Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Grieving killer whale who carried calf’s body spotted again with dead baby

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 22:19:12 +0000

Experts say sighting of orca in Puget Sound with second deceased calf is ‘devastating’ for ailing population

An apparently grieving killer whale who swam more than 1,000 miles pushing the body of her dead newborn has lost another calf and is again carrying the body, a development researchers say is a “devastating” loss for the ailing population.

Embankment of 18th-century canal in Cheshire collapses after flooding

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:32:06 +0000

Engineers assess damage as heavy rains cause first major breach of Bridgewater canal since 1970s

Engineers are assessing the scale of damage to a canal built more than 250 years ago after flood waters caused a dramatic collapse of part of its elevated embankment in Cheshire.

The Bridgewater canal, which was previously used to transport coal but is now a leisure waterway, caved in near Dunham Massey, in the first major breach of the waterway for 54 years.

‘Cannot stress enough how proud I am’: how Greater Manchester came together to tackle floods

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 17:02:33 +0000

Emergency services turn focus to recovery efforts after major incident declared on New Year’s Day stood down

“Some people say the way your year starts is how the year is going to be, so I’m expecting some adventures. I’ll be like Indiana Jones,” said Alina Abroutkouki.

The 40-year-old interior designer spent the first night of the new year sleeping in Didsbury mosque, hours after being evacuated from her nearby home by boat.

Early phase-out of full hybrid vehicles may be a political risk too far for UK ministers | Nils Pratley

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 16:52:36 +0000

Pragmatism will win over purism, unless the government favours early closure for car manufacturers

The main timetable is set: no new petrol and diesel cars will be allowed to be sold in the UK after 2030, and sales of all new hybrids will be forbidden from 2035. But that phasing still leaves open the critical matter – for the automotive industry, and for a couple of manufacturers in particular – of which new hybrids will be allowed to be sold until the last day of 2034.

UK electricity cleanest ever in 2024, with record 58% from low-carbon sources

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 14:43:12 +0000

UK has more than halved amount of electricity generated from fossil fuels but gas still had largest share at 28%

The UK’s electricity was the cleanest it has ever been in 2024, with wind and solar generation hitting all-time highs, according to a report.

The analysis by Carbon Brief found that in the past decade the UK had more than halved electricity generated from coal and gas and doubled its output from renewables.

Removal of waste from site of 1984 Bhopal disaster dismissed as ‘farce’

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 14:05:19 +0000

Indian government accused of PR stunt after moving 337 tonnes of toxic waste that had been held in containers

Forty years after one of world’s deadliest industrial disasters struck the Indian city of Bhopal, a cleanup operation has finally begun to remove hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste from the site.

Florida’s manatees are actually relative newcomers, historical research suggests

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 12:00:48 +0000

State’s beloved but under-pressure sea cows were barely recorded in the area before seas warmed in the late 1700s

Manatees, long considered among Florida’s most beloved and enchanting inhabitants, are not native at all, and only came to the Sunshine state for warm temperatures and clear blue waters like any other visitor, researchers have found.

Live ones go in paper bags, dead ones in the freezer: the volunteers saving birds that fly into windows

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 12:00:48 +0000

Across Toronto, a team sets out at dawn to rescue migrating birds that have collided with buildings, and keep a record of the thousands each year that don’t make it

Every morning at dawn, a dozen volunteers scour the streets of Toronto picking up small birds. Some days they will find hundreds of them, most already dead or dying. A few they are able to save. Live birds are put in brown paper bags and driven to wildlife recovery centres, while dead birds are put in a large freezer. If no one picks them up, their carcasses are swept up by street cleaners.

‘Extraordinary longevity’: great whales can live a lot longer than we thought – if we leave them alone

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 08:00:37 +0000

Bowhead whales may not be the only species that can live to 200 years old. Researchers have found that the industrial hunting of great whales has masked the ability of these underwater giants to also live to great ages

In Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s epic novel of 1851, the author asks if whales would survive the remorseless human hunt. Yes, he says, as he foresees a future flooded world in which the whale would outlive us and “spout his frothed defiance to the skies”.

Fig and almond trees thriving in UK thanks to fewer frosts, RHS says

admin — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 06:00:36 +0000

Society to retire plants no longer suited to UK’s changing climate after 14% fewer days of ground frost recorded

Fig and almond trees are thriving in Britain as a result of fewer frosts, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.

The lack of frost, one of the effects of climate breakdown, means plants used to warmer climes have been doing well in RHS gardens. Almond trees from the Mediterranean were planted at Wisley in Surrey several years ago, and without frost this year have fruited well for the first time.