Last month, I ran here a post titled "What Hath Man Wrought," sharing my own reflections on the news of recent days. Actually all I shared was the trite fact that I find a lot of it depressing. In the course of that post I noted that scientists were puzzling over a giant hole in the ground on the Yamal Peninsula, in Siberia, a discovery of reindeer herders. On that, there is new information. Or at least new informed speculation! One expert says the hole is likely the consequence of an explosion of methane gas trapped in the permafrost. The explosion may have been set off by the unusually high temperatures of the last couple of winters, weakening the permafrost lid until the gas could pop through, like the champagne beneath a loosened champagne cork. If that's true, Siberia may over time get more of these cork-pop craters. Just putting it out there, in case you missed it.