Gaia's giant farts may be silent but deadly

Scientists have discovered that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide are being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed.

Preliminary findings suggest that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia's northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane – sometimes at up to 100 times background levels – over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf.

Gaia, the Greek supreme goddess of Earth, is frequently used to describe the Earth as a single organism.

Around the world in 80 ways

Check out this visualization of air traffic around the world.

How to train your pet rocks

This is a remarkable story of a man who is able to balance rocks in gravity-defying sculptures. Watch the video and you still won't understand how he does it.

Bill Dan is a San Francisco-based balanced-rock sculptor who has demonstrated the art, discipline and craft of rock balancing and balanced-stone stacking around the world. His website includes images of his balanced stones and rocks, links to other rock balancers, information about naturally balancing rocks and world-wide stone balancing and rock stacking traditions.

Couple put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

A 28-year-old Russian female, who visited Dubai on a tourist visa, and a 30-year-old male citizen of Lebanon, a salesman in a local store, were put on trial for drinking juice in a public place in the daytime during Muslim fasting.

The police caught the two people red-handed at a gas station in Dubai, Emirat.ru reports with reference to Gulf News.

In accordance with the Federal Penal Code of the United Arab Emirates, a public intake of food and beverages during daytime hours of the month of Ramadan is forbidden by Article 313. The article stipulates the punishment in the form of either a monetary penalty – up to 2,000 dirhems ($555) – or even a term of up to one month in prison.

The young people told the court that they were not Muslims and were thus unaware of the fact that their actions could be punishable.