Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Oceans are supercharging hurricanes past Category 5

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 16:03:27 +0000

Deep ocean hot spots packed with heat are making the strongest hurricanes and typhoons more likely—and more dangerous. These regions, especially near the Philippines and the Caribbean, are expanding as climate change warms ocean waters far below the surface. As a result, storms powerful enough to exceed Category 5 are appearing more often, with over half occurring in just the past decade. Researchers say recognizing a new “Category 6” could improve public awareness and disaster planning.

‘They’re scared of us now’: how co-investment in a tropical forest saw off loggers

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 15:00:43 +0000

Low-cost tech and joined-up funding have reduced illegal logging, mining and poaching in the Darién Gap – it’s a success story that could stop deforestation worldwide

There are no roads through the Darién Gap. This vast impenetrable forest spans the width of the land bridge between South and Central America, but there is almost no way through it: hundreds have lost their lives trying to cross it on foot.

‘It’s the wildest place I have walked’: new national park will join up Chile’s 2,800km wildlife corridor

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 12:00:42 +0000

Government poised to officially protect 200,000 hectares of remote Patagonian coastline and forest

Chile’s government is poised to create the country’s 47th national park, protecting nearly 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of pristine wilderness and completing a wildlife corridor stretching 1,700 miles (2,800km) to the southernmost tip of the Americas.

UK electric car charger rollout slows amid worries over EV switch

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 10:00:36 +0000

Smallest number of new chargers since 2022 as carmakers persuade government to weaken EV sales targets

The UK’s rollout of electric car chargers slackened markedly in 2025 amid investor concerns over a slower-than-expected switch to cleaner battery vehicles.

There were 87,200 chargers installed in the UK at the end of November, an increase of 13,500 compared with the end of 2024, according to data from Zapmap, which tracks charger installations.

Wild animals are great gift givers – and there’s one present in particular I’d love to receive for Christmas | Helen Pilcher

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 08:00:36 +0000

Penguins hand over pebbles; scorpionflies give spitballs. But I’m hankering after a sea sponge presented by a dolphin

Plant ‘tredges’ to boost England’s tree cover, gardeners urged

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 06:00:33 +0000

Royal Horticultural Society’s call backs government aim to increase woodland cover from 10% to at least 16.5% by 2050

Gardeners should plant native “tredges” – foliage between the size of a tree and a hedge – to boost England’s tree cover, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.

North Carolina Christmas tree farmers are optimistic after Hurricane Helene

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 16:00:15 +0000

More than a year after the storm ripped apart families and farms, growers are bullish about strength of their industry

Christmas tree farmers in western North Carolina are still rebuilding from last year’s devastating Hurricane Helene, but growers are optimistic about business and the overall strength of their industry in the region.

U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers ‘snuck out’ to avoid scrutiny, say Tories

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 10:06:36 +0000

Victoria Atkins says announcement to raise tax threshold from £1m to £2.5m days before Christmas ‘seems very odd’

UK politics live – latest updates

Ministers “snuck out” the announcement that they had decided to U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, the Conservatives have said after the government revealed the move in a press release two days before Christmas.

Barracuda, grouper, tuna – and seaweed: Madagascar’s fishers forced to find new ways to survive

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 05:00:05 +0000

Seaweed has become a key cash crop as climate change and industrial trawling test the resilient culture of the semi-nomadic Vezo people

Along Madagascar’s south-west coast, the Vezo people, who have fished the Mozambique Channel for countless generations, are defined by a way of life sustained by the sea. Yet climate change and industrial exploitation are pushing this ocean-based culture to its limits.

Crayfish, weevils and fungi released in UK to tackle invasive species such as Japanese knotweed

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 05:00:03 +0000

Scientists working for government breed biological control agents in lab to take on species choking native wildlife

Crayfish, weevils and fungi are being released into the environment in order to tackle invasive species across Britain.

Scientists working for the government have been breeding species in labs to set them loose into the wild to take on Japanese knotweed, signal crayfish and Himalayan balsam, and other species that choke out native plants and wildlife.