Why this ball makes your hair stand up, and makes lightning

The Weather Network - Video

The Weather Network's Mark Robinson visited the Ontario Science Centre to 'play' with the Van der Graaf generator and offers this 'hair-raising' comparison to thunderstorms.

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  • Man airlifted to hospital after bear attack in B.C. Rockies: RCMP

    A British Columbia man was airlifted to a Calgary hospital with "significant injuries" Thursday after fending off a grizzly bear attack on a mountainside in the Rocky Mountains near the B.C.-Alberta border, according to RCMP and wildlife officials.Police said a father and son were tracking a bear west of Highway 43 south of Elkford, B.C., when the 36-year-old son was "attacked suddenly by an adult grizzly bear" around 3 p.m. PT.The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) later said the man was

  • 'I don't think that's wise': Video captures herd of bison charging tourists in Yellowstone

    In case you needed a visual reminder of why you are supposed to keep at least a 25-yard distance from bison and other national park wildlife.

  • Snow leopard gives birth to 2 'little snowballs' at Toronto Zoo

    A snow leopard at the Toronto Zoo gave birth to two cubs this week, the Toronto Zoo has announced.Three-year-old Jita delivered the cubs after a few hours of labour. Her pregnancy had lasted 97 days. The first cub was born at about 7:45 p.m. Monday, while the second cub was born early Tuesday. Nine-year-old Pemba sired the cubs.The zoo said members of the public cannot yet view the "little snowballs" and their mom, but it will provide updates in the coming days and weeks about how and when the p

  • PHOTOS: Holy hail! Severe storms bring shovelable hail to Manitoba

    Thunderstorms blossomed in the warm, unstable air parked over the Prairies on Thursday, with accumulating hail reported across parts of Manitoba

  • How is SLO County elephant seal doing after rescue from plastic strap? ‘A happy girl’

    Docents have been keeping a close on the popular elephant seal, nicknamed “Necklace.”

  • Hundreds of pelicans have been stranded on the California coast for the second time in 2 years

    Droves of starving brown pelicans have been found stranded on the California coast since late April and the root cause of the event remains a mystery, wildlife watchers say.

  • 4 downy chicks born to Moncton pair of rooftop peregrine falcons

    Moncton has welcomed some new feathery friends. Two peregrine falcons that have been living in a nesting box atop the Assumption Building in the city for the last 13 years have just hatched four chicks. Earlier this year, the Magnetic Hill Zoo and Nature Moncton partnered to set up a livestream on the pair's nesting box, so viewers waited anxiously for about a month, closely watching the eggs. Jill Marvin, the director of the Magnetic Hill Zoo, said she first noticed something unusual when she c

  • Rain keeping Fort McMurray fire at bay, as thousands out of homes in Western Canada

    FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — The oilsands hub city of Fort McMurray, Alta., got a watery reprieve from a menacing wildfire Thursday as steady rain fell and water cannons delivered a soaking blast to tinder-dry ditches. Alberta Wildfire information officer Christie Tucker said the blaze remained out of control – the only such designated fire in the province – but it did not grow overnight and remained at about 200 square kilometres in size. “We’re seeing rain and cooler temperatures in much of the prov

  • Here’s how almost half of Dubai’s trash is turned into electricity

    CNN looks inside a huge waste-to-energy plant operated by the Warsan Waste Management Company.

  • 'Ozzy Osbourne' no match for stubborn Colorado bear in neighborhood tree

    Wildlife officials said the bear had gotten in the trash and found food. When the rangers arrived, the bear was already in a tree.

  • Roaming Black Bear Amazes Residents of Michigan Beach Town

    A black bear was seen wandering the streets of Ludington, Michigan, on Thursday, May 16, before police said it returned to its natural habitat.Footage recorded by Trinja Henrickson shows the bear as residents of the beach town look on in amazement.Henrickson told Storyful she was heading to work when she heard about the bear on the loose, and stopped to look for it when she happened to spot it coming down an alleyway.The animal was first reported more than a mile away.The Ludington Police Department said on Thursday that the bear had “safely returned to its natural habitat.” Credit: Trinja Henrickson via Storyful

  • Alberta government spending $50M on 3 new water intake facilities

    The Alberta government is spending $50.5 million over five years to cover up to 30 per cent of construction and associated infrastructure costs for three new water intake facilities.The facilities will serve projects operating in Alberta's Industrial Heartland (AIH), which is the province's first and currently only Designated Industrial Zone (DIZ).The province's website defines DIZs as areas "targeted for strategic investment and development of clustered industrial development and economic diver

  • Residents of Canadian oil town menaced by wildfire can return home

    Residents of the Canadian oil town threatened by an out-of-control wildfire can return home, authorities said Saturday, even as they warned the community will have to contend with the blaze for the foreseeable future. Thousands of residents of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, had been ordered to leave their homes earlier this month. "With the current and forecast weather conditions, specifically the amount of rain that has fallen on the fire, combined with continued fire suppression and community protection efforts, I am pleased to announce it is now safe for us to end the current evacuation and allow people to return to their homes," said Sandy Bowman, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo that includes Fort McMurray.

  • Gas prices fall in cities across Canada, while OPEC meeting looms

    Nationally, the average cost of gasoline dropped three cents in the past week.

  • One week ago, the northern lights stunned America. When will it happen again?

    Even though experts say conditions are primed for more aurora shows over the next few years, predicting exactly when and where is a challenge.

  • A fox on stilts? Argentine long-legged maned wolf returned to the wild

    Argentine conservationists have returned a rare and unusual-looking animal, a maned wolf, to the wild around Buenos Aires, with its long black legs and red-fur making the creature look like a fox on stilts or perhaps wearing knee-high boots. The endangered species, whose natural habitat is usually in the hot northeast of the country, has slowly migrated south, which experts said was linked to land clearances for farming, hunting, global warming and more extreme weather. "This (migration) is a phenomenon that is occurring with many species of large vertebrates," said Marcela Orozco, a doctor in biological sciences at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and researcher at the national science institute CONICET.

  • Ford begs suppliers to help stem EV losses: 'We will all win or lose together'

    Ford is soliciting manufacturing money-saving ideas for its electric vehicles in a new memo sent this week.

  • Eyes on the fries: Alberta snatches potato crown from P.E.I.

    This story is from this week's episode of the new CBC podcast Good Question, P.E.I. Listen here.Good Question, P.E.I. is available on the CBC Listen app, or wherever you get your podcasts.Prince Edward Island no longer produces more potatoes than any other Canadian province.Yes, you read that correctly. We're No. 2. Alberta, the Prairie province known for its thick cuts of red meat, is now the potato king of Canada. But just by a skin.According to the most recent report by Agriculture and Agri-F

  • Heavy rains trigger floods in parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands

    Heavy rains caused flooding in parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands overnight into Saturday, swamping streets and buildings and sparking evacuations. In the southwestern German state of Saarland, streets were deep underwater and images on social media showed emergency workers carrying local residents to safety in boats. State capital Saarbruecken was hard hit while German daily Bild reported that a breach in a dyke in the town of Quierschied led to a power station in the area being shut

  • Alligator Causes Double Trouble for North Carolina Deputies

    There was double trouble for deputies in North Carolina on May 13 as they had to remove a large alligator from a highway not once, but twice in the same day.“Our deputies never know what they’ll be called to handle!” the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.The “big fella” was “hanging out” near the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, they said. “Thankfully, the alligator was kept safe from the traffic, and motorists were kept safe from the alligator!” Credit: Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office via Storyful