Puss moth caterpillars can pose a genuine health hazard. Intense, throbbing pain develops immediately or within five minutes of contact with the caterpillar. Stings on the arm may also result in pain in the axillary (armpit) region. Erythematous (blood-colored) spots may appear at the site of the sting. Other symptoms can include headaches, nausea, vomiting, intense abdominal distress, lymphadenopathy, lymphadenitis, and sometimes shock or respiratory stress. Pain usually subsides within an hour and spots disappear in a day or so -- however, with a larger dose of the venom, it is not uncommon for the symptoms to last up to 5 days.

The most frequently reported caterpillar envenomation in Central Texas is by the puss caterpillar or "asp," Megalopyge opercularis. This caterpillar is described by patients and physicians as inflicting intense radiating pain. The intensity of symptoms may be underestimated leading to undertreatment. Adequate treatment protocols have been lacking and those in use are not very successful.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT TWO MODELS WHICH BRING BETA NORTHWARD TOWARD CUBA AND FLORIDA...LBAR AND THE CANADIAN...HAVE SHOWN A NORTHWARD BIAS IN PREVIOUS SIMILAR SITUATIONS. THEREFORE...WHILE NOT BEING RULED OUT AS POSSIBILITIES THEY ARE BEING GIVEN LITTLE WEIGHT AT THIS TIME.

An early nor'easter reinforced by distant Hurricane Wilma on Tuesday pounded beaches with 20-foot waves, knocked out power to thousands of people and spread rain across the Northeast, where many residents were still cleaning up from flooding earlier in the month.

Twenty-foot waves eroded New Jersey beaches. Dozens of flights were canceled at Boston's Logan Airport and gusts to 70 mph were reported on Cape Cod.

The storm was drawing moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Wilma, which was passing far offshore after battering Florida a day earlier.

"It's getting some energy from Wilma, but it's its own separate system," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. The nor'easter is "going to be a good storm in it's own right."

AT 18Z...A SHIP REPORT FROM C6FN4 HAD A 22 KNOT SOUTHWEST WIND ABOUT 30 NM SOUTHEAST OF THE CENTER WITH A 1007 MB PRESSURE. BASED UPON THE ABOVE INFORMATION THE CYCLONE HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO TROPICAL STORM ALPHA. ALPHA IS THE TWENTY-SECOND NAMED STORM THIS SEASON AND OVERALL MAKES THE 2005 HURRICANE SEASON THE MOST ACTIVE ON RECORD.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 100 MPH...160 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. WILMA IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS...AND WILMA COULD REGAIN CATEGORY THREE STATUS DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

Finally, by Saturday, strong westerly winds will build in behind the trough and carry Wilma rapidly northeastward across South Florida or the waters between Florida and Cuba. The absolutely critical thing is -- where will Wilma stall out? The GFDL model believes Wilma will push inland over the tip of the Yucatan, and spend two days overland, and weaken to a tropical storm. The UKMET model believes Wilma will stall in the Yucatan Channel, and not lose much strength. The other models have modest variations on these two themes. The difference in postions is only 100 miles or so. This is impossible to reliably forecast even 12 hours in advance, given the weak steering currents that are likely to exist Friday. Will will just have to wait and see what happens. Very small changes in storm position will cause huge changes in Wilma's intensity.

DATA FROM A RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT HURRICANE WILMA HAS BECOME AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. THE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE MEASURED 175 MPH WINDS AND ESTIMATED A MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 892 MB. THIS IS THE LOWEST PRESSURE OBSERVED IN 2005 AND IS EQUIVALENT TO THE MINIMUM PRESSURE OF THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS.

AN AIR FORCE PLANE MEASURED MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF NEAR 150 MPH...240 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. WILMA IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. THE HURRICANE COULD BECOME A CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE TODAY.

LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE JUST REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE WAS IS 901 MB...26.61 INCHES.

The test result confirms that the lethal variant of the virus has arrived on the European continent.

"The results are that it is H5N1 but further laboratory results are required in order to confirm the origin of the virus," said a spokesman for the UK agriculture ministry.

Romanian officials have said further drastic measures will be needed to contain the outbreak.

Domestic poultry has already been culled in the affected area, and a 3km quarantine zone has been set up around it.

Results showing whether this case, or the earlier confirmed outbreak, is the lethal H5N1 strain found in Turkey are expected in the coming days.

