the buzz log

Our picks from the day's hottest searches.

• Brazil Blackout (+3,067%). A storm left 60 million in the dark,and now the government's busy defending its grid as the country preps for a good economy and the 2014 World Cup.
• Carl Sagan (+1,199%). His 75th birthday on Monday prompted a Stephen Hawking musical salute, and now people are surfacing up the astronomer's own musical talents.
• Mayon Volcano (+903%). Philippine's most active volcano is spewing again.
• Stupak Amendment (+563%). The US Conference of Catholic Bishops got the anti-abortion amendment into the health care bill, prompting concerns about its constitutionality and viability.
• Route 66 (+99%). The Santa Monica Pier got formal cred as the Western Terminus of the historic highway's 83rd anniversary.

 

Filed under: Health, Travel, Politics, Music, Weather, Science, Astronomy

It never fails. Whenever a natural disaster hits, somebody always risks bodily harm to take some video amid the chaos and destruction. Insane? Perhaps, but the fact is that footage from Mother Nature blows away anything you'll see in a summer blockbuster.

This weekend, when several tornadoes touched down in the West—and at least five slamming Colorado—the storm-chasing team from The Weather Channel was in the right place (Wyoming), at the right time (Friday June 5), with the right equipment. The result? An amazing look into the eye of the tornado. The video (embedded below), gives viewers a look at how tornadoes form and what happens when one turns on its side. It's terrifying and beautiful all at once.

Searches on the "wyoming tornado" have been soaring ever since the clip aired on NBC's "The Today Show." Related lookups on "colorado tornado video," "colorado tornadoes," and "denver tornado damage" also posted triple digit gains. Also surging on the Web: "southlands mall," a shopping center heavily damaged by one of the twisters. (CBS News hosts one video of the Colorado twister.)

Below, you can see the Wyoming sideways tornado for yourself. No special effects needed. Eat your heart out, Michael Bay.

Filed under: Weather

As international relief agencies press to bring more aid into Myanmar, searchers have hit the Web for background on the cyclone-ravaged country.

Demand for "myanmar" has lifted queries 2,454% over the past week, while lookups of the country's former name, "burma," have picked up 1,401%. Surging terms like "myanmar map," "myanmar news," and "burma news" reveal an intense interest in the country's location and how it's responding to the disaster that struck nearly a week ago.

Here are some of the other fastest-moving search questions about the catastrophe...

• "What is a cyclone?"—According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a cyclone is "a violent tropical storm." This "atmospheric system" is "usually accompanied by stormy, often destructive weather."

• "What is the difference between a cyclone and a hurricane?"—Not much. "Hurricane" (and "typhoon") is a "regionally specific" name for a tropical cyclone. How these ferocious outbreaks are labeled depends simply on where each forms. Read more in this FAQ from NOAA.

• "Where is Burma?" and "Where is Myanmar?"—Myanmar is located in Southeast Asia, on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. It borders India, China, Laos, and Thailand.

As to confusion over the nation's two names, here's American Heritage again: Burma's "civilian government was overthrown by a military coup in 1962 and again in 1988. The country was officially renamed Myanmar in 1989." Many sources, such as the CIA Factbok or Wikipedia, continue to refer to the land as "Burma."

•Finally, spiking demand for "junta," "military junta," and "myanmar junta" suggests curiosity about the term. Here's how Merriam-Webster defines "junta": "a group of persons controlling a government especially after a revolutionary seizure of power."

Filed under: Disasters, Weather, News