Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Pennsylvania flood museum temporarily closed due to flooding

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 17:12:52 +0000

Cold weather causes leak at Johnstown Flood Museum, which commemorates 1889 catastrophe that killed 2,209

A museum dedicated to commemorating the victims of a 19th-century flood in Pennsylvania has temporarily closed due to flooding – caused on the inside of the facility by a water leak stemming from recent, extremely cold weather, officials said on Monday.

Aquarium surprised by ‘virgin birth’ of swell shark in all-female tank

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:24:39 +0000

Baby shark Yoko hatched in early January, flummoxing staff and experts at a US aquarium

Birds do it, bees do it. Even educated fleas do it, according to Cole Porter’s classic song on the universal nature of sex.

But a baby swell shark born in a Louisiana aquarium that houses only females has flummoxed marine experts and raised the possibility that the species may not require such earthly pleasures to produce offspring.

Produce in home gardens near PFAS plant in US contain dangerous levels of chemicals

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 11:00:03 +0000

Research provides more evidence that food is a potentially overlooked exposure route to toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Produce grown in home gardens around a North Carolina PFAS plant contain dangerous levels of the chemicals, new research has found, providing more evidence that food is a potentially overlooked exposure route to the compounds, especially when grown near polluters.

Water firm river pollution fines must be spent on rivers, MPs to say

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 09:53:33 +0000

Lib Dem Tim Farron seeks law to protect fund as Treasury tries to take control of £11m

Fines from water companies that pollute rivers must be ringfenced by law to be spent on restoring water quality in rivers, MPs will urge.

The Treasury is trying to take control of £11m in fines from water companies, which was intended for small charities to restore rivers, in a move criticised by river restoration campaigners as “appalling”.

Just Stop Oil activists interrupt Sigourney Weaver performance in The Tempest – video

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:07:47 +0000

The Hollywood actor was stopped mid-scene as a man and a woman climbed on stage at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Hayley Walsh, 42, a lecturer from Nottingham, and Richard Weir, 60, a mechanical engineer from Tynemouth, set off a confetti cannon and held up a banner referring to the 1.5C global temperature rise as a 'shipwreck', a nod to the Shakespeare play that features a ship sinking at sea

Just Stop Oil activists interrupt play starring Sigourney Weaver in London

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 07:20:15 +0000

Two protesters walk on stage to boos and some cheers during performance of The Tempest in West End

Police are making inquiries into a Just Stop Oil protest that disrupted a West End performance of The Tempest starring Sigourney Weaver.

Can communities living side by side with wildlife beat Africa’s national parks at conservation?

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 05:00:07 +0000

Across the continent, millions of hectares of land are being used and run by local people coexisting with wildlife in spaces where both can thrive

Photographs by Nicoló Lanfranchi

Africa’s first national park was created 100 years ago by the Belgian colonial state in the Congo, and since then hundreds more have been developed – but in many areas there is more wildlife in protected areas run by local people.

How tiny algae shaped the evolution of giant clams

admin — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 21:19:32 +0000

New research reveals how resident algae altered the genome of these fabled sea creatures, allowing them to access more nutrients.

The Guardian view on Labour’s climate plans: they should be central to the party’s purpose | Editorial

admin — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 18:57:34 +0000

An economic shift raises alarming questions about government vision, priorities and commitment to transformative policies

Rachel Reeves tells MPs of plans to go ‘further and faster’ in pursuit of growth

admin — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 18:45:17 +0000

Chancellor reassures Labour colleagues that climate concerns go ‘hand in hand’ with economic ambitions

Rachel Reeves has told MPs the government needs to go “further and faster” to increase economic growth, as Downing Street sought to reassure people concerned about the environment that net zero and increasing output go “hand in hand”.