Nature News and Columbia University have joined forces to make a Google Earth map showing the world populations at risk from nuclear fallout. The interactive map combines data on population and the locations and sizes of reactors, plotting risk graphically in the form of circles. Small, green circles represent relatively low risk, based on population size near the nuclear plants; mid-sized yellow circles represent greater risk, with large red circles representing the greatest risk.

Don't worry, folks! The crisis at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant should be "over by the end of the year," according to a timeline from plant operator Tepco. "Over," in this case, means that the reactors will be cooled. (Radiation leaks will be "reduced" in three months.) Once "cold shutdown" is achieved, the reactors will be entombed in concrete and contaminated soil will be cleaned up; right now, Tepco is taking readings at the damaged plant through the use of remote-controlled robots. [BBC]

Good news from the misguided cult members who delivered Travolta-endorsed junk science to a quake-ravaged Haiti: Scientology "volunteer ministers" are in Japan, touch-healing homeless tsunami victims, according to a celebratory press release issued today.

Another aftershock has hit Japan's northeast coast, and a tsunami warning is in effect. Today's 7.1 magnitude aftershock comes on the one month anniversary of the devastating earthquake along the same coastline.

In not-very-shocking news from the Gulf of Mexico, scientists have said that six dolphins that washed up on the shore there had oil on them, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials have traced the oil directly to last year's BP spill. Previously, experts said that "unusual mortality events" were responsible for the deaths of over 400 baby dolphins in the Gulf. Well, we have a culprit for at least a few of them now.

A new tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.4 magnitude aftershock hit off the coast of Japan, 73 miles from the nuclear plant at Fukushima. The Japan meteorological agency warned of a wave up to six feet. The tsunami generated by last month's 9.0 earthquake was estimated to be over 120 feet. [Image via AP]

Few managers enjoy firing people, but at efficiency-obsessed AOL, layoff skills are apparently considered crucial: The internet conglomerate just dismissed a top editor for firing writers and then telling them they could write for free.

Poor Stefan and Erika Svanstrom! The newly-married Swedish couple and their infant daughter set out on a four-month honeymoon in December and managed to come into contact with six different natural disasters.

Officials in Japan are using bath salts to dye highly radioactive water in an attempt figure out its path from the leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, the plant's cooling systems are still several months from being restored.

After yesterday's failed attempt at plugging the radioactive water leak at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, engineers today tried to stop it with sawdust and diaper absorbent. Officials said it will take months to get the situation under control.

Remember Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in a hellish ball of fire, killing 11 workers and setting off the massive Gulf oil spill last year? In documents filed with the SEC on Friday, the company announced it was handing out bonuses to senior executives for overseeing the "best year in safety performance in our company's history." Perhaps that's because, as Transocean CEO Steve Newman wrote in a statement, "Of the 126-member crew [on the Deepwater Horizon], 115 were safely evacuated." He also points out that only 9 of the 11 dead were Transocean employees.

Efforts to plug a leaking reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant with concrete have failed, according to Tokyo Electric officials. They hope a polymer will be able to stop highly radioactive water from seeping into the ocean.

Girls Gone Wild founder and Gawker Douche of the Decade Joe Francis has been representing himself in a Panama City courthouse this week, in a civil case brought against him by four young women who fell prey to his "you expose yourself, I give you this magical tube top" routine. If you think this hilarious arrangement has disaster written all over it, you're right!

Japan's National Police Agency today released updated figures on the human toll from the devastating earthquake and tsunami: 9,737 people are confirmed dead, and 16,423 are reported missing. [NHK, via]

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency released the first round of photographs from the interior of the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, where 180 workers, operating in rotating shifts, are struggling to contain and control the release of radiation.

I can't believe the news today: Turn Off the Dark, the Spider-Man musical, has injured yet another one of its actors. I can't close my eyes and make it go away! T.V. Carpio, who replaced the concussed Natalie Mendoza as the supervillain "Arachne," was hurt last week and will be sidelined from production for two weeks. Hers is the fifth reported injury, forcing us to ask: How long? How long must we sing this song? How long? How long? [AP]

Ophadell Williams was the driver of the Chinatown bus that crashed on its way back to New York from Mohegan Sun Casino last weekend, killing 15 people. Any one of us could be Ophadell Williams.

Producers of the problem-plagued musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark fired director Julie Taymor, and now it looks like her collaborator, choreographer Daniel Ezralow, is getting sacked, too.

It's now been ten days since Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami, and police are estimating that an incomprehensible 18,000 people were killed in the disaster. Meanwhile, the worst may be over at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, though higher levels of radioactivity have been detected in spinach and milk at nearby farms. Here's the latest news from Japan:

Nine days after the earthquake and tsunami devastated northern Japan, a 16-year-old boy and his 80-year-old grandmother were pulled alive from the rubble of their home in Ishinomaki City.