- A huge hole of the length of a street has appeared in the US City of Baltimore. Cars were sucked into the hole which happened after heavy rain in the area. The hole was thought to be a sinkhole but could have been caused by the collapse of a supporting wall. Houses on the street had to be evacuated but no one was hurt.
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- A blue whale that washed up on Canadian island Newfoundland could explode at any time, local residents fear. The 25-metre-long whale washed up on a beach in Trout River after it died weeks ago. The whale’s body has filled with methane gas as it decomposes. It has swollen up to twice its normal size already. Local resident Emily Butler said only 600 people live in the town and don’t have the resources to deal with it safely. Last year a sperm whale carcass that washed up on the Faroe Islands exploded as a biologist attempted to dissect it.
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- The government backs plans for a spaceport and a huge expansion of the UK space industry. The spaceport would be used to launch spacecrafts and satellites into orbit. The government wants an increase in investment in the space industry to £40bn by 2030. It also wants to have a port that would allow tourists to go to space. Similar projects are already being developed in the US.  Dr David Parker, chief executive at the UK Space Agency said: “Our vision is to make the UK the most attractive location for space businesses to set up and prosper – and I’m convinced we are on our way.”
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- Researchers have suggested that climbers tackling Mt. Everest receive a radiation dose that is five times more than the average annual exposure of a UK nuclear power worker. Scottish mountain climber Bob Kerr assimilated cosmic radiation readings on an expedition to Everest in May last year. Kerr, who works as a radiation protection adviser, said that the exposure level carried one in 10,000 risk of developing a fatal cancer some time in later life. The findings have been published by the Society for Radiological Protection.
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- For the first time circular polarization has been observed in the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) – the explosive death of a massive star. The light from the afterglow is 10,000 times more strongly circularly polarized than expected. The current theoretical models that describe particle acceleration in a GRB are unable to explain this surprising observation.