Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.
The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle.
The finding, made by Michael Wysession, a seismologist at Washington State University in St. Louis, and his former graduate student Jesse Lawrence, now at the University of California, San Diego, will be detailed in a forthcoming monograph to be published by the American Geophysical Union.
Looking down deep
The pair analyzed more than 600,000 seismograms—records of waves generated by earthquakes traveling through the Earth—collected from instruments scattered around the planet.
They noticed a region beneath Asia where seismic waves appeared to dampen, or “attenuate,” and also slow down slightly. “Water slows the speed of waves a little,” Wysession explained. “Lots of damping and a little slowing match the predictions for water very well.”
101 Amazing
Earth Facts
Previous predictions calculated that if a cold slab of the ocean floor were to sink thousands of miles into the Earth’s mantle, the hot temperatures would cause water stored inside the rock to evaporate out.
“That ...   more »

By DPA and Haaretz Service  
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Sudan late Wednesday that "Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan," state-run IRNA news agency reported.
"The Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan," Ahmadinejad said during the state visit, speaking to a meeting of Sudanese Islamic scholars in the capital Khartoum.
Both Sudan and Iran are accused internationally of supporting radical Islamic movements.
"Many Western governments that claim to be pioneers of democracy and standard bearers of human rights close their eyes over crimes committed by the Zionists and by remaining silent support the Zionists due to their hedonistic and materialistic tendencies," the Iranian leader said.
Both countries do not recognize Israel, and Israeli citizens are barred from entering Sudan.
Ahmadinejad told IRNA before leaving Iran that his meetings with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir would play an important role in promoting mutual relations and cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields.
Ahmadinejad has made a habit of making virulently anti-Israel comments, calling for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map," among other verbal attacks.
He also has called the Holocaust a myth and held a conference of revisionist historians on the credibility that six ...   more »

Norwegian anti-immigration politicians in Bergen have promised to chase off Muslims with pigs feet and squealing noises if Bergen's central square is used for prayers.
Torgallmenningen is one of scenic Bergen's many attractions. 
The leader of the Demokratene, an extreme populist party formed by outcasts of the populist Progress Party, Vidar Kleppe, said Wednesday that he backed the remarks of city council representative Kenneth Rasmussen.
Rasmussen reacted with threats of porcine tactics after Labour Party politician Jerad Abdelmajid said that the city's Muslims could take their Friday prayers in Torgallmenningen, Bergen's central square, when they will be without a mosque from March 31. Building of a new mosque is behind schedule.
Abdelmajid's announcement provoked heated public debate.
"I completely agree with Kenneth Rasmussen that Muslims having their Friday prayers with their butts in the air in the city center is no solution. They can find other places," Kleppe told news agency NTB.
Kenneth Rasmussen told newspaper Dagbladet's web site that Bergen residents should hang up pig's feet and play pig squeals over loudspeakers to scare off Muslims, and claimed these tactics worked when he was a soldier for the United Nations in Somalia and Lebanon in the 1990s.
Kleppe was ...   more »