Mautam is a cyclic ecological phenomenon that occurs every 48 years in Mizoram; a tiny state of 900,000 people squeezed between India's borders with Bangladesh and Burma - and is linked to the flowering of a rare species of bamboo, melocanna baccifera at one time across a wide range, dropping millions of protein-rich seeds that are devoured by the rats, followed invariably by a plague of rats which multiply in response to the temporary windfall of seeds; when the seed supply is exhausted the rats move to crops and granaries; which in turn causes devastating famine.
The last plague, in 1958-59, provoked a rural uprising that saw the indigenous Mizo people launch a violent 20-year rebellion against the federal government.
Stories of the rats still abound in the tribes' oral traditions. "The rats would wipe out three to four hectares of paddy cropland in one night," an elder said. "We would see our crop standing the night before but next day it would all be gone, eaten away by the rats." It has been estimated that around two million rats were killed and collected by the locals, after a bounty of approximately 1 US cent was placed on each. However, even after the increase in the rat population was noted, preparations by the government to avoid a famine were limited.
The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions.
When a thick lava flow cools it contracts vertically but cracks perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric regularity - in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable hexagonal extrusions that almost appear to be made by man. One of the most famous such examples is the Giant's Causeway on the coast of Ireland; though the largest and most widely recognized would be Devil's Tower in Wyoming . Basalt also forms different but equally fascinating ways when eruptions are exposed to air or water.
Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation that get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters. They can be hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to explore some of them they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life due to poor water circulation - leaving them eerily empty. Some blue holes, however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths.
True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are merely the messengers - appearing around, before or even after severe weather.
Red tides are also known as algal blooms - sudden influxes of massive amounts of colored single-cell algae that can convert entire areas of an ocean or beach into a blood red color. While some of these can be relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of deadly toxins that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals; though no human exposure are known to have been fatal.
A horizontal fire rainbow arc occurs at a rare confluence of right time and right place for the sun and certain clouds. Crystals within the clouds refract light into the various visible waves of the spectrum but only if they are arrayed correctly relative to the ground below. Due to the rarity with which all of these events happen in conjunction with one another, there are relatively few remarkable photos of this phenomena.
Construction is set to begin on MahaNakhon ( Great metropolis); a pixelated 77 storey urban oasis set to become the tallest skyscraper in Bangkok, Thailand.
Its glittering stacked surfaces, terraces and protrusions will simultaneously create the impression of digital pixelation whilst producing unparalleled views across the city. The top of this 1.6 million sq ft project houses a three-floor Sky Bar and restaurant with dramatic double-height spaces and a rooftop outdoor bar with 360° views of the skyline and river, floating 310 meters above the city.
The tower is scheduled to complete in 2012.
