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What if the world's icecaps melted overnight?

New maps show how the world would change if the polar icecaps completely melted - rising sea levels would flood large parts of Britain, Europe and the US

By Chris Hall | Yahoo News

Yahoo News - In 5000 years' time, this is what Britain could look like as the polar icecaps melt. (National Geographic/JASON TREAT, MATTHEW TWOMBLY, WEB BARR, MAGGIE SMITH, NGM STAFF, ART: KEES VEENENBOS)

It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood disaster film - what would happen if the polar icecaps completely melted in one go?

But you could also see it as the eventual product of global warming - as levels of carbon build up in the atmosphere, temperatures will one day rise to the point where all ice on Earth has melted.

Luckily for the millions of people whose homes would be flooded by this change, scientists estimate that melting all the ice in the Arctic, Antarctica and Greenland would take at least 5,000 years. The total volume of ice on Earth is currently estimated at between 5million and 7.5million cubic miles. Melting all of it would cause the sea level to rise by a minimum of 216 feet (66m).
The impact of such a drastic change to the sea level is shown by these National Geographic maps. Some parts of the world would be largely unaffected, but every continent would undergo significant changes. In addition, Antarctica would emerge as a landmass for the first time in 15million years.

Coastlines around Europe would shrink, with some countries disappearing altogether. (National Geographic/JASON …

The UK and Ireland would change enormously. The east coast of Britain would flood as far inland as Leicester and as far north as Harrogate. London and the Thames valley would all be underwater, with Kent and Norfolk reduced to a scattering of islands.

Much of western Ireland would flood, except for the highlands of County Mayo and Galway. Wales and Scotland would be less heavily affected.

In Europe, the Netherlands would be completely submerged. Denmark, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia would also be significantly flooded. The Black and Caspian Seas would connect directly to the Mediterranean, and huge areas of Russia and Kazakhstan would flood.

Much of the USA would be unharmed, but Florida and the Eastern seaboard would all flood. (National Geographic/JASON …

In North America, the eastern seaboard would all find itself underwater, and Florida would completely disappear. California would lose San Francisco and San Diego, and the Mississippi delta would become a large bay, but the rest of inland America would be largely unharmed.

Only the major river basins in South America would be significantly affected. (National Geographic/JASON TREAT, …

In South America, only the areas around the Amazon and Paraguay rivers would change significantly, with the mountainous western coastline protecting most of the continent.

China would be most affected in Asia, with an area home to 600million people being lost to the sea. (National Geographic/JASON …

Asia would see the largest number of people affected. Flooding in northern China and Bangladesh would leave more than 760million people without a home. Large parts of Cambodia and Thailand would be affected.

Australia would gain a sea, and lose all of its coastal cities. (National Geographic/JASON TREAT, MATTHEW TWOMBLY, …

Australia would look very similar but for the addition of an inland sea in South Australia. However, the coastal flooding that would affect the entire world would have huge repercussions in Australia, as 80% of the population lives on the coast.

According to National Geographic, this scenario could arise if humans were to burn the entire planet's supply of fossil fuels - causing the average temperature to rise by more than 20 degrees by adding 5trillion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere.

As well as flooding great swathes of the planet, it would also make much of the world intolerably hot to live in. So don't feel too smug if you live on top of a hill.

The world's weirdest festivals
By Laura Tait

From jumping over babies to tossing tuna fish, there are some mightily odd festivals that happen around the world.

They may have become huge annual events, but we’re still wondering about the conversations that took place that resulted in them happening in the first place.

Here’s our pick of the best – or, rather, strangest – festivals around the world...

El Colacho
Castrillo de Murcia, Spain
10 June 2012

Men dressed as El Colacho - aka the Devil - jump over babies lying on mattresses in the street. Not just weird, but a little bit dangerous, surely? It dates back to 1620 and has something to do with cleansing babies of original sin and protecting them against illness and evil spirits. The babies in question are those born in the village over the past year.

If that isn’t quite weird enough for you then have this: the festival’s organisers, the Brotherhood of Santísimo Sacramento de Minerva, chase people around the town throughout the day. With whips…

Monkey Buffet Festival
Lopburi, Thailand
25 November 2012

Don’t worry – this doesn’t involve eating monkeys. The locals in this Thai village are so grateful for the thousands of tourists that their 200 or so primates attract each year that they thank them with a massive feast. Treats including grilled sausages, fresh fruit and vegetables and ice cream are set in front of the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple. Historically, it’s held in honour of King Rama, who rewarded his ally Hanuman (the monkey king) with the land that eventually became Lopburi.

