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Two dogs at a Wisconsin animal shelter recently tested positive for "strep zoo," a potentially lethal respiratory infection in animals that, in rare cases, can spread to humans. The dogs, which were housed at the Wisconsin Human Society (WHS) campus in Ozaukee, did not respond to treatment for the infection, and needed to be euthanized, the organization said in a statement. The shelter is investigating the source of the infection, and plans to test other dogs that show symptoms of the respiratory illness, WHS said. [Read More]

Alone in the South Atlantic Ocean sits the small volcanic island of Saint Helena. The towering peak of the island disrupts clouds as they pass overhead, creating swirling patterns called von Karman vortices that can be seen by satellites overhead. The swirling clouds, moving to the northwest over Saint Helena, were snapped by NASA's Terra satellite on Nov. 15, 2012, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. Von Karman vortices are created when a mass of fluid, such as water or air, encounters an obstacle, and creates swirls going in alternating directions. [Read More]

It turns out that blindfolding a shark or plugging its nose isn't enough to deter it from going after prey. When a shark gets hungry, it will use all the senses it has available to hunt down something to eat, a new study reveals. The goal of the study was to figure out how sharks use their different senses together, rather than isolating one sense at a time. Researchers examined three species of sharks — blacktip, bonnethead and nurse sharks — in an artificial flow channel inside the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. [Read More]

When you drop your plastic waste into the recycling bin, it most likely makes its way around the world, where it can pose a health and security risk to developing countries, according to a new Guardian report. The planet is getting buried under plastic: beaches are littered with it, sea life is choking on it, and a new report finds that we're even drinking a credit-card-size amount of plastic every week from our drinking water. [Read More]

A towering mushroom-shaped cloud of ash and smoke recently rose from a volcano on an island in the Pacific Ocean, and an astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS) captured a spectacular view of the eruption from high above. The volcano Raikoke sits on the Kuril Islands, an archipelago of volcanic peaks that lies between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan's Hokkaido Island. On June 22 at approximately 4 a. [Read More]

The British Isles, tucked away in the northwest of Europe, has been inhabited by humans since Paleolithic times, but the people who lived there didn't develop a writing system until much later, and the first local account of the isles did not appear until Anglo-Saxon times, around the seventh century A.D. So who was the first person to write about the British Isles and describe its inhabitants? To find out, we need to look to the south — to the Mediterranean world of the ancient Greeks. [Read More]

They may not be able to walk or talk, but they have no problem arching their bodies into the downward dog pose. Yes, toddlers and babies are doing yoga — studios now offer classes for kids as young as 6 weeks old. Yoga advocates say the classes can help parents and infants bond, and promote development of motor skills. And just as yoga helps adults become more aware of their bodies, yoga can help parents become attuned to their babies wants and needs, said Helen Garabedian, founder of the Itsy Bitsy Yoga, a yoga studio for babies and kids, and author of books by the same name. [Read More]