| Welcome to MNN's daily newsletter for Friday, June 15. For breaking news throughout the day, visit us online at the Mother Nature Network. |
EDITORS' PICKS:
The leotard. The jacuzzi. All named after someone. We may not know the secret to to physical immortality, but these 11 eponymous inventors have the next best thing: They live on in etymological eternity. Read the story... |
Some of us just aren't into camping, but still love the great outdoors. If you want a room with an unspoiled view of Old Faithful, the Rockies or even a volcano caldera, you can get them. So go check out one of America's jewels this summer, and get a room in one of these historic, unusual, dramatic lodgings. Read the story... |
Scientists have discovered a compound that could make sit-ups and StairMasters as attractive as snacks and the sofa. Would you pop the pill? Read the story...
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Americans are changing their car-buying habits every month, as gas prices send up-and-down signals to the marketplace. The solution: A price floor for gasoline, guaranteed by the feds. Politically, it's dead on arrival. Read the story... |
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! No, really: imagine if Earth's atmosphere collapsed. What would happen if all those molecules bobbing around above our heads suddenly nosedived? Read the story... |
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
 June 15, 1991: A magnitude-7.8 earthquake accompanies the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The volcano in the Philippines spews steam, ash, lava and sulfuric acid. Half a million people are evacuated on the densely populated island of Luzon. Nearly 700 die, and the release of ash and other chemicals briefly lowers the Earth's average temperature while temporarily increasing depletion of the ozone layer. June 15, 2006: U.S. President George W. Bush authorizes the creation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. The site is later renamed the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Its 360,000 square miles of ocean, islands, and coral reefs offers protection to endangered species of plants, seabirds, the green sea turtle and the Hawaiian monk seal. June 15, 2009: It's not quite like getting the Beatles back together, but Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono? The unlikely couple (at right) join forces to promote Meat-Free Mondays in the name of a healthier diet and to lessen the environmental impact of raising and eating meat. |
