Breaking Waves: Ocean News

China floods: more than 30 killed in Beijing and tens of thousands evacuated

admin — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:59:39 +0000

Authorities relocated 80,000 residents from China’s capital after registering rainfall of up to 543 mm in some districts

More than 30 people have been killed by heavy rain and flooding in Beijing and a neighbouring region, state media have reported, as tens of thousands more were evacuated from China’s capital.

State broadcaster CCTV said that as of midnight on Monday, 28 people had died in Beijing’s hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown.

England’s farmers to get new payments for cleaning up waterways

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:24:50 +0000

Environment secretary says Defra will be launching changes to post-Brexit scheme for sustainable farming

Farmers in England will get new payments for cleaning up the waterways near their land, the environment secretary has said.

Agricultural pollution affects 40% of Britain’s lakes and rivers, as fertiliser and animal waste washes off the land into waterways.

I was terrified of bees – until the day 30,000 of them moved into my house | Pip Harry

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:00:34 +0000

Two huge swarms have made themselves at home inside author Pip Harry’s house – but learning to live together revealed bees can be excellent housemates

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Self-imposed lockdowns, surveillance fears and forced separations: life for California’s undocumented farmworkers

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:00:31 +0000

Undocumented migrants form the backbone of the ‘salad bowl of the world’ – Trump’s crackdown has led to hyper-vigilance

Driving into the Salinas valley, about two hours south of San Francisco, hand-painted signs fly by, advertising cherries, pistachios, avocados and garlic.

From above, the valley looks like a quilt stitched together out of a thousand shades of green – the fields of lettuce, spinach and strawberries that give the region its nickname, “the salad bowl of the world”.

The life of microplastic: how fragments move through plants, insects, animals – and you

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:19 +0000

Microplastics have been found in the placentas of unborn babies, the depths of the Mariana Trench, the summit of Everest and the organs of Antarctic penguins. But how do they travel through the world, and what do they do to the creatures that carry them? Here is the story of how plastic contaminates entire ecosystems – and even the food we eat. Illustrations by Claire Harrup

Trial to remove shark nets from three Sydney and Central Coast beaches a good first step, scientists say

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:29:36 +0000

Experts welcome move by NSW government, saying nets are ineffective at preventing shark bites and ‘indiscriminately’ kill marine life

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Scenario planning from the bottom up: supporting inclusive and ecosystem-based approaches to marine spatial planning

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 28 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00140-7

Scenario planning from the bottom up: supporting inclusive and ecosystem-based approaches to marine spatial planning

Missionaries using secret audio devices to evangelise Brazil’s isolated peoples

admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 08:00:17 +0000

Exclusive: Solar-powered units reciting biblical passages have appeared in the Javari valley, despite strict laws protecting Indigenous groups

Read more on this story: ‘A computer, a radio, a drone and a shotgun’: how missionaries are reaching out to Brazil’s isolated peoples

Thousands of tons of invasive seaweed ‘overwhelming’ Spanish beaches

admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 04:00:11 +0000

Alga from east Asia is major threat to biodiversity, say experts as they warn of environmental catastrophe

Thousands of tonnes of an aggressive invasive seaweed from east Asia are piling up on the beaches of the strait of Gibraltar and Spain’s southern coast in what local environmentalists say is a major threat to the region’s biodiversity.

Since May, the local authority in Cádiz has removed 1,200 tonnes of the alga Rugulopteryx okamurae from La Caleta, the city’s most popular beach, including 78 tonnes in a single day.

Rare water world: Australia’s Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre from the air – in pictures

admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 00:00:06 +0000

The vast salt lake in the South Australian outback is dry for most of its life, having only filled to capacity three times in the past 160 years. So when water does arrive, this enormous landscape becomes a riot of colour