Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are rushing to fill a crack with fresh cement to keep highly-radioactive water from leaking into the Pacific ocean. The Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters that water from the concrete-lined basin was seen leaking into the ocean. CNN reports the leaking water had a measured radiation level of "1,000 millisieverts per hour, which is more than 330 times the dose an average resident of an industrialized country naturally receives in a year." Recently, the water measured 330 meters off the plant showed levels of iodine-131 measuring 4,385 times above average and cesium-137 at 527 times above average, and officials believe the leak in the basin is the cause of the contamination. more ›

10. National Geographic – June 1985 – Afghan girl – “Haunted eyes of an Afghan refugee’s fears”Based on own magazine reading experience, Gothamist would have to say that Fabien Baron's Harper's Bazaar cover ranks at the top, though we're very fond of the two September 11th-related covers (#6 Art Spiegelman's black on black World Trade Center and Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerowitz's New Yorkistan, #14). There are high-res images of the covers here, but nowhere are there credits for who designed, illustrated or photographed the cover; we hope ASME releases that next. [Via AdFreak] more ›

KP's post reminded me that there is another related, but lesser-known, ocean phenomenon known as La Ni�a: more ›