Post by anansi on Aug 9, 2010 0:06:55 GMT -5
The world is weird. And we mean that in a good way. Weird is fun, weird is welcome, weird makes our job easier. This past week, there was a lot of weirdness on the Web. From a UFO sighting that was allegedly covered up by a famous world leader to an unexpected viewing of the Northern Lights by folks who don't live up north. Check out those stories and more with the Buzz Week in Review.
Churchill's UFO coverup
What if Winston Churchill ordered a cover-up of a close encounter between a Royal Air Force bomber and an Unidentified Flying Object? That's what a newly released report from the UK's National Archives contends. According to a buzzy article from the Daily Telegraph, Churchill feared that if word of the UFO hit the news, the public would panic and lose faith in religion. All this took place during World War II, and Churchill had to make sure his countrymen and women were focused on the task at hand, so he put a lid on the story. But now it's out in the open for conspiracy theorists to breathlessly obsess over. For more on the alleged incident and how it finally came to light, check out our post from earlier this week.
The Northern Lights head south
This past Sunday, the sun exploded. OK, maybe that's not entirely accurate. But there was an eruption on the sun's surface that blasted plasma toward the Earth. Sounds scary, but it turned out to be kind-of cool. The plasma helped to give millions of people a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Northern Lights. People in southern Canada, parts of the upper United States, and other countries around the world caught sight of nature's spectacular light show and uploaded their images to the Web. Lookups on "northern lights" and its fancier-sounding alternative name "aurora borealis" both soared more than 2,000% during the week. Yay, sun!
An underwater census? Really?
A group of scientists and researchers released the results of their "underwater census" this week. The census, an attempt to offer us non-gilled creatures a greater understanding of the different species underwater, was a huge hit on the Web. Searches for "underwater census" swam their way to a 103% gain over the course of the week. An excellent article from CNN explains more about the processes behind the monumental task (no, they didn't count every fish in the world), and offers some stellar photos of some odd-looking residents of deep waters.
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