Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Record bear sightings in Japan cause alarm as hibernation ends

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 05:42:20 +0000

Woman’s body found in Iwate prefecture last week, soon after a police officer was injured in bear attack nearby

Rested but famished bears emerging from hibernation in Japan are already coming into contact with humans, with the pace of sightings outstripping that seen in 2025, a record year for bear attacks.

‘I needed to be in that strange, flat place’: how an Orkney garden healed a writer

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 05:00:35 +0000

After her sister died, Victoria Bennett left Cumbria for the remote Scottish archipelago, where she learned to go with the ebb and flow of life

It was during her first winter in Orkney that the nature writer Victoria Bennett experienced the joy of baying into the sea during a storm. “There’s something very physically releasing about howling,” she says. “It’s quite animalistic and powerful.” On a stormy beach, when waves are crashing on the rocks, “you can really let rip”, she says. “The sound just disappears.”

Renewable energy will boost national security and protect UK from sabotage, minister says

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 23:01:26 +0000

Widely dispersed wind farms and solar panels are harder to target than fossil fuel power stations, Michael Shanks says

Renewable energy will boost the UK’s national security and make the country more resilient against potential aggression or sabotage, the government’s energy minister has said.

Texas tornado kills at least two people as wildfires still rage in parts of Georgia

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 17:03:12 +0000

Extreme weather likely to continue after devastating homes and endangering millions in US south and midwest

Panama’s ocean lifeline vanishes for the first time in 40 years

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:21:57 +0000

For decades, the Gulf of Panama has relied on strong seasonal winds to trigger upwelling, bringing cool, nutrient-packed water to the surface. But in 2025, this dependable event didn’t happen. Researchers point to unusually weak winds as the likely culprit, reducing ocean productivity and warming coastal waters. The surprise disruption highlights how vulnerable these critical systems may be to climate change.

Toxins plus climate harms likely cause of reduced fertility, study finds

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:00:15 +0000

Researchers find ‘alarming’ effect on fertility across global species from simultaneous exposures

Simultaneous exposure to toxic chemicals and climate change’s impacts likely generates an additive or synergistic effect that increases reproductive harm, and may contribute to the broad global drop in fertility, new peer-reviewed research finds.

UK departments at odds over energy demands of AI datacentres

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 07:00:08 +0000

Discrepancy in forecasts raises questions over government planning for net zero

One vision of the UK’s future involves a decarbonised economy powered by clean, renewable energy. Another involves making the UK an AI superpower.

The government departments responsible for these two visions do not appear to have agreed on their numbers.

Scientists believe birds’ skulls hold clues to inner lives of long-extinct dinosaurs

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 06:00:06 +0000

Early birds were like ‘T rex reincarnated’, says scientist who believes avian skulls offer insight into dinosaurs’ behaviour

T rex is often depicted as more brawn than brains, but now scientists are hoping to probe just what was going on inside its head, drawing on findings from another kind of dinosaur: birds.

Scientists have previously found some species of bird not only make and use tools, but are able to plan ahead and show basic forms of empathy – with laboratory tests suggesting emus can recognise other birds might have different experiences to themselves.

What counts as the woods? Judge axes Nova Scotia’s ban that defied ‘commonsense definitions’

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:47 +0000

The court sided with a Canadian hiker who deliberately challenged the order imposed to curb spread of wildfires

As wildfires raged across Nova Scotia last summer, the Canadian province made a simple plea to residents: stay away from the woods.

ICE planning facility for children and families on Pfas-contaminated site

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 13:00:45 +0000

High concentration of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in groundwater at former military facility in Louisiana

Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning a detention facility for children and their families on one the nation’s most Pfas-contaminated sites, which also serves as a hub for the president’s deportation program.