California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over Tuesday’s oil spill off the Santa Barbara County coast. It follows news that up to 105,000 gallons of oil leaked out from the ruptured pipeline. “This emergency proclamation cuts red tape and helps the state quickly mobilize all available resources,” said Governor Brown in a statement. “We will do everything necessary to protect... 

Pandas’ guts are dominated by carnivore-like gut bacteria despite two million years of adopting herbivore lifestyle, a new study says. Giant pandas follow a strict plant-eating diet, feeding almost always on bamboo; however, the new study published by the American Society for Microbiology on Tuesday, suggests that these bears are poorly adapted for a plant-eating diet due to a total lack of plant-degrading... 

Jaw-dropping images taken in January show the algal bloom lighting up on the coast of Hong Kong. They say all that glitters is not gold. Nowhere is this saying more fitting than in these images of majestic sparkling blue lights on the shore of a Chinese village which are in fact an ominous sign of pollution. The spectacular phenomenon-which has appeared on the shores of Dalian City in east China’s... 

At least 19 tornadoes have struck the mid-US this weekend damaging homes and causing blackouts, according to weather channels. The worst affected states are Oklahoma and Texas, which were hit by hail and destructive storms. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa and Louisiana have all witnessed the wayward and harsh whims of May’s weather. A tornado touched down near... 

Noise heard across the globe for nearly a DECADE – but nobody has an explanation. A mysterious noise from the sky is continuing to baffle people all over the world, as well as giving those who hear it sleepless nights. Sounding like a trumpet or a collective from a brass section of an orchestra, a selection of videos shot from the Canada to Ukraine, via the U.S., Germany and Belarus show strange... 

New Zealand is bracing for Cyclone Pam, with flooding and power outages already underway. Some areas declared a state of emergency and locals are being evacuated. Strong winds are reported, as devastation in Vanuatu is fresh on everyone’s minds. One of the first areas to declare a state of emergency was the Chatham Islands, southeast of the two main islands of New Zealand. Over 40 people have already... 

Example of an ocean eddy (not from the study) as seen from space. A team of German and Canadian marine biologists have for the first time ever witnessed so-called ‘dead zones’ in the Atlantic Ocean, places where no life can thrive, owing to there being almost no dissolved oxygen in the water. Zones depleted of oxygen do exist in nature and have previously been discovered along populated coastal... 

Japan’s Miyakojima and Yaeyama areas have been placed on high alert with tsunami advisories being issued following a shallow 6.8-magnitude underwater earthquake off Taiwan’s coast. Warnings were lifted after no significant wave activity was registered. Following the quake, Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami advisories for the Miyakojima and Yaeyama areas of Japan. While JMA issued alerts... 

An “apocalyptical” storm swept through several regions in Belarus, including the capital. But it was in the city of Soligorsk where clouds as black as ink obscured the sun light, while strong winds ushered in a sand storm. Soligorsk residents, about 120 kilometers from the capital Minsk, were both scared and excited by the weather phenomenon that hit Belarus on Monday. At around 17:00 local time,... 

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a moratorium that will restrict the use of new pesticides that have been blamed for declining bee populations, though the policy does not apply to products currently on the market. The chemicals in question, neonicotinoids, are a new class of insecticides that affect the central nervous system of insects and result in paralysis and death. On Thursday,... 

Beijing has introduced new traffic rules to combat the massive smog that has cloaked the Chinese capital for years. When city authorities issue a ‘red alert’, a number of cars will be banned on the roads and heavy vehicles completely banished. Four types of pollution alerts, blue, yellow, orange and red, will be issued on ‘heavy pollution’ days, according to Beijing’s Environmental Protection... 

Two of Japan’s whaling ships have returned home from Antarctic with no catch onboard for the first time in nearly 30 years, local news reported. The news comes after a UN court ordered an halt to Japan’s annual “scientific” whale hunt. The 724-ton Yushinmaru and the 747-ton Daini (No 2) Yushinmaru returned to port in Shimonoseki, western Japan, which is considered to be one of the major whaling... 

It looks like the interior of a make-believe kingdom from the hit film Frozen, but the ice cavern is a popular destination for tourists. These stunning photos look like scenes from a make-believe magical kingdom from the hit Disney film Frozen. But they were snapped inside a real-life lair of ice by an intrepid photographer who was forced to abseil inside Iceland’s Breidamerkurjokull glacier. Nicolas... 

An inexplicable white-and-blue flash was spotted lighting up the sky over the southern Russian city of Stavropol. A dashcam video has since triggered a heated debate over the origins of the mysterious sight. Stavropol’s horizon offered a jaw-dropping view to those who weren’t asleep at around 00:39 local time (21.39 GMT on Monday). The soundless flash of light scared several people, as it made... 

The Inuit Tribe are indigenous people who live in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Siberia and Alaska. Their elders have written to the National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) to tell them that the earth’s axis has shifted. The elders do not believe that carbon emissions from humans are causing the current climate changes. The sky has changed, claim Inuit elders The Inuit elders note...