Brand-New Island Emerges Off Germany

There's a new piece of Germany. Over the course of just 10 years, a 34-acre island has developed 16 miles off the country's coast, in the North Sea, the Telegraph reports. Some 50 different plant species already live on the island of Norderoogsand; sea birds are moving in, too; and dunes now measure as much as 13 feet in height. "For conservationists," the island's quick appearance "is anything but ordinary," says a national park worker. Sandbanks often form in the area's shallow waters, but they're usually destroyed by winter storms, experts say. While islands around Norderoogsand have offered protection from the weather, a major storm could prove its undoing, note scientists. (Click for another fascinating island story.)