Archive for August 2012

News With Bite…

August 5, 2012

– – In yet another shark attack, fifty-year-old Christopher Myers was attacked Monday by what was believed to have been a great white shark while he and his son were swimming about 400 yards offshore at Ballston Beach in Truro, Massachusetts.  He suffered four puncture wounds on each lower leg, and had surgery to repair torn tendons.  Treated at a Boston hospital, Myers will be returning home with a cast on one leg and bandages on the other.

This was the first great white shark sighting in the area since 1936; three weeks ago, a great white was spotted trailing a kayaker at Nauset beach, about 25 miles south of Monday’s attack.   Four shark sightings have occurred this summer off the coast of Cape Cod, with the increase in shark presence attributed to a growth in the seal population…

Birds of a Feather…

August 1, 2012

– – Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock was right; the birds are up to something!  A United Airlines Boeing 737 struck a bird as it descended into Denver International airport Tuesday morning, leaving a gaping hole in the nose of the plane.  An emergency was declared, and Flight 1475 was able to land safely.

Now airliner engines themselves have to be designed and demonstrated able to, err, ingest a four-pound bird without endangering people on the plane.  No engine flying, however, is designed or built to survive ingestion of an eight-to 15-pound bird.  The number of animal strikes has increased from 1,793 in 1990 to 9,622 in 2010, with 70% of those strikes occurring when aircraft are at less than an elevation of 500 feet.

The remains of this particular bird, recovered from the aircraft, will be analyzed by experts from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, who will help to identify the species…