Wife Carrying World Championships
Sonkajärvi, Finland
6-7 July 2012

An annual event where Finnish men negotiate a 250m racetrack full of obstacles whilst – and this is the important bit – carrying their wives (although they don’t actually have to be married). The exact carrying style is up to the participants: piggy back, fireman’s lift, on the shoulders – anything goes, as long as they’re first over the finish line without the wife being dropped.

Obviously the heavier the wife the more of an achievement it is, and this is reflected in the prize: the winner receives their wife's weight in beer. Contestants can relax post-race with the less strenuous Wife Carrying Karaoke contests, dancing, and traders’ markets.

Mud Festival
Boryeong, South Korea
14-22 July 2012

More than a million visitors flock to the South Korean city of Daecheon to cover themselves in mud, jump into mud baths, slide down mud slides or even indulge in a mud wrestle. The idea? To promote the Daecheon beach area mud. It’s not just any old mud though – it’s full of minerals that apparently have lots of benefits for your skin.

The idea of covering yourself in mud should be enough of a draw to get you to the festival (and that’s not sarcasm by the way), but it isn’t the only thing on offer – there’s live entertainment, contests and fireworks too.

La Tomatina
Buñol, Valencia
29 August 2012

Held on the last Wednesday of August each year, this is basically a massive food fight between tens of thousands of participants using over-ripe tomatoes, and it’s such a big deal that the party last about a week. Other ingredients of the tomato-fest are music, parades, dancing, and fireworks and on the night before the food fight itself, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest.

No one really knows for sure why they do it, although one theory suggests it stems from anti-Franco protests in 1945. Not that anyone cares – it’s just a good excuse to throw tomatoes at strangers.

Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes)
Oaxaca, Mexico
23 December 2012

This odd, vegetable-themed festival has been around since 1897, but the inspiration behind it dates back to the 16th century, when vegetable sellers would turn radishes into sculptures to advertise in the markets.

Sculptures of varying themes – religious, historical, humorous, cultural, traditional - are displayed on the many stands set up in the city’s main plaza, and judges choose which of these deserve to win cash prizes.

Tunarama
Port Lincoln, Australia
January

The event is held over the Australia Day long weekend on the picturesque foreshore lawns of Port Lincoln, and what better way to showcase the region’s seafood, wine, art, music, people and surroundings than by seeing how far you can sling a tuna fish? It was launched 1962 with the intention of promoting the emerging tuna fishing industry in Port Lincoln, and it worked – the area now boasts Australia's largest tuna cannery.

Aside from the Tuna Toss, entertainment is provided in the form of stalls, sideshows and rides, events, activities and competitions. The record for the longest toss is held by ex-Olympic hammer thrower Sean Carlin, for his 37.23m effort in 1998.

Still the best of friends aged 102, the world's oldest living twins
By Nicholas Petche | Yahoo! News

Still the best of friends aged 102, the world's oldest living twins
By Nicholas Petche | Yahoo! News

Mark Twain was still alive and the South Pole had yet to be discovered when Edith Ritchie and Evelyn 'Evie' Middleton were born. Now, aged 102, the pair have been named as the world's oldest living twins.

Edith Ritchie and Evelyn 'Evie' Middleton have been named as the world's oldest living twins.

They were born on 15 November of that year on a farm near Newburgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Britain still had Edward VII as king and Florence Nightingale was still alive. Remarkably, despite their age, neither of the twins has ever left UK shores.

Although not identical, their mother always dressed them exactly the same. After leaving school, they worked on farms before leaving to start their own families.

Evelyn married William Middleton and had four children, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

Her sister Edith, married Nathaniel Ritchie and had four children, nine grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, and three-great-great grandchildren.

The sisters have remained close throughout their life and now live together at Bonnyton House care home in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

When asked her secret to a long life, Edith says 'simple living, hard work and a good husband'.

Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday said: 'They’re not just the oldest in the UK, they hold the world title. They’ve clearly benefitted from good genes, and a solid life-long friendship that only twins can truly understand.'

