Breaking Waves: Ocean News

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...

Conservation groups say policy would allow Doug Burgum to redraw boundaries of protected areas to boost fossil fuels The US interior department has raised fears among conservationist groups about how national monuments will be affected in its transformation to support the Trump administration’s pro-fossil fuel agenda. A review from Trump’s pick for interior secretary, Doug Burgum, released on his first full day in the position on Monday, instructs federal officials to reverse Biden-era regulations on oil and gas industries and boost drilling. Continue reading...

On almost every level the chancellor’s decision to expand the London airport looks naive, if not foolish For 20 years, politicians, industry leaders and campaigners have fought in courts, parliament and public meetings over the idea of building a new runway for Heathrow. For some, a third runway would not only boost passenger numbers at the airport but would be a symbol of the country’s determination to seek economic regeneration. For others, it would demonstrate, in vivid terms, our complete failure to understand the grim, global threat posed by further increasing carbon emissions. Last week, Rachel Reeves chose to enter the fray. Remarkably, for a supposed green chancellor, she elected to back the project and seek the expansion of Heathrow to raise its annual passenger capacity by 50% to about 140 million. “A third runway at Heathrow would unlock further growth, boost investment, increase exports and make the UK more open and more connected,” she claimed. It was a bold move. It is unlikely history will view it as a sensible or justifiable one, however. On almost every level – political, local or environmental – her decision looks naive, if not foolish. Continue reading...

Even brief exposure to particulate matter found to impede selective attention and emotional recognition A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a study has found. Researchers analysed data from cognitive tests completed by 26 participants before and after they were exposed either to high levels of particulate matter (PM) using smoke from a candle, or clean air for an hour. Continue reading...