A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica Wednesday, briefly knocking out power and communications, causing panic and triggering tsunami warnings, authorities said.

Residents reported trees toppled, damaged rooftops and roads split open by the quake near the epicenter in the coastal province of Guanacaste. People rushed into the streets as far away as San Jose, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Tucked away in a small warehouse on a dead-end street, an Internet pioneer is building a bunker to protect an endangered species: the printed word.

Brewster Kahle, 50, founded the nonprofit Internet Archive in 1996 to save a copy of every Web page ever posted. Now the MIT-trained computer scientist and entrepreneur is expanding his effort to safeguard and share knowledge by trying to preserve a physical copy of every book ever published.

A new species of large land crab was discovered on Cocos Island in Costa Rica, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

University researchers from Costa Rica and the United States discovered the new species, named "Johngarthia cocoensis," on the Pacific Ocean Island. The distinguishing characteristic of J. cocoensis, according to the researchers, is its large size--a male can measure 40 cm (15.7 inches) with their front legs extended (females measure smaller).