Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Seals, puffins and sunshine: snorkelling trip to remote British island gives young carers a taste of the sea

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 04:00:38 +0000

Charity gives children a well-earned break from caring responsibilities, hoping that a day’s snorkelling amid the island’s wildlife will help them connect with nature

“A seal just swam right by me,” squeals Odin Rawlinson, 14, as he awkwardly clambers back on to the dive boat in his flippers. He had hoped to see a megalodon or a kraken (a mythical sea creature) on his first ever snorkelling trip. But to his surprise, he finds the marine life that actually frequents the waters off Lundy in the Bristol Channel just as enchanting.

Commonwealth Bank posts record $10.25bn profit and reveals plan to clamp down on coal lending

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 02:18:23 +0000

Australia’s biggest bank delivers bumper payout to shareholders as CBA vows to end lending to coal companies with no net zero plans

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‘Deceptively cute’ ancient whale with razor-sharp teeth and eyes the size of tennis balls discovered in Australia

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:00:29 +0000

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.

Aukus laws will mean anywhere in Australia could be potential nuclear waste dump, critics say

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:00:23 +0000

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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Vape sellers to pay disposal costs under plans to end UK’s ‘throwaway culture’

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:30:28 +0000

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.

Swimming and boating in thousands more English waterways than thought, data finds

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 11:28:56 +0000

Government analysis finds 10 times more locations used for recreation than previously identified

Share your photos and experiences of using UK waterways for recreation

Thousands more waterways are being used for swimming and boating in England than previously recorded, new data reveals.

All the buzz: US dog helps researchers identify bacteria that harms honeybees

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 10:00:06 +0000

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.

Thousands evacuated in Spain as deadly heatwave fans Mediterranean wildfires

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:26:50 +0000

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.

Risks of climate crisis to Australia’s economy and environment are ‘intense and scary’, unreleased government report says

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:06:00 +0000

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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Buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover: how nurdles are polluting the oceans

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 07:00:16 +0000

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.