Hurricane Gustav lashed the Gulf Coast with wind and rain Monday. Two experts — Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the Univ. of Maryland; and Major General Don Riley, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — discuss the region’s preparedness for the storm, 3 years after Katrina.

In May 2008, the U.S. Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. But now the state of Alaska – led by Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s new running mate – has sued to reverse the decision in order to open the possibility of offshore drilling.

It’s been 125 years since the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history–the explosion, earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused by Krakatoa, an island in Indonesia. Krakatoa is still a benchmark for extreme seismic activity, as it’s explosion was 13,000 times more powerful than one of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

Some 300 miles off Costa Rica is Cocos Island, a tiny Pacific outpost that was once a favorite haunt of pirates. Cocos is beset by powerful ocean currents that churning the waters nearby into an undersea storm. Welcome to Shark Mountain. Watch the episode now. Originally aired 11/14/04.

The Human Spark team just shot a tricky scene in an MRI room. Because the MRI is a huge magnet, it sucks metallic objects into the donut of the MRI …