Cool new home
A near-threatened species of Arctic gull has formed a colony of 60 on an iceberg some 70 kilometres off north-east Greenland 鈥� the first such case. This may allow them to avoid land predators and is near open water where they catch food (Polar Biology, ).
Get ready to inflate
The ISS is about to get an extension. Launched last month, the inflatable Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will be fully inflated on 26 May. Astronauts won鈥檛 occupy the module full time, but will test it regularly over the next two years to see how it copes with micrometeoroids and radiation, along with maintaining the correct temperature.
Mars looms large
Look up! On 30 May 2016, the Red Planet will be getting up close and personal with Earth. It will be 75.3 million kilometres away, the closest since November 2005. That鈥檚 surprising, because Earth passed between Mars and the sun on 22 May, but the planets鈥� elliptical orbits mean that they were just a bit further apart at this point.
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Yellow fever outbreak
Almost 300 people have been killed by yellow fever after an outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. Fears it will affect neighbouring Namibia and Zambia prompted the WHO to declare the outbreak a 鈥渟erious public health event鈥� on 20 May.
Florida man-eaters
DNA testing has spotted three Nile crocodiles living in Florida鈥檚 swamps 鈥� and more may be there. They must have been released by unlicensed collectors. The fear is that they may establish their own population and wreak havoc on Everglades wetlands, as happened with the Burmese python. Unlike local alligators, these crocs are known to attack humans.