The World Health Organization says there is a high probability that the first birds did carry that strain.

The news comes as EU veterinary officers hold an emergency meeting to discuss measures to contain bird flu.

In Turkey and Romania, the sites of bird flu infection have been close to areas favoured by migratory birds.

Saucer, toy-top, or disk-shaped "craft" without visible or audible propulsion. (day and night)

Rapidly-moving lights or lights with apparent ability to rapidly change direction ? the earliest mention of their motion was given as "saucers skipping on water." Disc-shaped craft are sometimes reported to move in an irregular or "wobbly" manner at low speeds.

Large triangular "craft" or triangular light pattern

Cigar-shaped "craft" with lighted windows (Meteor fireballs are sometimes reported this way)

THE HISTORICAL RECORD SHOWS NO TROPICAL CYCLONE EVER MAKING LANDFALL ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. BASED ON SURFACE REPORTS FROM FARO PORTUGAL...THE CENTER PASSED JUST TO THE SOUTH OF THE COAST OF PORTUGAL...BEFORE BECOMING THE FIRST TROPICAL CYCLONE TO MAKE LANDFALL IN SPAIN.

Working on virus samples from the remains of victims of the 1918 pandemic, the researchers were able to piece together the entire genetic sequence of the virus.

They found the virus contained elements that were new to humans of the time - making it highly virulent.

And analysis of the final three pieces of the virus' genetic code has revealed mutations that have striking similarities to those found in flu viruses found only in birds, such as the H5N1 strain currently found in south east Asia.

What exactly is bird flu?
Bird flu is a viral infection carried by wild birds. It has now spread to domesticated birds and has killed over 100 million of them. Now the bird flu virus has shown it can easily mutate and in some instances make a direct jump from birds to people. Thee have been at least 100 human cases mainly in the far east with the most case occurring in Vietnam.

When did the first human case occur?
1997

Why is bird flu different from regular flu?
Bird flu is genetically different and much more lethal with over half the victims dying. The most deadly type of bird flu virus is H5N1 and it is very similar genetically to the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 59 million worldwide.

"I have been worked for NOAA for roughly 15 years," said a NOAA employee speaking of both the Department media policy and the Teet email. "There has never been a blanket policy of needing approval before granting an interview with a national media outlet."

Another NOAA employee, also wishing to remain anonymous, concurred.

"This is a big change in our policy with the media," he said. "This comes all the way down from DOC," he added, indicating that such media decisions were formerly made at the local level.

However, a few honeybee species can defend themselves by surrounding an invader. Researchers used to think that the few-dozen bees were trying to sting the wasp, says Seeley. Thermal cameras, however, revealed the balls' soaring heat.

To see what margin of safety the bees have, Tan and his research colleagues presented tethered wasps to six colonies each of native Asian bees and European bees. At each nest, worker bees engulfed the wasp immediately. Within 5 minutes, the center of a typical bee ball had reached 45?C.

To check the bees' and wasps' tolerance for heat, researchers then caged each of the species in incubators and systematically cranked up the temperature. The wasps died at 45.7?C, but the Asian honeybees survived heat to 50.7?C and the European bees made it to 51.8?C.

The native Asian bees, ancient adversaries of the wasps, mobilized half again as many defenders into a heat ball as the European bees did, the researchers report. Furthermore, Asian bees not mobbing the wasp were more likely to take shelter during an attack than bystander European bees were.

Luke burst onto the science scene aged 8 and his CV is now two-pages long. For his latest experiment, he used goniometry (the science of measuring joints) to investigate how rock climbers can avoid muscle strains.

"I was rock climbing and my arms started to hurt," he said. "I was only climbing for three minutes. So I was like, 'How can you fix this?' Then we walked through St Vincent de Paul and I saw a book on goniometry." Luke studied rock climbers' positions, found correlations between repetitive movements, then designed a measuring device to work out how to reduce repetitive strains. If climbers were then educated about these strains and could use different movements, he concluded, they should be able to reduce tendon, ligament and muscle problems. The project won a national Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers' award.

The beaches of Cameron Parish, Louisiana were located just east of the point of landfall for Hurricane Rita, in the right-front quadrant where winds and surge were a maximum. Some small towns in this zone no longer have any structures remaining. The combination of low elevations and a storm surge approaching 6 m (20 ft) that swept across the coast, resulted in bare concrete slabs and less-than-vertical pilings where buildings had been located.