From fierce flooding and escaped pigs to birds that can’t fly due to the weight of plastic in their stomachs, mankind’s biggest challenges are on stark display at Summit Photo 2026
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/16/2026 - 01:00
07/15/2026 - 23:00
Uncrewed systems are the future for armed forces and the Netherlands is leading the way ‘to keep people out of danger zones’
On each side of the target ship, a black vessel keeps a watchful distance. Defender 1 and Defender 2 are the eyes and ears of the navy – but they have nobody onboard, and their paths are controlled by a computer system.
This is the future of the Royal Netherlands Navy, according to Capt Sjoerd Feenstra, head of the expertise centre for unmanned systems. He is leading a five-week mission, off the coast of Den Helder in the north of the country, to test the limits of systems that operate without the human touch.
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07/15/2026 - 19:01
Adaptation to frightening new normal and reducing emissions further and faster is critical, scientists warn
Dozens of people drowned, hundreds had to be rescued and thousands were displaced when floods struck the coasts of west Africa last month.
Now scientists have concluded that the rains that caused the floods were supercharged by climate breakdown. Global heating, they say, turned what should have been a routine weather event into a climate catastrophe.
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07/15/2026 - 11:23
A burst pipe left me high, dry and desperate to wash my hair. But around me, everyone seemed stoic and unsurprised - no rolling of eyes, tutting or, God forbid, speaking ill of the water company
On Monday morning, the water coming out of my tap was but a dribble. Disappointing. I checked the water company website and there was something about some problem somewhere that was being resolved. It was sorted. Then Tuesday evening, uh-oh, not even a dribble. Not again, surely. Back to the water company website which, in its own way, is rather helpful. But only in the same way that train companies have got better at owning their shortcomings with the efficiency of the Delay Repay system. Nice as this is, it would be nice if they were as good at stopping problems happening as they are at keeping you across how they are supposedly solving them or, in the case of rail companies anyway, bunging you some money to cheer you up.
Here’s what the website said: “Our specialist team have located a large burst water pipe causing no water, low pressure and flooding to the road …” It was the “specialist team” bit that irritated me, perhaps unreasonably. Specialist as opposed to what? Generalist? A couple of blokes who happened to be in the office and set off with some divining rods for a look around? Pardon my irritation but I’d had my hair cut in the afternoon and, you know how it is, you need a shower otherwise it’s a long, itchy night. My mood wasn’t improved by a couple of American students from South Dakota we had staying (long story) who had never been out of the US before. They were having a bit of a whine about the water, but soon gave up, obviously pitying us living in such an obviously backward country.
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07/15/2026 - 11:08
Environment Canada has issued health warnings after sky over city turns yellow
Smoke from more than 100 active wildfires in northern Ontario have made Toronto’s air quality the current worst in the world and caused yellow, smoky air in cities across the north-east US.
Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over country’s largest city turned a sickly yellow and was ranked the worst in the world according to IQAir, the Swiss technology company that racks global air quality.
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07/15/2026 - 10:01
While new study challenges assumptions about how far they travel, witnessing them in action still takes your breath away, scientists say
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They may look like a fluffy flying carpet, but greater gliders are not as great at gliding as previously thought, Australian researchers have discovered.
The first study to measure the aerial ability of Australia’s largest gliding marsupial has found they soar across an average distance of 19 metres – far shorter than the 100 metres suggested in an 85-year-old study.
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07/15/2026 - 10:00
We got our first feline hero in 1971 when Matthew Flinders’ heartfelt tribute to his pet Trim was discovered
In 1872, the city of Melbourne hosted its first cat show one year after London’s Crystal Palace debuted its first show. By 1885, “cats were seldom treated very well” in Australia, according to a writer in the Victorian Almanac that year – but they were pleased to report that Australians were starting to appreciate them more.
The colonial newspapers were also beginning to report on a curious fad: “the cult of the cat”, which saw the humble moggie, once viewed as a back-alley scavenger or nondescript companion of women and children, transformed into a fashionable commodity in places like London. Cat breeding became a popular and lucrative pastime for mainly upper- and middle-class women and men, with fancy breeds, like Persians, selling for hefty sums. As the cat economy picked up, British newspapers were filled with “pages of cat business” as cat-loving contributors shared regular updates on litters, feline purchases and ribbons acquired at prestigious shows.
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07/15/2026 - 08:00
Residents across party lines say Trump’s proposed wall threatens their homes, livelihoods and wilderness along the Rio Grande
Last February, 41-year-old Molly Walker posted an Instagram story: a photo of herself standing in the desert, sunglasses hooked over the front of her shirt, jeans slung low beneath her exposed midriff. She held a protest sign fashioned from a pizza box, a hand-drawn heart framing the words “Border Cultura”, with “NO WALL” scrawled beneath.
The text over the photo included a call to action: “… if you want to organize, DM me.”
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07/15/2026 - 07:00
The next great climate divide will be between countries that have the resources to adapt and those that don’t
This summer, much of the media’s attention has focused on record temperatures across Europe and the United States. Television coverage has been filled with familiar images: heat maps shaded deep red, schools closing, rail lines slowing, wildfires spreading and emergency rooms treating growing numbers of people with heat-related illnesses.
Public officials have responded with equally familiar advice: stay indoors, drink plenty of water and, if possible, turn on the air conditioning.
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07/15/2026 - 05:10
Mayor of London backs calls from unions to update health and safety rules in light of more frequent heatwaves
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is backing calls for a maximum workplace temperature as pressure grows on the government to protect workers from the impact of repeated heatwaves across the UK.
The extreme heat has left people struggling to cope as temperatures in some workplaces climb above 40C, causing thousands of schools to close and hospital and transport systems to break down.
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