Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Windfarm profits should be used to screen Scots for rare diseases, says scientist

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 12:39:44 +0000

Geneticist who discovered hotspots of illnesses in Scottish islands calls for redirection of community benefit funds

A leading geneticist has called for the profits from windfarms to be used for the mass screening of Scottish islanders at risk of rare cancers and blood disorders.

Prof Jim Wilson, who leads a Viking DNA project that has discovered hotspots of rare disorders in Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles, said that money could prove vital in identifying people who need life-saving treatments.

A ‘recipe for extinction’: can the US’s envied nature protections survive Trump and his ‘God squad’?

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 12:00:12 +0000

Fears grow for endangered species as the US president sets about dismantling basic laws to protect them to make way for oil and gas drilling

Donald Trump has already begun dismantling parts of the envied US endangered species protections in his quest to boost oil and gas drilling, in part using a panel with an ominous name: the God squad.

US wildfire suppressants rife with toxic heavy metals, study finds

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:00:02 +0000

Suppressants a ‘major’ source of toxic pollution that causes heavy-metal levels to spike in the environment

The US federal government and chemical makers have long concealed the contents of pink wildfire suppressants widely spread by firefighting aircraft to contain blazes, but new test results provide alarming answers – the substances are rife with cadmium, arsenic, chromium and other toxic heavy metals.

Solar panels could cut fuel-poor UK families’ energy bills by 24%, says study

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 06:00:49 +0000

Call for means-tested grants or loans to cover upfront costs that prevent poorer households from benefiting

Poorer households could cut their energy bills by a quarter if solar panels were installed on their rooftops, a report has found.

However, the upfront costs mean that those who stand to benefit most from decreased energy bills are prevented from getting panels installed, according to the Resolution Foundation thinktank.

World’s largely unprotected peatlands are ticking ‘carbon bomb’, warns study

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 06:00:48 +0000

Bogs and swamps are a colossal carbon store but their continued destruction would blow climate change targets

The world’s peatlands are “dangerously underprotected” despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned.

‘A house battery you can drive around’: how some Australians are selling power from their cars back to the grid | Scott Dwyer, Jaime Comber and Kriti Nagrath for the Conversation

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 05:04:30 +0000

The technology is new, chargers are expensive and regulations hard to navigate – but all that could soon change

Our cars sit unused most of the time. If you have an electric vehicle, you might leave it charging at home or work after driving it. But there’s another step you could take. If you have a bidirectional charger, you can set it to sell power back to the grid when demand is high.

Trump names oil and gas advocate to lead agency that manages federal lands

admin — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 20:46:56 +0000

Kathleen Sgamma to oversee Bureau of Land Management, agency that manages quarter-billion acres of public land

Donald Trump has nominated a longtime oil and gas industry representative to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land concentrated in western states.

Global warming and mass extinctions: What we can learn from plants from the last ice age

admin — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 20:15:07 +0000

Global warming is producing a rapid loss of plant species -- according to estimates, roughly 600 plant species have died out since 1750 -- twice the number of animal species lost. But which species are hit hardest? And how does altered biodiversity actually affect interactions between plants?

Love rats: Canadians get chance to feed rodents named after old flames to owls

admin — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:53:30 +0000

Program is meant to help the endangered northern spotted owl – and it’s only C$5! – but rat lovers are not amused

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And for an endangered owl breeding program in Canada, it’s also a dish best served dead.

For the price of a coffee, spurned and disgruntled lovers can revel in the satisfaction of having a dead rat named after an ex, before it is fed to a northern spotted owl.

‘Like finding gold’: plains-wanderers spotted in Melbourne’s west for first time in 30 years with help of AI

admin — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:05:38 +0000

Critically endangered bird detected after analysis of tens of thousands of hours of song meter recordings

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Critically endangered plains-wanderers have been found living in Melbourne’s west for the first time in more than 30 years.