Extinction rates are not spiraling upward as many believe, according to a large-scale study analyzing 500 years of data. Researchers found that species losses peaked about a century ago and have decreased since, with different drivers shaping past and present threats. Whereas invasive species once caused most island extinctions, habitat destruction now looms largest on continents.
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/27/2025 - 05:00
Study of Met Office data one of first to show how nocturnal insects affected by factors such as light pollution
Scientists have used Met Office radar data to track the trillions of insects flying above the UK for the first time, revealing a concerning decline in nocturnal species.
The team repurposed data from the UK’s network of 15 weather surveillance radars, which scan the sky hundreds of times a day.
Continue reading...
10/27/2025 - 03:29
New ‘national interest’ provision revealed as extracts of legislation circulated to stakeholders before bill introduced to parliament later this week
Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The environment minister would be able to approve projects at odds with nature laws if it was deemed in the “national interest” under the Albanese government’s planned overhaul of the environmental protection regime.
The proposed new provision was revealed in extracts of the legislation that were circulated to stakeholders on Monday, before its introduction to federal parliament later this week.
Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter
Continue reading...
10/27/2025 - 01:27
Incident follows several crocodile sightings around Cape Tribulation as breeding season begins and risks of aggression increase
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A 14-year-old boy has been hospitalised after he was attacked by a crocodile while fishing at a beach in far north Queensland, authorities said.
He sustained wounds to his leg and torso on Saturday afternoon at Myall beach, Cape Tribulation, a small coastal community 140km north of Cairns, a Queensland ambulance service spokesperson said.
Continue reading...
10/26/2025 - 23:55
Governor of one prefecture says he is considering asking the military for help to tackle increasing attacks amid thousands-strong bear population
Knowing what to do in the event of a close encounter with a bear was once a concern only for hikers and foragers in Japan. Now, however, people in populated areas are being urged to learn how to protect themselves following a spate of attacks, as the animals leave their natural habitats in search of food.
Bear encounters are generating almost daily headlines. In the past week in Akita prefecture, the animals attacked a jogger and a walker in built-up areas, while another terrorised four people before holing up inside a nearby house. None of the victims was seriously injured.
Continue reading...
10/26/2025 - 23:53
Graeme Samuel says he is ‘puzzled’ by the opposition’s desire to split the EPBC Act into two parts given his previous interactions with Sussan Ley
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Graeme Samuel has urged the Coalition and Greens to set aside grievances with the Albanese government’s new nature laws and support them, avoiding further delays in fixing a system that his landmark review found was broken.
The author of the 2021 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act issued a stern message to both sides as Labor braces for a political fight to deliver the long-awaited reforms.
Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter
Continue reading...
10/26/2025 - 19:01
As Cop30 approaches, a new report makes it clear the survival of isolated tribes is under threat as protections are eroded. It’s time our countries fulfilled their obligations to defend Indigenous people
A new report published on Monday by the NGO Survival International reveals 196 uncontacted Indigenous groups across 10 countries in South America, Asia and the Pacific, according to a five-year study titled Uncontacted peoples: At the edge of survival. Half of these groups – tens of thousands of people – face extinction within a decade due to industrial activity, criminal gangs and missionary incursions, with logging, mining and agribusiness cited as the primary threats.
The report also warns that even indirect contact, such as disease spread by outsiders, could devastate populations, while the climate crisis and illegal activities further endanger their survival.
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 | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
Read more »
