Category News

Krista Sherman understands ocean conservation work takes a good deal of patience. But the Bahamian-born marine scientist had never encountered a foe like stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), and after efforts to monitor and treat the highly contagious outbreak in the Bahamas’ corals stalled, her patience was running thin.

“The disease is spreading really quickly. In some areas where we’ve been able to assess the rate of spread, we’re looking at a mile a month,” says Sherman, a researcher with the Bahamas-based Perry Institute for Marine Science.

“There’s a shift taking place at some sites, from healthy, vibrant reefs to what looks like a coral graveyard. And it’s really devastating to see; it’s just heartbreaking.”

First discovered in Florida in 2014, the ...

A dozen scientists, politicians, and campaigners say they have been tricked into participating in online events promoting climate-change denial. The events were organised by the Creative Society, an international activist group that denies global warming is being caused by human activity. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree greenhouse gases – which trap the Sun’s heat – are causing a rise in global temperatures.

But the Creative Society alleges, without any credible evidence, a conspiracy and condemns what it calls the “CO2 fraud”.

The group told BBC News it “provides a platform for all ideas to be expressed” and rejected allegations it tricked anyone into participating in its events.

From ‘cosmic pulses’ to ‘corrupted scientists’

The Creative Society says it has su...

A marine biologist who swims with 20-foot sharks says people’s perception of them being bloodthirsty predators is nothing but a common myth. Professional shark diver Kayleigh Nicole Grant, 34, who has been based in Hawaii for the last 10 years says the magnificent animals are incredibly shy and wary of human contact.

Stunning underwater shots show a calm Kayleigh getting terrifyingly close to great whites and tiger sharks who happily dance around her. With her incredible footage, she hopes to change people’s perceptions and explains how sharks attacks are still incredibly rare.

She revealed to The Sun Online how these beasts are often harmless and that reading their body language is key to staying safe.

Kayleigh said: “There is nothing quite like sharing space and coexistin...

The carbon-cutting promises made at COP26 would see the world warm by just under 2C this century, according to a new analysis. The study finds that if all the pledges made by countries are implemented “in full and on time”, temperatures would rise by 1.9-2C. However, there is far grimmer news on the idea of keeping warming under 1.5C. The paper finds there is just a 6-10% chance of staying under this key threshold.

When political leaders met in Glasgow last November, many of them brought new and improved plans to reduce their carbon emissions. 

Others, such as India, announced new, long-term targets to bring their CO2 output to net zero.

The focus of the meeting was to try to improve the pledges so that global temperatures this century don’t rise by more than 1...

Scientists have mapped coral reefs in the Caribbean to identify those most likely to survive climate change. Corals with the highest potential to escape destruction from marine heat waves are predominantly located along the northern shoreline of Cuba. And other promising sites are clustered around the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, eastern Jamaica, and the US state of Florida.

Coral reefs are wonders of the ocean.

Made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny creatures, they are one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet.

According to a recent IPCC report (top-level UN reports written by scientists), at up to 1.5C of warming, only 10 to 30% of coral reefs are expected to survive. If warming is above that, survival prospects plummet drastically.

• Five things...

A recent study suggests that warming oceans are increasing the speed at which sound travels, ultimately making underwater noises louder. The world’s oceans have absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess heat that humans have produced in recent decades, causing them to rapidly warm. And in these warmer waters, sound waves are able to travel faster and farther before fading out, making the ocean a noisier, louder place. This could be especially troubling for large mammals that rely on sound and use techniques like echolocation for communication and sensing their environment.

Using publicly available global data, the researchers calculated how salt levels, temperature, and depth in seawater affect sound...

When a 27-ton mining robot called Patania II began vacuuming up metal ores from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in April 2021, it was not alone. Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR), the Belgian company that developed the robot, had a group of scientists watching its every move—or rather, an array of remotely-controlled vehicles equipped with cameras and other sensors.

GSR is one of several companies that hopes to begin mining the seabed on an industrial scale in the coming years, perhaps as early as 2024. Some are touting the seabed as a sustainable source of the metals needed to produce batteries for electric vehicles or smartphones. Meanwhile, scientists are trying to figure out just how much ecological damage deep-sea mining would do.

The short answer is a lot, according to the ...

The charismatic clownfish – made famous by the popular film Finding Nemo – is a treasure trove for biological research, helping scientists answer a myriad of biological questions, such as how larvae disperse in the open oceans, or how coral reef fish will react to changes induced by global warming. While a comprehensive genome of the orange clownfish – the original Nemo – was published a few years ago, only recently did scientists manage to sequence the genome of the false clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) too, a related species found around Okinawa, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and northwestern Australia.

“This genome, which is like the blueprint of the false clownfish, will be a very useful resource for scientists across biological fields,” said study co-lead author Dr...

A British man and a French woman have been found safe two-and-a-half days after they went missing while diving off Malaysia. Rescuers are continuing to search for the man’s 14-year-old son, Malaysian police said. Adrian Chesters, 46, and his Dutch son, Nathen Chesters, were on a group dive in water off the coast of Mersing, in the southern state of Johor. Another diver, 18-year-old French woman Alexia Molina, has been found.

Police said that both individuals were reported to be in a stable condition after being taken to hospital by the marine authorities.

The pair were spotted at night by local fishermen around 50 miles south of where they went missing on Wednesday.

The Malaysian search operation has now shifted to this area at the southern tip of the Malay peninsular, in the hop...

A rare Greenland shark found washed up on a Cornish beach died of meningitis, a post mortem has found. Scientists who examined the body said the discovery was “likely a world’s first”. The female found just outside Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall in March is thought to be 100 years old by marine biologists. But it is still considered a “juvenile” because Greenland sharks can live to more than 400 years old.

Scientists said there was not enough evidence to link the disease to man-made stressors, such as pollution.

The autopsy by the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, is thought to be the first of its kind undertaken in the UK.

Veterinary pathologist James Barnett, of the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, said the brain was “discoloured and congested”, while the fluid around the brain was cl...