Over Europe: 17 Sights From an Airplane

Fly over Europe and there’s a good chance you’ll see some of these notable landmarks, including soaring mountain ranges, deadly volcanoes, historical sites and even signs of the last ice age.

Sights From an Airplane: Venice, Italy

How appropriate that Venice looks like a fish from the air. Rising sea levels and compacting soils are causing Italy’s most unusual city to sink slowly into the water that surrounds it on all sides. Episodes of high water are increasingly flooding popular low-lying areas like Piazza San Marco. Venetians continue to debate the efficacy of massive engineering solutions, such as a $4.5 billion floodgate system to keep the waters out, as well as a controversial proposal that would pump seawater into the ground to raise the entire island by nearly a foot.

Sights From an Airplane: Eyjafjallajökull Volcano

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted in April, disrupting international air travel for weeks. Its ash cloud also created psychedelic, screaming orange sunsets over Europe. Volcanic activity decreased significantly in May, and the volcano has been quiet since, although the eruption has yet to officially be declared over.

Sights From an Airplane: The English Channel

Jet passengers flying between Great Britain and France have a great opportunity to spot The English Channel. Intrepid swimmers have been crossing it since 1875. During WWII’s Battle of Britain, the British and the German fought each other here with submarines and naval warships. The English Channel is now one of the world’s busiest seaways, carrying more than 400 ships per day.

Sights From an Airplane: The Brandenburg Gate

Berlin's Brandenburg Gate was built from 1788 to 1791. After World War II, Germany was divided, and, in 1961, the Berlin Wall was constructed just west of the Brandenburg Gate. Travel between East and West Germany was severely restricted until the fall of the wall in 1989. On Dec. 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate crossing was reopened when Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister. The gate now stands as a symbol of freedom and a reunited Germany.

Sights From an Airplane: The Bosporus Strait

The Bosporus Strait slices through Turkey and is part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. Along its shores, you’ll see the city of Istanbul, population 11 million, which straddles both sides of the waterway. Sightseers can explore the waters of the Bosporus Strait by ferryboat.

Sights From an Airplane: The Alps

The Alps are easy to spot from a jet soaring over Europe. Their white, lofty peaks can be seen if you’re flying over Slovenia, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria or Liechtenstein. The Alps arose as a result of the collision of the African and European tectonic plates. The highest peak, Mont Blanc, reaches 15,782 feet in elevation. The mountain straddles France and Italy, and ownership of its summit is controversial. Both France and Italy claim it as their very own.

Sights From an Airplane: Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano that towers over the Bay of Naples, Italy. When it erupted in the year 79, it buried Pompeii, Italy, under ash and pumice. The city was lost for more than 1,500 years before it was rediscovered in 1592. Mount Vesuvius had its last major eruption in 1944. The volcano is now part of a national park.

Sights From an Airplane: Eiffel Tower

The second-tallest structure in France is easy to spot on an inbound or outbound flight from Paris. The Eiffel Tower is 1,063 feet tall and therefore only slightly shorter than the Millau Viaduct (1,125 feet). The tower was named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, and was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's

Sights From an Airplane: Vatican City

Technically, Vatican City is a sovereign city-state within Rome. At just 0.2 square miles — only 70 percent of the size of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. — Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent state. Located on a low hill and entirely surrounded by the city of Rome, the Vatican has the smallest population: just 826 in 2009. Find Vatican City from the air by looking for St. Peter's Basilica, whose dome dominates the skyline.

Sights From an Airplane: Loch Ness

Loch Ness may or may not contain a serpentine sea monster, but if you’re flying over Scotland, you’ll have no trouble identifying this long-necked freshwater lake. It’s cobalt blue and stretches for 23 miles across the Scottish Highlands. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

 

Sights From an Airplane: London Eye

The London Eye, a 443-foot Ferris wheel, sits on the banks of the River Thames. It was constructed from 1998-1999 and is now the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. It contains 32 air-conditioned passenger capsules that provide a spectacular view of the Palace of Westminster, Big Ben, Waterloo station and other city landmarks. On a clear day, you can see all the way to Windsor Castle.

Sights From an Airplane: The Autobahn

The German autobahn stretches across the entire country like a lattice for thrill seekers. This network of federal motorways has no general speed limit, although the recommendation is 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph).

