FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: A wildfire that broke out in Colorado Monday has quickly become the more destructive in state history, destroying 135 homes and scorching 6,388 acres as it races through the foothills west of Boulder. Thousands of residents have already been driven from their homes by the Fourmile Fire (pictured), and thanks to powerful winds that are pushing the flames around unpredictably, authorities say it may not be contained for another 10 days. "We are dealing with a very large, very chaotic and very unpredictable situation," Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle tells the Boulder Daily Camera. There have been no reported deaths or injuries yet, although at least four people in the evacuation zone remain unaccounted for, the Sheriff's Office says. More than 500 firefighters were battling the blaze Wednesday afternoon, working 16-hour shifts and sleeping in tents — even as some learned their own homes had already burned. The cost of fighting the fire is $2.1 million and rising, the Denver Post reports, and according to federal officials it's now the nation's top firefighting priority. Seven of the country's 19 heavy air tankers have been sent to Colorado to pitch in, and have dropped 16 loads of fire retardant totaling 35,000 gallons, along with additional water dropped by helicopters. Crews have reportedly contained about 10 percent of the fire so far, but officials are pleading with evacuees to remain patient as they continue fighting. "We have active fire in the area," Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough tells the Post. "We can't let people up there. When our deputies were up there, they had to pull out because there is still active fire." (Sources: Denver Post, Boulder Daily Camera)

 

MEET THE BEETLES: Blazes like the Fourmile Fire may become more and more common as heat and pine beetles blanket the forests of western North America, according to a new study by U.S. Forest Service researchers. Published in the September issue of the journal BioScience, the report's authors say their findings offer the most comprehensive look yet at how global warming influences the tree-killing beetles — and the outlook isn't good. "Our models suggest that climatic changes on the order of what is expected would increase the population success of both spruce beetle and mountain pine beetle throughout much of their range," says one of the co-authors, although he adds that there is "considerable variability." The problem is that, like mosquitoes and many other insects, pine beetles' lives are closely controlled by the temperature, he explains: "Bark beetles are influenced directly by shifts in temperature, which affect developmental timing and temperature-induced mortality, and indirectly, through climatic effects on the species associated with beetles and their host trees." The beetles have already left swaths of dead pine trees across the continent's western half (pictured), even far outside their normal range, which has created a glut of fuel for both natural and human-caused wildfires. But the researchers do offer at least a sliver of good news — the likelihood of pine beetles further expanding their range into the Midwestern and Eastern U.S. is "low to moderate throughout this century," they found. (Sources: U.S. Forest Service, University of California Press)

 

SHOCKED FLOCKS: The 2010 Gulf oil spill has been an unavoidable story all around the world this summer, but there's one big group of stakeholders who still haven't heard the news — some 5 million migratory birds that are currently flying south from Canada to the Gulf Coast. It's part of the birds' annual migration as they head to the Caribbean and South America for the winter, and they usually spend some time fattening up in Gulf Coast marshes and barrier islands before finishing their voyage. This year, however, they could be in for a big surprise. "There's a lurking time bomb for many waterfowl and shorebirds that breed in Canada's boreal forest and winter or stop in the Gulf," ornithologist Jeff Wells tells Discovery News. The birds will be hungry after flying all the way down from Canada, Wells says, and since many of them will still have a 500-mile journey across the Gulf ahead of them, they'll be ready to start gulping down a feast of invertebrates. But those invertebrates were decimated by the oil spill, and the survivors may still be contaminated. And as the birds peck around in oily marshes and dig into the sand on beaches, they may also come into direct contact with some of the crude itself. "The birds are actually dipping their bills down into the oil," Wells says. No one knows exactly how the birds will respond to what they find in the Gulf, but the Audubon Society is dispatching teams of volunteer and professional bird watchers to monitor their behavior in the coming months, and even years down the road. "We're not really sure what will happen," says the director of bird conservation for the Audubon Society's Louisiana Coastal Initiative. "To get answers, we're really looking at these long-term monitoring efforts." (Source: Discovery News)

 

HOW NOW, GREEN COW? Cows are major contributors to climate change, thanks to their methane-filled flatulence and burps, but a dairy scientist at Penn State University has found an unusual new feed supplement that could one day change that: oregano. Using an oregano-based supplement not only shrank dairy cows' methane emissions by 40 percent in lab experiments and a live test, but it also improved their milk production, according to PSU dairy nutrition professor Alexander Hristov. That's a big deal, he points out, since about 37 percent of all manmade methane emissions come from livestock, and methane is 23 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. "Any cut in the methane emissions would be beneficial," he says, and a 40 percent cut would certainly be significant. But the bonus benefit of more milk could ultimately be the selling point for oregano-based cattle feed, since the mixture boosted cows' milk output by nearly three pounds of milk per cow. "Since methane production is an energy loss for the animal, this isn't really a surprise," Hristov explains. "If you decrease energy loss, the cows can use that energy for other processes, such as making milk." Hristov screened hundreds of essential oil, plant compounds and other concoctions in the lab before discovering the methane-slashing power of oregano, and if his initial results bear out, he plans to refine his feed to make it even more effective. "If the follow-up trials are successful, we will keep trying to identify the active compounds in oregano to produce purer products," he says. (Source: ScienceDaily)

 

— Russell McLendon