Unusually heavy rains in Queensland, Australia have caused massive flooding. The government was forced to open the Ross River Dam, flooding up to 20,000 homes.
Published in “Science”
Measles cases are on the rise in the US, with nearly 80 cases reported in January. The governor of Washington state says the measles outbreak there is an emergency.
The recent US government shutdown has had many serious effects. One interesting effect is that it allowed a group of elephant seals to take over a beach in a national park.
Thailand's capitol, Bangkok, is struggling to deal with dangerous air pollution. On Wednesday, the city closed over 400 schools for the week and is spraying water to try to clear the air.
Denmark has begun building a 43-mile (70-kilometer) fence along the border that separates it from Germany. The goal isn't to keep people out. It's to keep out a pig-like animal called a wild boar.
A huge blast of extremely cold weather has swept into the central and eastern United States from the North Pole, bringing dangerously low temperatures made worse by strong winds.
Rising temperatures are warming the oceans and causing huge amounts of ice to melt faster than expected. Unless something changes, this melting will happen even faster in the future, causing large rises in sea level.
An undersea cable that connects the island nation of Tonga to the internet has broken. As a result, Tongans will be without their main internet connection for several weeks.
The earth's magnetic North Pole is moving so fast that it's affecting GPS systems in the far north. But updates for GPS systems will have to wait until the US government shutdown is over.
On Sunday night/Monday morning, people in North and South America, as well as some parts of Europe and Africa will have a chance to see a total eclipse of a "super blood" moon.
As Australia struggles with a record-breaking heatwave, people are staying inside and finding ways to stay cool. Animals are not so lucky. Fish and bats seem to be hit the hardest.