Sights From an Airplane: Norwegian Fjords

Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords. From the air, you can easily see these long, crinkly, narrow inlets that were carved by glaciers during the last ice age. According to National Geographic magazine, Norwegian fjords are the world’s top tourist

 

Sights From an Airplane: The Danube River

The Danube River originates in Germany’s Black Forest and snakes east through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania. It empties into the Black Sea. Various cruise lines offer scenic trips along this waterway.

Sights From an Airplane: Greek Islands

Greece has more than 6,000 islands. Whether you’re flying over Greece’s Ionian Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south or the Aegean Sea to the east, you can delight in seeing islands down below. The islands can also be explored close up by cruise ship, ferryboat or sailboat.

Spain

Sights From an Airplane: Big Ben

If you’re flying low over London, look for Big Ben and Parliament Square. “Big Ben” actually refers to the bell of the clock rather than the clock tower itself. At 314 feet tall, it is the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. The bells play a tune called “Cambridge Chimes.” During World War II, the bells were sometimes silenced and the clock face darkened to prevent German attack.

Sights From an Airplane: Seville, Spain

Large bullfighting rings will help you spot Seville from the sky. This Andalusian city
delights the senses on many levels, tickling the skin with its pleasant Mediterranean climate, the taste buds with its gustatory delights and the eyes and ears with its joyous flamenco dance and music. History buffs will enjoy exploring its huge cathedral and seeing the tomb of Christopher Columbus (although some historians argue that he’s not really buried here).

Meet Zoo Babies From All Over the Country

Meet adventurous monkey Inigo, lion cub triplets, 288-pound elephant calf Luna and more newcomers at zoos across the country. Budget Travel reports.

Zoo Babies: Kanani the DeBrazza's Monkey

Little Kanani, the DeBrazza's Monkey, is always on the move, wriggling away from her mother, Marinda, to swing from branch to branch. See her at the Denver Zoo.

Zoo Babies: Bronx Lion Cubs

The Bronx Zoo asked the public to help name the three cubs, born on Jan. 27, 2010. The winning names — Nala, Adamma and Shani — were announced May 16.

 

Zoo Babies: Luna the Elephant

Born on May 20, Luna the elephant made her debut June 12 at Disney's Kilimanjaro Safaris savanna in Orlando, Fla.

 

Zoo Babies: Ares the Coquerel's Sifaka

Ares the Coquerel's Sifaka sticks close to his mom, Kate, and loves to ride on her back at the Bronx Zoo.

Zoo Babies: Baby Gorilla

He's a mama's boy for now, but soon this baby gorilla will be romping around with his 4-year-old siblings, twins Kali and Kazi. See him at Zoo Atlanta.

Zoo Babies: Lakota the Zebra

Grevy's zebras are known for their especially long legs. It looks like Lakota is still getting used to his. See him at the Denver Zoo.

Zoo Babies: Abe the Mini Nubian Goat

Abe the Mini Nubian Goat's sunny personality makes him a perfect fit for Central Park's petting zoo.

Zoo Babies: Baby White Rhino

Mom Kendi was the first white rhino to be born at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. Eleven years later, she's given birth to her first calf, a baby girl.

Zoo Babies: Bernardo the Andean Bear

Bernardo and his sister, Chaska, are the first Andean bear cubs to be born at the National Zoo in 22 years.

Zoo Babies: Gertrude the Mandrill

Gertrude the Mandrill loves to explore her surroundings at the Bronx Zoo, but she never ventures far from mom Louise.

Our galaxy is rich in Earth-sized planets

Planets may answer age-old questions

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Dimitar Sasselov: Earth-sized planets are plentiful in the galaxy
• He says planets of such size are suited for the chemical processes that can produce life
• Sasselov says biologists are finding clues to origin of life in laboratories
• He says Earth life is notably old, representing nearly a third of age of universe

Editor's note: TED, a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading," hosts talks on many subjects and makes them available through its website.

(CNN) -- Since the time of Nicolaus Copernicus five centuries ago, people have wondered whether there are other planets like Earth in the universe. Today scientists are closer than ever to an answer -- and it appears to be that the Milky Way galaxy is rich in Earth-sized planets, according to astronomer Dimitar Sasselov.

Drawing on new findings from a NASA telescope, he told the TED Global conference in Oxford, England earlier this month that nearly 150 Earth-sized planets have been detected so far. He estimated that the overall number of planets in the galaxy with "similar conditions to the conditions that we experience here on Earth is pretty staggering. It's about 100 million such planets."

