Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Drones are detecting more sharks at US beaches but do they make public safer?

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 12:00:49 +0000

Increase in sightings may not reflect increase in sharks with little evidence that threat to swimmers has risen

Experts say that despite recent increased investment in drones to monitor for sharks in states like New York, the machines have limited usefulness as a public safety tool and there does not appear to be evidence that the threat to swimmers from sharks has increased.

There have, however, been more reports of sharks around local beaches.

Datacentres drive up big tech’s carbon emissions to a third of those of France

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 11:00:49 +0000

Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they still aim to achieve net zero output despite construction boom

Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction.

In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or about a third of those of France.

‘Like a sauna’: London tube travellers swelter in temperatures higher than legal limit for cattle

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 08:45:06 +0000

The tube cannot easily be adapted to cope with heatwaves, making conditions almost unbearable

As the escalator descends below ground at King’s Cross St Pancras station in London, the shift from what was already a hot station entrance to the furnace-like subterranean depths is perceptible.

A swarm of stink bugs and a river of rats: why India’s flowering bamboo causes a crisis for humans

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 08:00:44 +0000

Every few decades mass blooming in Mizoram’s forests causes a rodent boom – and devastation to crops. The cycle is well-known, so why aren’t farmers and authorities better prepared?

‘Children were calling for their mummies’: UK pupils struggle in 40C-plus classrooms

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 06:00:41 +0000

Teachers call for schools to be urgently adapted for hot weather amid reports of nausea, fainting and heatstroke

The extreme heat that has hit the UK twice in the past few weeks has left teachers struggling to cope as temperatures in some classrooms climb above 40C, with pupils and staff suffering from heatstroke, nausea and headaches.

Teachers say they have been desperately trying to keep children safe, with some covering younger pupils in wet paper towels as they lie on the floor, while older students have been given trays of water under their desks to put their feet in.

The climate-smart MSP framework to support biodiversity objectives

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000

npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 11 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00205-1

The climate-smart MSP framework to support biodiversity objectives

Trump taps climate skeptic to run US government’s flagship climate report

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 21:01:00 +0000

Matthew Wielicki frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos from rightwing PragerU

The Trump administration has tapped a former geochemist who has railed against “climate alarmism” and calls himself an “Earth science professor-in-exile” to oversee the federal government’s flagship report about climate impacts on the US.

‘Death sentence’: Trump’s EPA to open habitats of endangered species to logging and mining

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:37:45 +0000

Habitat destruction strongest driver of species loss, with legislation keeping 99% of listed species from going extinct

The Trump administration repealed a crucial part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Friday, finalizing a new rule that will open habitats of imperiled wildlife to development, logging, mining and other uses.

High court rejects most of ‘dieselgate’ claims brought by 1.6m UK car owners

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 16:54:57 +0000

Carmakers welcome ruling against suit claiming manufacturers including Nissan, Ford and Peugeot fitted devices to defeat emission tests

Car manufacturers have welcomed a high court verdict that rejected most of the allegations in a “dieselgate” claim brought on behalf of 1.6 million UK owners of polluting cars.

In her judgment, Lady Justice Cockerill said that “in the majority of instances, the court found that the relevant strategy did not constitute a prohibited defeat device” – software that enables the engine to behave differently in tests.

Fast-spreading wildfire kills at least 12 in southern Spain

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:06:30 +0000

Twenty-three people missing and four Britons thought to be among those who died trying to flee Almería blaze

‘I had an incredible escape’: British woman tells of close encounter with wildfire

At least 12 people have been killed and 23 are unaccounted for after one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires broke out in the south-eastern province of Almería as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.