Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, North West England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong (24.3 km) long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. Seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. The canal was commissioned in 1791 by local landowners and businessmen and built between 1791 and 1808, during the Golden Age of canal building, at a cost of £127,700. Originally designed for narrow gauge boats, the canal was altered during its construction into a broad gauge canal to allow an ultimately unrealised connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The majority of the freight carried was coal from local collieries but, as the mines reached the end of their working lives, sections of the canal fell into disuse and disrepair and it was officially abandoned in 1961. In 1987, a society was formed with the aim of restoring the canal for leisure use and, in 2006, restoration began in the area around the junction with the River Irwell in Salford. The canal is currently navigable as far as East Ordsall Lane, in Salford. (more...)

Surtsey

Surtsey is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland, the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres (426 ft) below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption may have started a few days earlier and lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi). Since then, wind and wave erosion has caused the island to steadily diminish in size: as of 2002, its surface area was 1.4 km2 (0.54 sq mi). The new island was named after the fire giant Surtr from Norse mythology, and was intensively studied by volcanologists during its creation and, since the end of the eruption, has been of great interest to botanists and biologists as life has gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Isles) submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly. (more...)

Heliamphora nutans

... that the insectivorous plant Heliamphora nutans (pictured) was re-discovered in British Guiana in 1881 and successfully introduced to England by David Burke?
... that Charles Taylor was the first of thirteen Welsh international rugby players to die in action during World War I?
... that Almoloya del Río, a Mexican small town with the population of 7,992, hosts an international biker rally every year?
... that Hurricane Lisa of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season attained forward motion of over 58 mph (93 km/h) on October 9?
... that The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers has been in charge of publishing Finland's ethical guidelines on engineering for over 40 years?
... that the first submarine boat and self-propelled torpedo, and the engines for the ironclad warship USS Monitor were all built at the foundry operated by Cornelius DeLameter?
... that the Ropar Wetland, in addition to being home to several endangered and threatened species, was the site of the signing of an 1831 treaty between the English and the Sikhs?
... that Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts features over 7 miles (11 km) of underground piping which heats the race track on cold and wet days?

V-22 Osprey

United States Marine Corps soldiers refuel a V-22 Osprey before a night mission in central Iraq. Ten Ospreys were assigned to Squadron VMM-263 in 2007 and deployed to Iraq, the Osprey's first combat deployment

Io, with two plumes erupting from its surface

Volcanism on Io, a moon of Jupiter, produces lava flows, volcanic pits, and plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide hundreds of kilometres high. This volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1 imaging scientists. Observations of Io by passing spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers have revealed more than 150 active volcanoes. Io's volcanism makes the satellite one of only four known volcanically active worlds in the Solar System. First predicted shortly before the Voyager 1 flyby, the heat source for Io's volcanism comes from tidal heating produced by Io's forced orbital eccentricity. Io's volcanism has led to the formation of hundreds of volcanic centres and extensive lava formations, making the moon the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Three different types of volcanic eruptions have been identified, differing in duration, intensity, lava effusion rate, and whether the eruption occurs within a volcanic pit. Lava flows on Io, tens or hundreds of kilometres long, have primarily basaltic composition, similar to lavas seen on Earth at shield volcanoes such as Kīlauea in Hawaii. As a result of the presence of significant quantities of sulfurous materials in Io's crust and on its surface, during some eruptions, sulfur, sulfur dioxide gas, and pyroclastic material are blown up to 500 kilometres (310 mi) into space, producing large, umbrella-shaped volcanic plumes. (more...)

noonday globe land snail

... that the threatened noonday globe land snail (pictured) is known only from a two-mile-long area inside the gorge of the Nantahala River in North Carolina?
... that when Australian cricketer Jack Massie fought at Gallipoli, he wore a scarlet rag on his right arm to distract snipers from his bowling arm?
... that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, also helped calculate the solar cell's Shockley-Queisser limit?
... that Rear-Admiral Charles Austen′s family included Admiral of the Fleet Francis Austen, and the novelist Jane Austen?
... that Ford Road in Dearborn, Michigan, was named for William Ford, father of Henry?
... that Zhang Yanshang, his father, son, and father-in-law were all Tang Dynasty Chinese chancellors?
... that Kentucky's Paducah Freight House was bigger than required because it was originally intended to service a larger rail network?
... that the meaning of "Der Pleier", the pseudonym of the 13th-century author of the romance Garel, is unknown, though it might refer metaphorically to glassblowing?
... that Milan Bandić was elected in 2005 as the mayor of Zagreb, Croatia, with the support of only a seventh of eligible voters?
... that country music singer Jeremy McComb was once a tour manager for comedian Larry the Cable Guy?