Scientist says new species described from 25-million-year-old fossil found in Victoria ‘was a gnarly whale I wouldn’t want to get in the water with’
“Small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless” is how scientists have described a new species of ancient whale, from a 25-million-year-old fossil found on Victoria’s surf coast.
This early species, called Janjucetus dullardi, was an extremely unusual animal, said Dr Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/12/2025 - 16:00
08/12/2025 - 10:00
Greens senator David Shoebridge says communities will have ‘no way to protect the land’ from waste that will be radioactive for millennia
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Critics of Australia’s Aukus submarine deal say the government has given itself the power to nominate any place in Australia as a potential nuclear waste dump, without proper consultation with communities and Indigenous landowners.
Australia has agreed to take sole responsibility for the management, security and storage of all nuclear waste from its fleet of proposed nuclear-powered submarines, including the spent fuel from the submarines’ reactors – high-level nuclear waste that will be radioactive for millennia once the submarines are decommissioned from the early 2050s.
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08/12/2025 - 07:30
Ministers say online vendors of electrical goods such as microwaves will also have to contribute to recycling fees
Vape sellers will have to pay for the disposal of the devices under plans announced by the government.
Ministers said they would “end the UK’s throwaway culture” as they revealed measures to fund the recycling of electrical waste.
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08/12/2025 - 06:28
Government analysis finds 10 times more locations used for recreation than previously identified
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Thousands more waterways are being used for swimming and boating in England than previously recorded, new data reveals.
A wide-ranging government analysis of the ways that England’s waterways are used for recreation has found 3,347 “water recreation locations” in rivers, lakes and seas around the country. These are places where people take part in activities including swimming, rowing and paddleboarding. The Environment Agency had previously identified 342.
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08/12/2025 - 05:00
Maple, a springer spaniel, is part of a project at a Michigan university focused on risk factors affecting the bees’ health
One dog in Michigan hasn’t been content with merely belonging to the species famously known as man’s best friend. She has strived to be bees’ best friend, too.
Maple, a springer spaniel aged nine, is earning news headlines by helping Michigan State University (MSU) researchers identify bacteria that is harmful for bee colonies.
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08/12/2025 - 04:26
Boy, four, dies of heatstroke in Rome as scientists say high temperatures and fires are reminder of climate emergency
The deadly heatwave fanning wildfires across the Mediterranean region has claimed at least three lives and forced thousands of people from their homes.
Firefighters continued to battle blazes on Tuesday and authorities braced for further damage as temperatures in some areas surged well past 40C. In Spain, a Romanian man in his 50s died after suffering 98% burns while trying to rescue horses from a burning stable near Madrid on Monday night.
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08/12/2025 - 04:06
Sources say delayed risk assessment includes modelling of effects of climate crisis in ways that have been little discussed in political debate so far
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An unreleased Australian government report on the economic and environmental risks posed by the climate crisis is “intense and scary”, and confronting even for those who work in the area, according to people familiar with the assessment.
The delayed report – the national climate risk assessment – includes modelling of future climate damage, estimates of the number of people who could be killed by worsening heatwaves and a mapping tool that forecasts flooding risk in suburbs across the continent.
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Buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover: how nurdles are polluting the oceans
08/12/2025 - 02:00
Millions of the tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala in India in the latest in a series of global spills, as plastic treaty talks continue in Geneva
When a Liberian-flagged container ship, the MSC Elsa 3, capsized and sank 13 miles off the coast of Kerala, in India, on 25 May, a state-wide disaster was quickly declared. A long oil slick from the 184-metre vessel, which was carrying hazardous cargo, was partially tackled by aircraft-borne dispersants, while a salvage operation sealed tanks to prevent leaks.
But almost three months later, a more insidious and persistent environmental catastrophe is continuing along the ecologically fragile coast of the Arabian Sea. Among the 643 containers onboard were 71,500 sacks of tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles. By July, only 7,920 were reportedly recovered.
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08/12/2025 - 00:42
In today’s newsletter: Hotter houses are likely to become the norm, with the dangerous health impacts facing society’s most vulnerable
Good morning. With temperatures soaring across Europe, fears of drought and people trying to steer clear of the most severe heat, there’s one place millions of us will still not be comfortable: home.
The Guardian’s Hot Property series shows how the poorest and most vulnerable are trapped inside dangerously hot homes. Even for today’s temperatures much housing is inadequate, let alone the even more extreme heat predicted for the coming years, the reporting shows.
Israel-Gaza war | Hundreds of mourners carried the body of the prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif through the streets of Gaza City on Monday, a day after he and four colleagues were killed in an Israeli airstrike, prompting condemnation from across the world.
NHS | Attacks on A&E nurses have almost doubled over the last six years, with incidents often involving patients frustrated at waiting so long for care.
US news | Donald Trump has ordered the national guard to Washington DC and seized control of the city’s police force, describing a “lawless” city in ways that are sharply at odds with official crime statistics.
UK news | David Lammy is facing possible legal action over a plan to invite staff from the oil firm Shell and the defence firm BAE Systems to work inside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Agriculture | A study has found that Biochar, a charcoal made from human waste, could help solve fertiliser shortages as well as reduce pollution and energy use.
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08/12/2025 - 00:26
Kirsten Mae Fearn was repeatedly warned about the behaviour but she continued to import plants which she intended to sell online
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A Queensland woman caught importing illegal cacti and other plants in packages purporting to contain lingerie and shoes has been sentenced to six months in prison.
Kirsten Mae Fearn pleaded guilty to 14 biosecurity charges at Brisbane magistrates court in July after she repeatedly imported illegal plants to sell online.
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