Breaking Waves: Ocean News

New UN plastic treaty is going backwards, experts say

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:10:07 +0000

NGOs say agreement held back by tenuous human health commitments and lobbying from plastic industry

The latest version of the long overdue plastic treaty is even less ambitious than the previous one, according to experts.

A year after UN plastics treaty negotiations collapsed in Geneva in 2025, diplomats met informally in Nairobi between 30 June and 3 July, aiming to flesh out a new “no surprises” document.

Fossils show huge carbon emissions harm forests, not ‘green the planet’

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:00:04 +0000

Study of 56m-year-old leaves counters claims from Trump administration members of ‘benefits’ of fossil fuel pollution

Adding huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is set to cause the Earth’s forests to wither and die rather than flourish, according to a new study that counters erroneous claims that fossil fuel pollution will green the planet.

UK records hottest day of year as fifth summer heatwave reaches peak

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:48:53 +0000

Kew Gardens in London hits 38.1C and 40C-plus recorded in parts of Europe with continent trapped under heat dome

Europe heatwave – latest updates

The UK has recorded its hottest day of the year so far with a provisional temperature of 38.1C in southern England as Europe sweltered under a major heat dome.

Piranha drama: boy, 8, hooks fearsome exotic fish in Pennsylvania lake

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:34:51 +0000

South American fish with razor-toothed jaws was probably released by someone who owned it as a pet, officials say

An eight-year-old boy fishing for bass in Pennsylvania was stunned to catch something more associated with the Amazon – and countless horror movies – than the rolling landscape of the eastern US.

Seamus Coffey, who was fishing with his father Michael in a lake near Philadelphia, hauled in a large red-bellied piranha, complete with the razor-toothed jaws that the fearsome breed is so famous for.

Wing and a prayer: how probiotics might save bat species from a killer fungus

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:02 +0000

Bat experts were shocked at how fast white-nose syndrome had spread to Canada’s northernmost colonies from the US. Now, the race is on to find a cure before species disappear

Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white fungus.

When they shone their headlamps to get a closer look, they saw another bat with the fungus on its forearms. “It hissed at us and crawled back into a crack,” Jesika Reimer says.

California bans paraquat, highly toxic herbicide outlawed in more than 70 countries

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

State is US’s largest user of pesticide that is virtually proven to cause Parkinson’s disease

California is banning paraquat, a highly toxic, controversial herbicide used across millions of acres of American cropland.

Severe storms cut power supply to 540,000 homes in US midwest

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:49:29 +0000

Indiana faced most outages at 267,000, about 8% of its customers, with severe thunderstorms and wind ahead

Power supply was cut on Thursday ⁠to about 540,000 homes and businesses across the US midwest as severe storms battered the region, data ⁠from PowerOutage.us showed.

Lost jobs, inequality, rogue agents: why are we accepting oligarchs’ AI agenda? | Robert Reich

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:56 +0000

The dangers of AI become clearer every day. Why are we still acting as if we have no choice about our future?

Rather than producing jobs, the US economy actually lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Friday. In addition, May and June’s job numbers were revised downward, showing a combined 103,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.

As if this weren’t bad enough, wage growth has also slowed. Average hourly earnings rose by just 0.1% from June.

How to keep babies and children safe in heatwaves

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:13:10 +0000

Biological factors mean a child’s core temperature rises faster than an adult’s – and that can result in a medical emergency

Children and babies are more vulnerable in heatwaves than healthy adults. As temperatures rise again, how do we keep children safe?

Water customers are not a ‘blank cheque’, Burnham tells suppliers

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:10:54 +0000

Companies in England and Wales get green light for extra spending that will add billions to bills

Andy Burnham has said he is angry with water companies for treating their customers as a “bottomless source of funding” after more than a dozen firms were given the green light to raise bills even higher.

The prime minister said the companies must not be allowed to treat bill payers like a “blank cheque”, after Ofwat, the regulator, approved proposals for billions of pounds of spending on repairs and infrastructure.