We've just got word via the main news stream that a massive earthquake has hit China, and it's epicenter was located in a county of a western Chinese province. Right now, the death toll as approximated from details streaming out of the crippled town is now over 12,000, but if a quake registering 7.9 in the Richter scale is anything to bear, then it's likely that more have fallen victim to its wrath. The full story unfolds at the extended version.

A new environmental disaster was spotted in southern Texas when a widening sinkhole as long as two football fields ended up swallowing an 18-wheeler truck and some oil equipment. Officials from Liberty County mentioned that there were no casualties so far and that the formation posed no threat to civilian areas. You can find out more about this by reading our full article after the jump.

California has always been prone to earthquakes since it lies in the path of the San Andreas Fault, but once in a while you get the big one. As in BIG. According to new data from the Californian authority on earthquakes, the big one has a 99.7% chance of hitting within the next 30 years. More details after the "read more" link.

It seems impossible to prevent changes that constantly reshape our planet, especially when some happen in the short span of a year. Other drastic changes also take decades, though the results are still irreversible. A recently published book titled Fragile Earth has very enlightening pictures that prove how the place we live in changes shape in so many ways, and you can learn more by checking out the full article.

So what's to say that the next major tsunami event doesn't befall the Pacific Northwestern region this time? Researchers from the San Diego State University are currently looking into a study which will simulate the next "megathrust" disaster event by running several scenarios through the San Diego Supercomputer Center's DataStar supercomputer. You can find out more about the results of this study by reading the full article.

If you thought that once upon a time, happy dinosaurs were killed off by a giant, blazing rock with "death from above" written all over it, you may only be half right. According to the latest research, the impact probably killed the larger land creatures, but the smaller species could have succumbed to a more watery fate. Curious? read the full article for the skinny on it.

Oh man. The Apophis meteor is to hit us in year 2029, but even before that happens, the world might be facing a more immediate problem. See, it's been known that Yellowstone has been sitting on top of a super volcano. And though it has long been revealed that Yellowstone is way past its due date for explosion, recent findings show that the 30-mile gap between the magma and Yellowstone's surface has now been substantially reduced to only 6 miles. Is it getting hot in here or what? There's still some hope though...

Scientists are eying a 37 mile stretch of the Great Wall of China where the stone is rapidly eroding. Because of this, scientists are now speculating that, if this continues, the Great Wall will be totally reduced to dust in 20 years.

So why is that certain 37 mile section of the wall getting destroyed? In ancient times, the wall was put up to defend China from the Mongol hordes. Today though, the wall is facing a battle against the encroaching desert north of China, the Badain Jaran desert. A former curator of a local museum in the Minqin county area explains:

This section of Great Wall was made of mud rather than brick and stone, so is more prone to erosion. Similar erosion happened in other places, but the situation is worse here. Frequent storms not only eroded the mud, but also cracked the Wall and caused it to collapse or break down.

So if this continues for twenty years, does that mean that the whole 4,000 mile stretch of wall will be destroyed? Well, it might not just be the sandstorms that could harm the stone. Acid rain could also be a factor. Either that or, well, a possible meteor crash in 2029.

Atlantis isn't the only legendary sunken island. Mu is a legendary continent also said to have vanished under the waves. Now Masaaki Kimura, a marine biologist in Japan, found underwater rock formations off the coast of Japan that he believes to be proof of a civilization that could be, or at least inspired, the continent of Mu.

The rock formations he investigated near Yonaguni Island were found to be unnaturally smooth, some even forming staircases. Kimura believes that, judging from the rubble, the formations are the remains of an ancient city that resembled that of the Romans.

He believes that the city contained a castle, a shrine, a triumphal arch, statues and even a Colosseum. All of these marvels sunk along with the city in an earthquake over 3,000 years ago. Many argue the theory saying that the formations could have been the result of tidal and volcanic activity. Also, no evidence of human activity such as weaponry or pottery have ever been found.

Watch the video of the underwater "city" and judge for yourself whether it could be possible that the lost continent has indeed been found. It's an interesting watch at the least (forgive us for the ad, but it comes with the embed, apparently):

He didn't only discover the concept of gravity, he also predicted the end of the world. Sir Isaac Newton, the same Newton of Newton's Law of Gravity, claimed that the world would end sometime in 2060. The letter, displayed as part of the "Newton's Secrets" exhibition in Jerusalem, showcased papers written by the famed British scientist.

The prediction was based on Biblical verses from the Book of Daniel, which is noteworthy due to the fact that Newton was give a royal exemption from the Church of England and did not follow the teachings of the Church.

A brilliant scientist in his time, Newton was also known for working on occult studies, as well as his extensive work in alchemy.