Tag: the oceans

Robin McKie: Is deep-sea mining a cure for the climate crisis or a curse?

Trillions of metallic nodules on the sea floor could help stop global heating, but mining them may damage ocean ecology   In a display cabinet in the recently opened Our Broken Planet exhibition in London’s Natural History Museum, curators have placed a small nugget of dark material covered with faint indentations. The blackened lump could easily be mistaken… Read More Robin McKie: Is deep-sea mining a cure for the climate crisis or a curse?

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Gabrielle Canon: The disastrous impact of heatwaves on plants and animals

More than a billion sea creatures across the Pacific north-west perished in this year’s heatwave. And it’s just a taste of what’s to come.    When forecasts foreshadowed the Pacific north-west’s devastating heatwave at the end of June, marine biologist Christopher Harley was alarmed and intrigued. Then came the smell, and his feelings somberly shifted.… Read More Gabrielle Canon: The disastrous impact of heatwaves on plants and animals

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A floating device created to clean up plastic from the ocean is finally doing its job, organizers say

A huge trash-collecting system designed to clean up plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean is finally picking up plastic, its inventor announced Wednesday. The Netherlands-based nonprofit the Ocean Cleanup says its latest prototype was able to capture and hold debris ranging in size from huge, abandoned fishing gear, known as “ghost nets,” to tiny microplastics as small… Read More A floating device created to clean up plastic from the ocean is finally doing its job, organizers say

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Jeremy Plester: How the humble salp is helping to fight the climate crisis

Salps are jelly-like sea creatures, so humble that few people even know they exist. But there are countless numbers of them swimming in the world’s oceans and they help fight climate change. Salps cruise around the sea surface at night, sucking up and digesting phytoplankton, microscopic plant-like organisms that absorb CO2 for their photosynthesis. During the… Read More Jeremy Plester: How the humble salp is helping to fight the climate crisis

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Harriet Sherwood: The man orchestrating climate protest … from a shed in the Hebrides

In the past year, Roc Sandford has left the tiny Scottish island which is his off-grid home only once, to get a Covid vaccination. The rest of the time he has been alone with the birds, sheep and open skies. His days are busy but evenings can be lonely; cooking for one is “very sad”,… Read More Harriet Sherwood: The man orchestrating climate protest … from a shed in the Hebrides

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Seagrass 'Neptune balls’ sieve millions of plastic particles from water, study finds

Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap plastic pollution in natural bundles of fibre known as “Neptune balls”, researchers have found. With no help from humans, the swaying plants – anchored to shallow seabeds – may collect nearly 900m plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, a study reported in the journal Scientific… Read More Seagrass 'Neptune balls’ sieve millions of plastic particles from water, study finds

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