Mars, Water on The Moon, Earthquakes and Zebras

Mars: Picture by NASA.

Welcome (back) to Weirdbeautiful.

Today's scientific links are on Earthquakes and Distant planets, starting with the associated press story that "Millions of people in Europe, the Middle East and Asia are at risk from deadly tremors which can strike out of the blue in unmapped earthquake zones".

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/millions-risk-earthquakes-175919138.html

Meanwhile, one of the weirder stories in the past few weeks has been the New Scientist competition to win a part of Mars rock. The magazine wants competitors to suggest the first words that should be spoken by the first man landing on Mars: the next giant leap for mankind-
https://www.newscientist.com/marscompetition/login

Sticking with the theme of astronomy, the press association has also published a story saying that "water may be as plentiful in the moon's interior as the Earth's". This statement is based upon a study of lunar rocks that were first brought to Earth in 1972, by the last manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17. Trapped water was found in tiny volcanic glass beads within the rock samples and it has now been suggested that "there could be 100 times more water in the lunar mantle, the thick rock layer beneath the surface crust, than was previously thought". The full article is online here- http://uk.news.yahoo.com/moon-could-plenty-water-183040048.html


Grey's Zebra Stallion: image by "Rainbirder" (this image has a creative commons 2.0 license- for details, click [here])

Good news was recently announced by Edinburgh Zoo, where two Grevy's Zebras have had foals. Grevy's Zebras are endangered in the wild- their population has now fallen to between 2,000 and 2,500 animals (less than 20% of what it was 30 years ago).
http://news.uk.msn.com/environment/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=157680732

Finally, Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo in Weihai, Sahndong Province, eastern China has released a picture of a dog nursing liger cubs after they were abandonned by their mother. Ligers: the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger: are hybrid animals with interesting biology- not least, their tendency to grow much larger than either lions or tigers. You can find more on ligers [HERE]

and the zoo story (worth the detour for the picture alone)is online here-
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/28TtWg/www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2011/05/24/20110524china-dog-nurses-tigers.html