Orcas Set Sights on a Larger Prey – the Whale Sharks!
The orca, or killer whale, is one of the ocean’s most feared creatures. They are highly intelligent and capable of unusual hunting techniques. Their normal diet consists of smaller fish, marine mammals, seals, turtles and even sea birds. However, a pod of Mexican orcas has added young whale sharks to their menu.
Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Melting Faster Than Ever!
Scientists working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the European Space Agency (ESA), conducted a series of aerial surveys over Greenland using two drones, the CryoSat-2 and the ICEsat-2. Greenland is the world’s largest island and 80% of its surface is covered by a single ice sheet or glacier with an average thickness of 1.67 kilometers. The aim of the survey was to monitor the thickness of this ice sheet over time. The results were worse than expected and show that the ice sheet is melting faster than ever.
Concrete Mixed with Old Fabric Creates a Better, Stronger Alternative
In Australia, over 200,000 tons of clothing make their way to landfill every year! This number is astonishing, so the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) decided to explore ways to repurpose some of this discarded clothing. Their research team has created a new type of concrete, more durable and hardier, using an unexpected component – old fabric. They mixed regular concrete with discarded fabric fibers and the result was a sturdier, stronger, and crack-resistant cement.
“Forever Chemicals” are Slowly Killing Freshwater Turtles
The Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organisation (CSIRO) has partnered with the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science, and Innovation (DETSI) to study the impact of ‘forever chemicals’ on freshwater turtles. This is still an ongoing study; however, some of the early results are heartbreaking. It is not only the adult turtles that are vulnerable, but their hatchlings are being affected too.
Now it’s Truly a Fruit – Scientists Create Genetically Modified Sweeter Tomatoes!
Have you ever bitten into a big, red, juicy tomato and found that it was sour or watery on the inside? Scientists are trying to solve this problem by creating tomatoes that are higher in their sugar content without losing size. The tomato, which literally means pulpy berry, has been cultivated for the last 7,000 years. Researchers have discovered that, through the years, farmers have preferred tomatoes that ripen together and are visually appealing, over taste. To support the production boom that took place after World War II, seed companies changed their tomatoes to increase their yield and to make them more pest resistant.
Scientists Discover Water on Mars!
Mars is probably not the first planet you think of when it comes to water. However, if we rewind the clock to approximately 3 billion years ago, evidence from scientific explorations suggests that its surface was once covered with oceans, rivers, and lakes. Solar winds, continuous streams of electrons and protons from the sun’s outermost layer, slowly chipped away and depleted the Martian atmosphere. With the atmosphere disappearing, water either evaporated into space, merged with the surrounding minerals, or escaped underground and became ice.
Climate Change is causing a Rise in Dengue Fever!
Climate change is here, and along with warmer temperatures, mosquitoes are breeding faster and more often than they usually do. Normally, the worst a mosquito can do is give you an itchy bite. Some mosquitoes can, however, transmit deadly viruses that can lead to hospitalisation and even death. The most common mosquito-borne disease in the world is a fever called dengue, also named “break-bone fever”. Dengue fever is endemic (always present within a specific area) to many countries that lie within the tropical and sub-tropical belt.
Printed Solar Panels – Is This the Future?
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia has been busy developing a new technology that allows ‘solar ink’ to be printed on plastic sheets to create thin, light, semi-transparent and flexible solar panels. Think solar panels integrated on tents for emergency or recreational purposes, panels laminated on home or office windows, panels lining the outside of greenhouses or tunnels, panels printed on clothing or even packaging – the possibilities are endless!
Can Cold Water Save the Great Barrier Reef?
For coral reefs, climate change continues to be a huge problem. The warmer waters cause the coral to bleach – lose their colour by expelling the zooxanthellae algae living within their tissue. These colourful algae provide the corals with energy and nutrition via photosynthesis, in exchange for shelter. The Great Barrier Reef has incurred 7 mass bleaching events over the last 25 years, 5 in just the last 8 years! Curiously, some parts of the Great Barrier Reef, such as the northern Ribbon Reefs and the southern Swains and Pompey reefs, have escaped these mass bleaching events and lie untouched – how are these reefs still alive and thriving?
Category 1 Combo Cyclone Affects Ocean Like A 4 Or 5
On April 6th, 2021, a rare event began to unfold, the interaction and merging of two tropical cyclones (TCs) in the Indian Ocean off the northwest tip of Australia. TCs Odette and Seroja combined fully on April 9th. The remaining Seroja abruptly changed direction by roughly 90° on the 10th and headed towards the Western Australian coast.