One of the world's most expensive foods is made from bird saliva
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Range

(NaturalNews) For more than 400 years, bird's nest soup has long been one of the most expensive foods in the world, and even today a single bowl of it costs between $30 and $100. You can't just make it out of any bird's nest. Only the edible nest of the cave swiftlet will do, a nest made entirely out of the bird's saliva. These nests are high in calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium. They are hard when harvested, but partially dissolve into a more jelly-like consistency when boiled into soup.

Cave swiftlets nest high up on sheer rock walls inside pitch dark caves, where they build sticky nests out of their own saliva. Traditionally, these nests can be harvested only by climbing on ladders up into the heights of these caves, a difficult and fairly dangerous undertaking. Today the swiftlets are encouraged to build their nests in artificially constructed concrete nesting houses. Even so, the harvested nests still sell for as much as $10,000 per kilogram.

Perhaps due to the high mineral content of the nests, eating them is believed to enhance lung health, prevents coughs, improve constitution and even promote longevity. The nests are nearly 50 percent protein and 30 percent carbohydrates, with a relatively small amount of inorganic salts and fiber.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034342_birds_nest_soup_cave_swiftlets_food.html#ixzz1ftOLmkiY

10 things to know about the world's first car

When Karl Benz built the first Patent-Motorwagen in 1885 (it was patented in 1886) he probably didn't realise quite the extent to which it would transform the world. So without further ado, here are ten things you might not have known about the progenitor of motoring.

It wasn't the first attempt at an automobile

Inventors were trying to put a 'car' on the road as early as the 18th century. However, all were attempts to automate the horse-drawn carriage, and were largely useless; the Patent-Motorwagen was the first automobile designed from the ground up to be powered by an internal combustion engine.

An American nearly got there first

American inventor George Selden was working on a horseless carriage at about the same time as Benz, filing a patent in 1879. Unfortunately it wasn't until 1895 that his patent for a 'safe, simple, and cheap road-locomotive light in weight, easy to control and possessed of sufficient power to overcome any ordinary inclination' was approved.

It took at least 12 years to develop

By 1873 Benz had developed a working two-stroke engine, and thereafter set about creating a useable carriage to put it in. The Patent-Motorwagen was complete by 1885 and officially unveiled to the public in Mannheim, Germany, on 3 July 1886.

It had a 0.9bhp engine

It was claimed that the first Motorwagen developed a heady 0.66bhp from its single-cylinder gas-powered engine. A later test showed that to be a conservative power figure, however - it actually had a mighty 0.9bhp. Let's put that into perspective: one of the cars on sale in the UK with the lowest power outputs today is the cdi version of the Smart Fortwo, with 54bhp, or 5,900 percent more than the Motorwagen!

The original prototype crashed

Difficult to control using a lever linked to the central front wheel, the 1885 prototype was crashed into a wall during a public demonstration. Fortunately camera phones hadn't been invented yet, so there was no hilarious footage to upload to YouTube.

It was rear-wheel drive

Drifting wasn't too easy with a horse and carriage, but the Patent-Motorwagen was the keen power slider's dream. Its engine powered the rear wheels via two chains linked to the back axle, good for some serious sideways action. Its tyres were solid rubber.

Karl Benz's wife stole one and went for a joyride

The story goes that Benz's wife, Bertha, took Motorwagen number three for a lengthy drive in August 1888 without his permission. With her two sons she drove the car 50-60 miles to her mother's house then returned three days later. The Bertha Benz memorial route between Frankfurt and Baden-Baden celebrates that historic journey.

Early versions couldn't climb hills

It was only after Bertha's trip that a second gear was added to the car, at her request; like an Austin Allegro, early versions couldn't handle even the mildest of inclines.

The first customers had to buy fuel from pharmacies

Of course, there was no network of fuel pumps in place when the Motorwagen first hit the cobblestones. Buyers had to fill up with small bottles of gasoline, at the time a substance used as cleaning fluid and available only from chemists.

Around 25 were sold

In a five-year period between 1888 and 1893, Benz sold 25 Patent-Motorwagens to wealthy pioneers. In 1893 the three-wheeler was replaced by an updated version with four wheels - the luxurious Benz Velo.

Mark Nichol