A Bulgarian-born scientist with Ph.D.s in astronomy and physics, Sasselov is a professor of astronomy and director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, which brings together scientists from many disciplines to explore how life began. He titled his talk at the Oxford conference: "On Completing the Copernican Revolution."

Until technology was developed to detect planets outside the solar system 15 years ago, scientists were only able to speculate about the existence of Earth-like planets. The new technology paid off in the discovery of some 500 planets.

The disappointing fact though was that very few of the newly identified planets were the size of Earth.

"There was of course an explanation for it. We only see the big planets. So that's why most of those planets are really in the category of 'like Jupiter,' " he said.

Read more about Dimitar Sasselov on TED.com

There was no indication that these large planets were suitable for life to begin.

"We were still back where Copernicus was. We didn't have any evidence whether planets like the Earth are out there," Sasselov said. "And we do care about planets like the Earth because by now we understood that life as a chemical system really needs a smaller planet with water and with rocks and with a lot of complex chemistry to originate, to emerge, to survive. And we didn't have the evidence for that."

In March 2009, NASA launched Kepler, a telescope-carrying satellite that can detect the dimming of light caused by a planet orbiting around a star.

"All the stars for Kepler are just points of light," Sasselov said. "But we learn a lot from that, not only that there is a planet there, but we also learn its size. How much of the light is being dimmed depends on how big the planet is. We learn about its orbit, the period of its orbit and so on."

The discovery of many potential planets means "we can go and study them -- remotely, of course -- with all the techniques that we already have tested in the past five years. We can find what they're made of, would their atmospheres have water, carbon dioxide, methane."

At the same time, Sasselov believes, scientists can make progress in the laboratory on better understanding how chemicals can produce life.

"And in one of our labs, Jack Szostak's labs, it was a series of experiments in the last four years that showed that the environments -- which are very common on planets, on certain types of planets like the Earth -- where you have some liquid water and some clays, you actually end up with naturally available molecules which spontaneously form bubbles. But those bubbles have membranes very similar to the membrane of every cell of every living thing on Earth. .... And they really help molecules, like nucleic acids, like RNA and DNA, stay inside, develop, change, divide and do some of the processes that we call life."

Copernicus is famous for the then-revolutionary idea that the Earth orbits the sun rather than that the universe is centered around Earth. But Sasselov pointed out that with the Copernican revolution came a humbling sense of mankind's insignificance in the universe.

"You've all learned that in school -- how small the Earth is compared to the immense universe. And the bigger the telescope, the bigger that universe becomes. ... So in space, the Earth is very small.

To demonstrate the minuteness of life on Earth, Sasselov took off his tie.

"Can you imagine how small it is? Let me try it. OK, let's say this is the size of the observable universe, with all the galaxies, with all the stars. Do you know what the size of life in this necktie will be?

"It will be the size of a single, small atom. It is unimaginably small. ... But that's not the whole story, you see."

The other dimension of life on Earth is time -- and life has existed for a good portion, nearly a third, of the time the universe is believed to have existed, Sasselov said.

"This is not insignificant. This is very significant. So life might be insignificant in size, but it is not insignificant in time. Life and the universe compare to each other like a child and a parent, parent and offspring.

"So what does this tell us? This tells us that that insignificance paradigm that we somehow got to learn from the Copernican principle, it's all wrong. There is immense, powerful, potential in life in this universe -- especially now that we know that places like the Earth are common. And that potential, that powerful potential, is also our potential, of you and me.

"And if we are to be stewards of our planet Earth and its biosphere, we better understand the cosmic significance and do something about it. And the good news is we can actually indeed do it. "

Top 10 Car Maintenance Mistakes

Some simple tips to save money and add life to your ride.

By Tom Wilson of MSN Autos

Click to enlarge picture

Shrewdly following the maintenance schedule provided in your car's owner's manual can prevent lengthy or more expensive visits to the service shop.

Compared to the family trucksters of a generation ago, modern cars require about as much maintenance as a toaster. This is a real liberation from the oil, lube and tune merry-go-round that ruled not so long ago.

Curiously, many people haven't adjusted their thinking to keep pace with new car maintenance schedules. The preoccupied still run their daily drivers without service until the dash warning lights burn out, while over-achievers fret about running synthetic oil more than 2,500 miles without a change.

