. (Sources: BBC News, e! Science News)

 

— Russell McLendon

 

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