Aerial footage shows thick plumes of smoke from wildfires raging in the northern Spanish region of Asturias.
Wildfires have burned more than a million hectares (2.5m acres) of land in the European Union this year so far, the highest amount in any year since official records began in 2006, EU data showed.
Spain and Portugal have been worst hit and together accounted for about two-thirds of the EU's burnt area
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/27/2025 - 09:33
08/27/2025 - 06:00
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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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 - 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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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 | [email protected] +12077011069
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