A professor teamed up with student musicians to inspire interest in data about the ‘catastrophic scale’ of the crisis
A university professor has set her team’s research on the plight of Florida’s declining oyster population to music, aiming to inform a receptive new audience about the “catastrophic” scale of the crisis.
Heather O’Leary, professor of anthropology at St Petersburg’s University of South Florida (USF), partnered with student composers and faculty from its music department to create Oysters Ain’t Safe, a soft jazz alternative to crunching data into a “boring” technical report.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/27/2025 - 06:00
08/27/2025 - 04:00
Localised rises in temperature caused by land clearance cause 28,330 heat-related deaths a year, researchers find
Deforestation has killed more than half a million people in the tropics over the past two decades as a result of heat-related illness, a study has found.
Land clearance is raising the temperature in the rainforests of the Amazon, Congo and south-east Asia because it reduces shade, diminishes rainfall and increases the risk of fire, the authors of the paper found.
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08/27/2025 - 03:51
Thinktank predicts wider inequality gap and calls for revised policies to tackle flying and excess private car use
Inequality in transport emissions between the richest and the poorest in the UK is set to widen dramatically over the next decade, an analysis has found.
The most affluent and mobile already produce 10 times more carbon through their domestic travel than the poorest and least mobile. Under current decarbonisation policies, thinktank researchers forecast this to grow to 13 times by 2035.
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08/27/2025 - 01:00
Researchers say findings show need for conservation efforts to focus on nutritional diversity
Wild bees strategically visit different flowers to balance their intake of protein, fat and carbohydrates, a study has found.
A team of ecologists observed eight species of wild bumblebees in the Colorado Rockies over eight years to develop a comprehensive nutritional map.
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Snow flurries forecast across four states as cold weather fronts push through Australia’s south-east
08/27/2025 - 00:11
‘Burst of wet and windy weather’ on the way signals chilly start to spring for much of the country
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A series of cold fronts crossing south-eastern Australia in the last week of winter are expected to bring flurries of snow across four states.
“We’ve got a series of fronts and troughs that will keep sweeping across south-eastern parts of the country, bringing a burst of wet and windy weather,” said Sarah Scully, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
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08/27/2025 - 00:00
Picked from a record 60,636 entries, the first images from the Natural History Museum’s wildlife photographer of the year competition have been released. The photographs, which range from a lion facing down a cobra to magnified mould spores, show the diversity, beauty and complexity of the natural world and humanity’s relationship with it. The winners will be announced on 14 October
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08/26/2025 - 23:00
Sharks could struggle to feed themselves efficiently in future, affecting marine ecosystem stability, researchers say
Sharks without teeth might sound like the stuff of dreams to swimmers and surfers. Now a new study has found that ocean acidification could leave the apex predators without their critical survival weapon.
Shark jaws carry several rows of teeth and new ones quickly push forward to replace losses. However, rapidly acidifying oceans are damaging shark teeth and could speed losses past replacement rates. Sharks with bad teeth could struggle to feed themselves efficiently, “potentially affecting shark populations and marine ecosystem stability”, the study said.
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08/26/2025 - 11:00
Educators across the country confronted with how to deal with children in their schools who experienced tragedy
Schools in parts of Texas reopened their doors two months earlier than planned this summer. But the reason was tragic.
They were transformed into “relief hubs” to welcome volunteers whose efforts were instrumental in responding to devastating floods in the state. Now, as lessons have mostly resumed in Texas, the classrooms have been turned back from temporary emergency centres into places of learning, but that’s not to say the memories of what was lost will linger with the community indefinitely.
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08/26/2025 - 10:46
Mean temperature is tracking at 16.13C after four heatwaves, significantly above current record of 15.76C
This summer is set to be the warmest on record for the UK, the Met Office has said, after the country experienced four heatwaves.
The mean temperature for summer is tracking at 16.13C (61.03F), which is significantly above the current record of 15.76C set in 2018.
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08/26/2025 - 09:32
Firefighters try to corral Garnet fire, with parts of California under red flag warning, as Oregon blaze destroys homes
Numerous wildfires across the US west coast are challenging emergency crews from California wine country to central Oregon, as weather forecasters warned that the risks of more blazes sparking is not over yet.
In central California, firefighters are working to corral a fast-growing wildfire that is churning through the Sierra national forest as forecasters warned on Tuesday that lightning strikes from thunderstorms could ignite new fires.
Since breaking out on Sunday afternoon, the Garnet fire has scorched 14 sq miles (36 sq km) of grass, chaparral and timber in a remote area known for camping and hiking about 60 miles (97km) east of Fresno. The fire is currently at 0% containment, and officials said that “strong, erratic winds” would likely test firefighters ability to make progress.
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