San Diego's 'dazzling' glow-in-the-dark waves

California's beaches are gleaming like a "beautiful hallucination" — and surfers are stoked. What's behind this nocturnal lightshow? 

Best Opinion:  GOOD, Gizmodo

The video: Wide-eyed surfers in Southern California are paddling out long after sunset these days. That's because a phenomenon known as red tide that turns the ocean a reddish clay color during the day — thanks to large masses of algae — is causing something peculiar at night, too: Glow-in-the-dark waves that flash "spectacular neon blue," says Tony Barboza of the Los Angeles Times. (Watch a video below.) The "dazzling" effect is due to creatures lurking in the algae bloom: Bioluminescent phytoplankton, which have been floating along San Diego coasts since late August. When huge numbers of these tiny creatures are disturbed simultaneously — either by a crashing wave or a surfer's speeding fins — a chemical reaction takes place, emitting a flash of light that's visible at night.

The reaction: The waves look like "a night light sent from King Triton himself," says Jillian Anthony at GOOD. The whole scene is indeed a "beautiful hallucination," says Brent Rose at Gizmodo. But beware: The CDC warns that red tides can sometimes cause eye and nose irritation, coughing, and shortness of breath. So if you must ride, make sure to have "a neti pot handy." Watch surfers carve up these glowing blue waves:

 

The 'crazy hairy ants' invading America

These tiny biting insects are pretty much exactly what they sound like — and the U.S. South is their newest playground

The video: "It sounds like a horror movie," says Janet McConnaughy at the Associated Press.   Hordes of super-fast, flea-sized ants with a nasty bite are swarming the U.S. South, from Texas to Florida. (Watch a news report below.) These so-called "crazy... More

The giant crabs invading Antarctica

Hulking crustaceans with appetites to match are taking over the oceans near the South Pole

The video: Antarctica has a bad case of crabs — king crabs, that is. The scarlet-red monsters are each about 3 feet wide, and devour almost everything in their path. (Watch a video below.) Three years ago, scientists predicted that the crabs, which usually... More

Real-life Angry Birds?

A daring flock of crows creates a "danger zone" in the parking lot of a Washington police department, where the birds routinely dive-bomb officers

The video: The Everett, Wash., Police Department parking lot has come under attack from a flock of courageous crows. Like a scene pulled from the video game Angry Birds, the crows "dive-bomb" officers as they walk from their cruisers into the precinct building... More

California's 'sardine apocalypse'

Hundreds of thousands of silvery fish suffocate in a California marina, creating a "carpet of death" on the water's surface

The image: A million (or more!) silvery fish turned up dead Tuesday in a Redondo Beach, Calif., marina, creating a "carpet of death" atop the water. (See a photo below.) Scientists say that the fish were likely forced close to shore, where the still water in the... More

Google's mass-animal-death map

The search engine has been used to map all the mass deaths of birds, fish, and other creatures around the world—and the resulting picture isn't pretty

The image: With hordes of dead animals turning up around the world, from 5,000 blackbirds dropping from the sky in Arkansas to 100 tons of fish washing ashore in Brazil, Google's mapping feature has been put to work to pinpoint the various die-offs across the world... More