Breaking Waves: Ocean News

07/12/2024 - 07:49
Low yields combined with low prices for some crops also led to a 13% drop in farm output compared with 2022 Income from farming in England plummeted by 19% last year after floods meant harvesting many crops was impossible. Farmers have called for more support from the government as the climate breaks down, meaning agricultural businesses are no longer able to count on mild UK weather and increasingly face drought and floods. Continue reading...
07/12/2024 - 02:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
07/12/2024 - 01:00
Hundreds of Europeans touring the American west and adventurers from around the US are being drawn to Death Valley national park, even though the desolate region known as one of Earth’s hottest places is being punished by a dangerous heatwave, which was blamed for a motorcyclist’s recent death Continue reading...
07/12/2024 - 00:00
With up to 80% of butterflies in decline, people are being asked to spend 15 minutes to record number and type witnessed Scientists are calling on the public to help track how British butterflies are moving north as the climate heats up. Examining 50 years of data, researchers from the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation, which runs the annual Big Butterfly Count, have identified a clear northerly shift among many species, including the familiar garden favourites the comma, peacock and holly blue. Continue reading...
07/12/2024 - 00:00
Researchers estimate 730,000 people a year in the US lose their ability to live independently due to traffic pollution Reducing air pollution may help elderly people to live independent lives for longer, research has found. Dr Boya Zhang, of the University of Michigan, who is one of the authors of the study, said: “Air pollution is linked to worse health – more lung disease, more heart disease, shorter life expectancies and more likelihood of dementia. Knowing that air pollution increases our risk of poor health as we age made us wonder if exposures might also impact how people can care for themselves in later life.” Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 14:00
Australian scientists create brick refuges in greenhouses to help green and golden bell frogs survive infection A “sauna” treatment for frogs has been used by researchers in Australia to successfully fight a deadly fungal disease that has devastated amphibians around the world, according to a new study. Scientists created refuges for the animals using painted masonry bricks inside greenhouses that they called “frog saunas”. They found that endangered Australian green and golden bell frogs were able to clear infections from the deadly Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus, in the warmer conditions of the greenhouses, when they would otherwise have died. Many of the frogs that recovered in the refuges were then resistant to infection. Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 12:06
Snail mail replaced with slug mail as scientists need 1,000 grey field slugs to explore their impact on various crops It may be known as snail mail, but researchers are hoping the public will use the postal service to send them a different kind of mollusc: slugs. A team of scientists and farmers carrying out research into slug-resistant wheat say they need about 1,000 of the creatures to explore how palatable slugs find various crops. Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 11:30
Projected high of 10.3bn people is lower and will come earlier than expected, analysis suggests The global population is likely to peak earlier than expected and at a lower level, according to new UN projections that officials have said offer hope of reduced pressure on the environment. The analysis predicts there will be about 10.3 billion people by the mid-2080s, up from 8.2 billion this year. Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 11:07
Lawyers acting for minister say emissions of coal extracted from mine should have been taken into account The government has admitted that a proposed coalmine in Cumbria was approved unlawfully, as the carbon emissions of coal from the mine should have been taken into account in the planning decision. This follows a precedent set by a supreme court judgment last month, when Surrey county council’s decision to extend planning permission for an oil drilling well at Horse Hill, on the Weald, was quashed. Continue reading...
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023 Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program. World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html. Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs. World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world. World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org. media contact Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory   |   [email protected] +12077011069
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