Although maintenance intervals are now more widely spaced, even the newest cars require scheduled service to live long, productive lives. Whether yours is the latest model or you paid it off years ago, the trick is giving your car the maintenance it was designed to receive.

Surprisingly, the answer to what maintenance is required is hiding no farther away than the glove box. Every car is supplied with a maintenance schedule — in the owner's manual or in a separate maintenance log book — that details that vehicle's needs. A few minutes assimilating these requirements will help you avoid the following common car-maintenance pitfalls.

Proper Tire Inflation and Rotation
Tires leak naturally and need the occasional check. Figuratively speaking, underinflated tires suck up gasoline. Under- or overinflated tires wear out sooner, and deliver the same emergency maneuver handling as marshmallows. You probably aren't going to check tire pressures monthly, but how about twice a year?

Furthermore, front and rear tires wear differently and should be rotated to even that wear. Your owner's manual will have a recommendation on both pressure and rotation periods.

Discuss:  What other car maintenance mistakes should be added to this list?

Wiper Tales
Here's a news flash: It's much easier to avoid hitting things you can see. Simple as it is, that's the concept behind replacing your windshield wipers before they fossilize into noisy uselessness.

Fall is the ideal wiper replacement time: after the blade-baking summer and before the fall and winter nastiness. Depending on location, wiper replacement may be an annual affair in the Southwest to a biannual chore in northern climes.

Tune-Up Anachronism
There are no more "tune-ups." Valves no longer need adjusting, ignition timing is computer controlled and there are no carburetors to fiddle with. About all that's left of the old tune-up drill are the spark plugs. These are often good for 100,000 miles, so don't change parts just to change parts. Instead, save up for those big 60,000- and 120,000-mile services when the timing belt, spark plug wires and coolant are due for replacement.

Octane Overdose
"If some is good, more is better" thinking does not apply to octane. Here the rule is to supply whatever octane the engine is rated for and call it done. Higher-than-required octane does not yield more power or mileage, only oil company profits.

Some engines are rated for premium 91 octane fuel but can burn 87 octane regular, thanks to the magic of knock sensors. In that case, run regular gas if puttering around surface streets, and premium fuel if full-throttle driving is part of your daily repertoire.

Oil Change Timing
Oil changes every 3,000 miles used to be required jobs, just like cleaning the accumulated fuzz from record player needles or defrosting freezers. Today, advances in engine design and lubricants make oil changes something to be done when the schedule calls for it, not when granddad says it's time. Some cars call for 5,000-mile change intervals, some up to 15,000-mile stints. Others have a variable timer. Follow the schedule and use the oil called for by the manufacturer.

Tired Tires
Tires wear out, but they also time out. The tire industry says tires are toast after five years, but they're selling tires. It all depends on heat, sunlight and ozone conditions. There's little argument from any pundits that after seven years those black donuts are dried and better off holding down a farmer's tarp than carrying your family around. If you're not sure how old your tires are, a tire shop can read the date code stamped into the sidewall.

Dirty Air Filter
Semi-clogged air filters hurt fuel economy for the same reason you don't like to run with a potato in your mouth. The question is, when is your filter dirty? Under a Norman Rockwell schedule of small-town errand running and church duty, an air filter might not see much grit. But grimy city surface streets or just looking at a dirt road on a map are often enough to overwhelm air filters. This one is about conditions. If you go near dirt, the air filter may need changing twice as often as the schedule calls for.

Discuss:  What other car maintenance mistakes should be added to this list?

Ignoring Your Brakes
Note to the Wandering Unconscious: If you notice anything different about your brakes — sound, feel or response — they are telling you to visit a mechanic. Now.

Tighten Your Gas Cap
Is the Check Engine light on? Then make sure the gas cap is on tightly before calling the dealer. No joke, this is one of the most common ways of setting off your car's diagnostic system, since a loose gas cap defeats the fuel system's venting arrangement.

The Garage Is for Parking
Let's review. Your house is your most valuable investment. Your car is likely your second most valuable investment. If you're paying all that money, then why are you storing empty cardboard boxes, broken skateboards and plastic holiday wreaths in the garage? Pitch that junk and get the car in the garage!

If it has an engine and moves, Tom Wilson is interested in it. Now a freelance auto writer, Tom tries to ride, drive, fly and float everything he can wiggle into. His credits include a few local racing championships, a decade of magazine editing, three technical engine books and many hundreds of magazine articles. Current interests include new fuels and vehicle technology.

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