What Makes a Monster Wave?

Susan Casey's new book explores the monsters

(NEWSER) - There are waves, and then there are waves. Susan Casey tackles the latter in The Wave, a new book that explores the world of rogue waves—individual giants that can measure more than 120 feet tall, damage 100-foot oil rigs, and even sink large ships. Salon talked to her about these mega-tsunamis. Some highlights from the deep:

• Proving these even exist hasn't been easy: After all, points out Casey, most people who encounter one don't live to tell the tale. "It took chaos theory, quantum physics and physics theories from light to understand why one wave can suddenly pirate the energy from four other waves around it, and it becomes this unstable, teetering monster."

35-foot creature weighed as much as 7 tons

(NEWSER) - A photo is worth 1,000 words ... or 14,000 pounds, in the case of unbelievable images out of Pakistan. The Express Tribune reports that a 35-foot whale shark was found dead in the Arabian Sea and hauled to the Karachi harbor yesterday, where two small cranes attempted to hoist the creature from the water—and weren't up to the task. It took authorities more than four hours to get the whale shark out of the water using, among others, a 35-ton crane. It was auctioned later in the day to a buyer who plans to display the carcass for three days, charging the curious to see it. A biologist believes the whale shark may have become disoriented and ended up stuck in shallow waters. More»

It was like 'finding a foot-long cockroach,' researcher says

(NEWSER) - Scientists looking for deep-sea life off the coast of New Zealand were amazed when their traps yielded several specimens of a "supergiant" crustacean not seen for decades. The amphipods—sometimes called the "insects of the sea"—were more than 10 inches long, 20 times as big as typical amphipod species. They were plucked from four miles down in the Kermadec Trench, one of the world's deepest ocean trenches. More»

Polyester fibers come off in the wash: study

(NEWSER) - The Stuff White People Like blog has mocked people for wearing "outdoor performance clothes" everywhere they go, but who knew those fleece pullovers are also dirtying up our oceans. A recent study shows that nearly 2,000 polyester fibers can come loose from one piece of clothing in the wash. Those fibers float in sewage discharge that goes in our oceans, perhaps eaten by fish who move through the food chain and become lint on our dinner plates, reports Mother Jones via Grist . More»

Propelled by winds of up to 60 miles per hour

(NEWSER) - If you live in Chicago, today is probably a bad day to go sailing. For the second straight day, Lake Michigan is being bombarded by winds gusting at up to 60mph, which are conjuring up waves up to 25 feet high. Wipeout conditions and some low-level flooding are expected along the lakefront, and the National Weather Service estimates the waves will sink to mere 15- to 20-foot levels by afternoon. The storm ripped more than a dozen boats from their moorings overnight and dashed them against a sea wall, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. More»