Breaking Waves: Ocean News

02/07/2025 - 06:00
Musk believes Tesla’s rivals are more vulnerable to Trump’s moves against electric vehicles Donald Trump’s attempts to slash incentives for electric cars would cause sales of the vehicles to plummet, with this effort cheered on by a seemingly confounding supporter – Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of Tesla and erstwhile champion for action on the climate crisis. Trump has said that he “will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American auto workers”. Continue reading...
02/07/2025 - 03:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
02/07/2025 - 02:00
We are the post-pandemic flâneurs: stepping out of social media silos to meet people and connect with the world around us When I moved back to London from Rome just before the second lockdown in 2020, I found a city that was hardly welcoming, with shops closed and an atmosphere of silent apprehension. Young, single people like me were only socialising online with existing friends, and opportunities to make fresh connections were rare. When I met Irenka from Poland at a literary festival, she looked as thirsty for new friends as I was. As we started complaining about the difficulties of mingling she introduced me to an app that allows people to find new pals on organised walks. I quickly downloaded it. Continue reading...
02/06/2025 - 19:01
Experts say mandatory reporting on energy and water use is needed to avoid irreparable damage to environment Tech companies should be required by law to report the energy and water consumption for their data centres, as the boom in AI risks causing irreparable damage to the environment, experts have said. AI is growing at a rate unparalleled by other energy systems, bringing heightened environmental risk, a report by the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) said. Expand mandatory environmental reporting. Provide information on environmental impacts of AI systems. Set environmental sustainability requirements for data centres. And reconsider data collection, transmission, storage and management practices. Continue reading...
02/06/2025 - 16:47
Measurements and data collected from space can be used to better understand life on Earth. An ambitious, multinational research project has demonstrated that Earth's biodiversity can be monitored and measured from space, leading to a better understanding of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
02/06/2025 - 15:27
Billions of pounds from energy bill payers to run out in 2027 but could be extended as soon as Monday Green campaigners fear ministers are poised to award billions of pounds in fresh subsidies to Drax power station, despite strong concerns that burning trees to produce electricity is bad for the environment. Drax burns wood to generate about 8% of the UK’s “green” power, and 4% of overall electricity. This is classed as “low-carbon” because the harvested trees are replaced by others that take up carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. Continue reading...
02/06/2025 - 14:00
Researchers have found a pattern indicating certain ‘words’ are used more often than others – but humans won’t be speaking whale any time soon Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Humpback whale song is structured in a similar way to human language – with shorter sounds used far more often than more complex ones – a structure which helps infants quickly learn how to communicate from their elders in both species. Across languages and whale song, some words, or word-like elements, are used frequently while others are infrequent. They follow a pattern known as “Zipfian distribution”, where the most used word in a language (like “the”) is used about twice as often as the second most common word, and three times as frequent as the third most common word and so on. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
02/05/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00104-x Major data gaps and recommendations in monitoring regulations of activities in EU marine protected areas
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023 Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program. World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html. Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs. World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world. World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org. media contact Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory   |   [email protected] +12077011069
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