Huge swarms of stinging jellyfish and similar slimy animals are ruining beaches worldwide, US researchers have reported.
The report says 150 million people are exposed to jellyfish globally every year, with 500,000 people stung in the Chesapeake Bay, off the US Atlantic Coast. Another 200,000 are stung every year in Florida, and 10,000 are stung in Australia by the deadly Portuguese man-of-war, according to the report.
Jellyfish eat the eggs of fish and compete with them for food, wiping out the livelihoods of fishermen but human activities could be making things nice for jellyfish through pollution, climate change, introduction of non-native species, overfishing and artificial structures such as oil and gas rigs.
Evidence shows that human-caused environmental stresses are triggering jellyfish swarms with pollution-induced "dead zones", higher water temperatures and the spread of alien jellyfish species by shipping.
Playboy apologises
A model resembling the Virgin Mary on the cover of the Mexican edition of Playboy has prompted the company's US headquarters to apologise last Friday.
The magazine, which hit newsstands on December 1 as ceremonies began leading to Friday's pilgrimage to the Mexico City shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, showed a model wearing nothing but a white cloth over her head and breasts. She stands in front of a stained glass window with the cover line, "We Love You, Maria" in Spanish. The model's name is Maria Florencia Onori.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is Mexico's most revered Roman Catholic figure.
In a statement, Playboy Enterprises Inc said, "While Playboy Mexico never meant for the cover or images to offend anyone, we recognise that it has created offense, and we, as well as Playboy Mexico, offer our sincerest apologies."
Raul Sayrols, publisher of Playboy Mexico, said in a statement, "The image is not and never was intended to portray the Virgin of Guadalupe or any other religious figure. The intent was to reflect a Renaissance-like mood on the cover."
Coconut protest
A big black cross surrounded by 16,000 coconuts covered parts of Rio de Janeiro's famous Copacabana beach last weekend to symbolise the homicides that have plagued the state of Rio de Janeiro in recent years.
"Shame" was written on a banner in four different languages, next to the coconuts laid out at sunrise.
Rio de Janeiro, the beach-side tourist hub, is one of Brazil's most dangerous cities and suffers from frequent confrontations between drug gangs and the police in the city's notorious slums.
"The coconuts represent the 16,000 people that were assassinated in the state of Rio in the past two years. If all the skulls of the people killed were put on the sand, that's what we would see," said Antonio Carlos, founder of Rio de Paz, the non-governmental organization, which organized the protest.
Pinochet museum
Family and friends of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet have quietly inaugurated a museum in his memory in Santeago, replete with uniforms and medals he wore, to the horror of victims of his rule.
"I am happy because this is a way of doing some justice to what he represented and what he did," said Lucia Hiriart, his widow. Pinochet led a bloody coup in 1973, ushering in 17 years of dictatorship in which 3,000 people died or disappeared and around 28,000 were tortured.
Victims of his rule, some of whom complain the wheels of justice turn too slowly in Chile, were disgusted.
"Any monument to a dictator is shameful to the memory of all those who fell in the fight against the dictatorship," said Tito Tricot, an academic who was tortured and had his spine broken during Pinochet's rule. "It is offensive to me. Shameful," he added.
An odd bite
A peculiar amphibian that was clad in bony armour prowled warm lakes 210 million years ago, catching fish and other tasty snacks with one of the most unusual bites in the history of life on Earth.
The creature called Gerrothorax pulcherrimus, which lived alongside some of the early dinosaurs, opened its mouth not by dropping its lower jaw but by lifting back the top of its head in a way that looked a lot like lifting the lid of a toilet seat.
Scientists think Gerrothorax lurked at the bottom of a lake, then with a sudden movement of the skull created a mouth gape that entrapped any fish unfortunate enough to swim by.
The ancient amphibian measured about one metre long and was stoutly protected by bony body armour reminiscent of chain mail. It had a very flat body and very flat head, short, stubby limbs and well-developed gills. Its jaws were lined with sharp teeth. And the roof of its mouth was studded with large fangs to keep any slippery fish from escaping its chomp.
Its fossils were found in the Fleming Fjord Formation of east Greenland.