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In the midst of all our worry about global warming, we seem to have forgotten about the ozone hole. Now there’s good news that shows how the right response CAN make a difference: The ozone hole over Antarctica may close within 50 years, because the level of ozone-depleting CFCs in the atmosphere is declining.

Australian researcher Paul Fraser, who monitors CFCs from the island of Tasmania, says, “The major culprit in the production of the ozone hole is CFCs and they have started to decline in the lower atmosphere. We think the ozone hole will recover by about 2050.” Ozone-depleting gases in the upper atmosphere were at their peak in 2000, but have been declining since then. It takes around 11 years for changes in CFC emissions to be reflected in the ozone layer.
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U.K. Crop circle investigator Lucy Pringle, who creates our beautiful crop circle calendars and postcards, talks about her research into the “Alien Face” and “Computer Disk” crop formation, the most controversial of the recent season. She takes you step-by-step into how the formation was discovered and the “disk” decoded, so you can make up your mind about whether or not this is a ?real? crop circle, click here.

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.read more

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How can astronauts practice for future missions without actually traveling in space? Veteran astronauts Scott Kelly and Rex Walheim and their team will spend 5 days 63 feet underwater off the Florida Coast near Key Largo. Wearing diving gear, they swam down to the Aquarius undersea laboratory to begin the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) exercise, which will mimic a stay on board the International Space Station. The Aquarius laboratory is three miles off the Florida coast at Key Largo.
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Scientists are trying to find ways to attack hurricanes. Nine jets are planning to fly over southern Florida, each carrying 16,000-330,000 pounds of cloud-busting powder. When sprayed into a wet cloud, this powder combines with the moisture and turns into a heavy gel, which will then fall to the ground, removing the moisture from the cloud. They hope this powder will make hurricane Isidore much weaker. “We just want to take a punch out of a storm so it doesn’t level your house,” says Peter Cordani, of Dyn-o-Mat, the creator of the powder.
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