10 things you may not know about the BP oil spill but should...

It's been 37 days since BP's offshore oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, crude oil has been hemorrhaging into ocean waters and wreaking unknown havoc on our ecosystem -- unknown because there is no accurate estimate of how many barrels of oil are contaminating the Gulf.

Though BP officially admits to only a few thousand barrels spilled each day, expert estimates peg the damage at 60,000 barrels or over 2.5 million gallons daily. (Perhaps we'd know more if BP hadn't barred independent engineers from inspecting the breach.) Measures to quell the gusher have proved lackluster at best, and unlike the country's last big oil spill -- Exxon-Valdez in 1989 -- the oil is coming from the ground, not a tanker, so we have no idea how much more oil could continue to pollute the Gulf's waters. More...

Don't miss:

1. The Gulf oil slick; worse than BP admits?
2. Can alcohol replace petrol as fuel?
3. Bhopal, 25 years later, no cleaning up, no one cares...
4. No one gives a damn about Bhopal's horrendous legacy...
5. India's Kerala asks Coca-Cola to pay $47m compensation...