CULTURE BUZZ – Universal Studios caught fire Sunday morning, destroying sets from “Back to the Future”, “Austin Powers”, and “Bruce Almighty”, a mechanical King Kong, and 40,000-50,000 film and TV show reels.A Universal Studios spokesperson said there were no serious injuries, just millions of dollars in damages (not to mention all that toxic smoke!).

The Best Links:

1. Universal Studios Looked Like a “Disaster Film”
2. Video of Fire & Spectator Interviews: “Fire Everywhere”
3. Short News Video Covering the Fire
4. Photos From Fire Showing Mushroom Cloud
5. Residents Warned “Not To Breathe” Toxic Smoke from Fire

SCIENCE BUZZ – The U.N. warns that a quarter of the world’s wheat could be threatened by a new, “highly pathogenic strain” of wheat stem rust called Ug99.The scary what blight strain was first detected in Iran and may be making its way towards the bountiful wheat fields of Asia and the Near East.

The Best Links:

1. Stem Rust Fungi
2. UN Alert! UN Alert!
3. “Ug99 is not another Neil Diamond cover band”
4. Beware the Ug!
5. A Longer Look at the Scary Ug Super-Blight

TECH BUZZ – Twitter updates provided breaking news on the major quake near Chengdu, China.Twitter users, coordinated largely through the efforts of Robert Scoble, were providing news of the earthquake — including first-hand accounts — before mainstream news sites began reporting about the 7.8 quake. (Related: Twittering wildfires.)

The Best Links:

1. Twitter Brings News of the Earthquake ‘Round the World
2. Scobleizer on the Earthquake
3. Before CNN, MSNBC, BBC Or the USGS, Twitter Had the News
4. Earthquake Posts on Twitter via Summize
5. Crowdsourcing Without Managers
6. A Timeline of Tweets on China’s Earthquake
7. First Twitter Report of Quake?
8. A First-Responder Medium?