By Adam Schroeder
Aurum Staff

Five thousand dead birds and 85,000 dead fish? Yes, Arkansas has had some strange news in January, but they are not the only state. Louisiana has experienced a mass bird death as well, and Sweden was not immune to the phenomena either. Doomsayers would like us to believe that these events are bad omens or even signs of impending world destruction. As scientists at the School of Mines, surely a better understanding of these phenomenon can be realized.
Mass bird deaths are a rather common occurrence. Speculation is that birds become spooked by lightning, fireworks, or even power lines and become disorientated. In this state of disorientation, and of course at night, it becomes hard for birds to distinguish up from down.

A large flock of birds can find it quite easy to run into each other at high speeds of flight and die. While not a great scientific answer, nothing is for certain. Thus doomsayers come running to fill in the gaps with their own reasons.
The best answer for these news-worthy deceased lists is coincidence. Natural mass deaths have occurred in close proximity or close time frames by sheer coincidence; however,the sudden popularity of such a common thing is strange. Perhaps it was a slow news day, or the large number of deaths in Arkansas got people looking out for other similar situations.

In any case, this does not mean the end of the world nor is it a bad omen. These are just natural occurrences with scientific reasons that are still to be determined. Rest assured knowing scientists are busy determining the causes to put the minds of doomsayers at ease. Being doomsayers, however, they will find another controversy to worry the world about until science can deliver real answers.