Breaking Waves: Ocean News

06/09/2026 - 08:00
Sharp rise in hospital visits will in turn drive up annual healthcare costs for heat-related conditions to over $1bn People in the US are poised to endure another summer of unusually ferocious heat and there will be little respite in the years ahead, with a new study finding that the coming 15 years could see a doubling in hospitalizations due to heat-related illnesses. The number of annual heat-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations across the US are set to rise from about 109,000 cases a year to as many as 237,000 cases by 2040, the new research has estimated. Continue reading...
06/09/2026 - 07:00
The climate phenomenon is intensifying an already unequal global economy Continue reading...
06/09/2026 - 06:00
The species is abundant within the protected archipelago but when they migrate outside the marine reserve to give birth they run the gauntlet of industrial fishing The unmistakable fluted T-shape of a scalloped hammerhead shark slides by, followed by a diver holding his breath and a metal spear like an extra-long snooker cue. The spear hits the fish behind its dorsal fin and the 2-metre shark darts away, disgruntled but otherwise unharmed. Carlos Robalino, a marine biologist from the Galápagos Islands, trained as a shark researcher in Mexico but is now back home and working as a junior researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation. When we meet in March, he is one of the divers on the foundation’s research expedition to Darwin and Wolf, the most northerly islands in the Galápagos marine reserve. Continue reading...
06/09/2026 - 06:00
Third of world’s energy needs should come from electricity by 2035, says Murat Kurum, as priorities set out for this year’s UN climate summit The world should aim to meet a third of its energy needs from electricity within a decade to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the host of the next UN climate summit has said. While about a third of global electricity generation already comes from renewable sources, other energy-intensive sectors – chiefly transport, heating and industries – have lagged behind. Close to four-fifths of final energy still comes from fossil fuels, as a result. Continue reading...
06/09/2026 - 03:00
JPMorgan Chase leads 65 banks making decisions incompatible with restraining rising temperatures, researchers say The world’s largest banks committed $906bn in financing to the fossil fuel industry last year, an “unfathomable” increase in investment locking in years more of coal, oil and gas production as the world continues to overheat, a new report has found. The surge in new fossil fuel lending, up $64bn or nearly 8% on 2024, shows that the world’s largest 65 banks are making decisions incompatible with international agreements to restrain rising global temperatures, according to the coalition of environmental groups behind the new analysis. Continue reading...
06/09/2026 - 00:00
Datacentre off Shanghai coast uses less power and water than land-based equivalent The world’s first wind-powered underwater datacentre has started operations off the coast of Shanghai, as China presses forwards with solutions for energy challenges created by the country’s artificial intelligence boom. The Shanghai Lingang undersea datacentre demonstration project, which launched in May, has a capacity of 24 megawatts. It is a joint effort between HiCloud Technology and China Communications Construction, a state-owned company. Continue reading...
06/08/2026 - 19:00
The 12 finalists will be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery during Beaker Street festival from 6 to 17 August, including images of newborn fish, a native wasp and satellite trails across the night sky The language of termites: Liss Fenwick’s The Colony – in pictures Continue reading...
06/04/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00214-0 Northeast Atlantic blue mussel aquaculture using different technologies produces low-impact food despite shell formation emissions
06/04/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00212-2 The EU’s goal of 10% strict marine protection is unlikely to succeed without fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs. Yet this depends on Article 11 of the Common Fisheries Policy – an overlooked legal mechanism that has struggled to deliver fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs, undermining EU conservation efforts in the EEZ. Reforming this bottleneck is essential to deliver EU biodiversity targets and guide high seas governance under the BBNJ Treaty.
06/03/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00211-3 Ecosystemism: harnessing biological and 3D new design technologies to regenerate reef functions