This summer, Yosemite national park has been rife with traffic jams and throngs of visitors. Can these popular national treasures withstand a future of strained resources?
On a crisp, sunny morning at the end of June, dappled light filtered through the canopy of an ancient grove of giant sequoias, casting a tranquil backdrop for a mule deer as it ambled across the trail. Families from around the world gazed up at the towering trees in awe, speaking in hushed tones and different languages.
Experiences like these draw more than 4 million people to Yosemite national park each year. But as an increasing number of visitors come to take in the dramatic vistas, camp under the stars or feel the mist cascading off its thundering waterfalls, Yosemite’s landscapes are being pushed to their limits.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/04/2026 - 09:00
07/04/2026 - 06:00
Cornell Lab for Ornithology plans data linkup between app and population monitoring on eBird platform
The Merlin bird ID app will allow users to feed real-time bird identifications into one of the world’s biggest citizen-science biodiversity projects in an update it is hoped will aid conservation of at-risk birds.
Since 2021, the free Merlin app, created by the Cornell Lab for Ornithology, has used machine learning to provide an almost instantaneous sound-identification service for birdsong, along with an image for each bird identified. In future, the detections of bird species recorded by people will be automatically collected on the global online database eBird, which contains more than 2bn bird observation records.
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07/04/2026 - 06:00
Shifting demands and political ideology have left the industry vulnerable to global competition from cheap Chinese cars
Earlier this month, an intriguing new Detroit-based electric vehicle startup hit the market – Slate Auto, a Jeff Bezos-backed venture offering something US buyers rarely see these days – a pick up truck billed as “affordable”.
Its base price is $24,950, making it one of the lowest-cost autos in the US market and close to half the price of the average new vehicle. But as the US contends with sharply rising auto costs, even Slate may be getting left behind in the global electric vehicle (EV) transition. The global EV industry is entering a golden age powered by cheap Chinese cars that can be bought for as little as $10,000.
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07/04/2026 - 04:00
Group, whose constituencies have derelict or at-risk pools, are campaigning to make outdoor swimming available for all
Cooling, blue expanses of water have been a lifesaver for many lucky enough to live near a lido during the recent UK heatwave.
Now, a group of 20 MPs, along with the Fabian Society, are calling for this relief to be made accessible for all by getting water companies to fund the reopening of the country’s lost lidos.
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07/03/2026 - 23:37
Bureau of Meteorology says city’s mean temperature reached 16.1C, surpassing the previous record of 15.7C set in 1991
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Sydney has officially experienced its hottest June since records began, after a winter month of spring-like warmth.
While early weather data suggested the month was merely among the warmest, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed on Friday that June 2026 broke the all-time mean temperature record at Observatory Hill, where tracking first began in 1859.
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07/03/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 04 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00224-y
A climate adaptation framework for marine resource monitoring programs
07/03/2026 - 10:34
Port expansion and protections for whales part of BC and Alberta plan to expand country’s presence overseas
The governments of Canada and the province of Alberta will move forward on a major new oil pipeline after the pair announced a plan to ease concerns of British Columbia and First Nations on the Pacific coast.
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, shuttled between British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday to announce more than C$150bn in new investments in both provinces, part of a broader project of reducing trade with the United States and expanding his country’s presence in overseas markets.
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06/28/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 29 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00221-1
Leveraging AI to objectively analyze legal frameworks protecting the marine environment: a focus on enforced bans
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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