Researchers also discover bees can adjust their diets when pollen sources do not provide healthy level of nutrients
Honeybees blend a special “baby food” to give their larvae a balanced diet, with adult bees also able to regulate their feeding to avoid overconsuming certain nutrients, according to a study.
Researchers have discovered that bees can adjust how much they eat when pollen sources do not provide them with the ideal balance of essential amino acids, the essential building blocks of protein that animals cannot make for themselves and must obtain from their diet.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/17/2026 - 10:00
06/17/2026 - 09:00
Okra holds a special place in many African-descended communities, and a Canadian farmer with Jamaican roots is growing a very old variety
When Nicole Austin was growing up in Oshawa, Canada, her Jamaican family couldn’t find the foods they enjoyed back on the island. No callaloo, garden eggs or okra. Austin’s grandmother grew certain things in her backyard, but only if she had the necessary seeds.
“It’s often small-scale farmers, farmers of color, Black farmers that make sure that these foods that are culturally significant to us are available, that we grow them, that we share them,” Austin said. “It wasn’t until I’m in these spaces now that I realized how important the place is of farmers of color and Black farmers to make sure that these food histories are maintained and celebrated and shared.”
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06/17/2026 - 08:44
Drive to appeal to wealthy Americans is part of pivot away from previously announced all-electric strategy
Jaguar Land Rover has said it will make more hybrid cars as part of an effort to focus on growth in the US, as Britain’s largest carmaker further rowed back on the transition away from fossil fuels.
The manufacturer told investors on Wednesday it would offer petrol and hybrid versions of new models, including smaller SUVs that had previously been planned to shift to all-electric sales.
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06/17/2026 - 08:00
Sudden shifts from wet to dry weather, or vice versa, may foil typical drought- and flood-prevention measures
Rising temperatures may trigger a dangerous increase in “hydroclimatic whiplash” in rivers that would make traditional approaches to flood and drought planning insufficient, a study has found.
As temperatures rise owing to the worsening climate crisis, rivers will experience increasingly rapid transitions between heavy downpours and long dry spells – called hydroclimatic whiplash events – because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, intensifying rainfall extremes.
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06/17/2026 - 07:00
Two-thirds of Americans say they are worried about climate but level of media coverage does not reflect this
US political and media discourse has drifted away from the climate crisis amid a frontal assault by Donald Trump upon policies to limit global heating and the president’s pugnacious demands to “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas.
Yet while elite attention on climate has waned, even among some previously vocal Democrats who have wound back on criticism of the fossil fuels that are overheating our planet, the American public remains concerned about the climate crisis and continues to favour action to deal with it, according to experts and polling.
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06/17/2026 - 05:00
Nearly every indicator of climate change is flashing red. But we still hold the tools available to bring the planet back into balance
The ocean is running a fever. In 2025, the number of days of marine heatwaves – prolonged spells when the sea turns abnormally, dangerously warm – was more than triple what it was in the early 1990s.
These are not abstract statistics. A severe and persistent marine heatwave bleaches coral reefs, strips away the kelp forests that shelter young fish, empties fishing grounds and – if occurring frequently – can tip whole ecosystems past the point of recovery.
Karina Von Schuckmann is an IGCC author and senior adviser of Mercator Ocean International
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06/16/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 17 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00219-9
The future of global ocean observations: five scenarios
06/16/2026 - 22:31
It used to be easier to say that the chances of a shark attack were slim. Now I feel as though that pretence of safety has been shattered
After nearly a year’s break, I started ocean swimming again this May, delighting in the clarity of the water and the quieter beaches of Sydney’s winter. I’d stopped because of an injury but then found that the longer I was out of the water the harder it was to get back in.
It only took that first return swim, however, to remember the absolute euphoria of winter ocean swimming. Part of it is the cold water, how alive it makes you feel, and part is the wildness of it: seeing the variety of underwater marine life, the distant spray of a migratory whale. It is utterly different from swimming laps in a pool.
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06/16/2026 - 18:01
Justice department urges judge to throw out suit brought by NAACP over xAI’s methane-gas turbines in Mississippi
The Trump administration is coming to the defense of Elon Musk in a lawsuit over claims that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, is polluting residential neighborhoods in north Mississippi. The justice department told a federal court late on Monday to throw out the case.
The lawsuit was filed by the NAACP in April over allegations that xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech set up dozens of methane-gas turbines to power its datacenter in Southaven, Mississippi, without air permits. The suit claims these turbines emit toxic pollutants in violation of the Clean Air Act, and is asking a judge to block xAI from operating the machines.
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06/16/2026 - 13:00
It is still not totally clear what the government wants but the political mood seems to be shifting towards a decision
Thames Water nationalisation moves closer as government objects to rescue deal
At last, Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, has opined on the future of Thames Water. So what’s it to be? A takeover by the company’s creditors? Special administration, which would allow anyone to pitch up with an offer while the state temporarily funds the company? Or even a quick flush to full nationalisation?
Well, two years after Thames’s shareholders walked away, and 18 months after the creditors opened talks with regulator Ofwat on the terms on a potential recapitalisation, one still can’t say definitively what the government wants. But we do have a better idea: the political mood seems to be shifting firmly towards administration.
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