Lib Dems to urge government to control sale of products containing chemicals that kill wildlife such as fish and birds
The use of toxic flea treatments for pets should be tightly restricted, the Liberal Democrats will say in parliament on Tuesday, as the chemicals kill wildlife including fish and birds.
The government is coming under pressure to control the sale of pet flea treatments containing neonicotinoids, after it effectively announced a ban on the chemicals in pesticides on farms. However, the sale of the flea treatments to pet owners is still unregulated.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/25/2025 - 05:00
Every bee is precious, and as the weather gets more erratic I’m growing concerned about the effect it is having on their wellbeing
Read about our invertebrate of the year competition here
Photographs by Kate Medley
I’m an only child and grew up in the US in a time when children were free-range. My parents would open the door in the morning and say, “come back for meals.” I would disappear into the forest and wetlands. I loved the constant stories around me that I didn’t understand: the stories of animals.
When I was about seven there was a litter of kittens in the house, and a board crushed one of the kittens. The vet examined her mouth and said, “she’s not going to make it”, and minutes later she died in his hands. I couldn’t understand how he knew that – I wanted that superpower to understand animals, and that is why I wanted to become a vet. I got a degree and have been working as an environmental health scientist for more than 25 years.
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03/25/2025 - 05:00
US Department of Agriculture calls in university to help study decline as Trump administration staff cuts sting
Honeybee deaths have hit record highs in the US, with the unprecedented loss of colonies pushing many beekeepers close to ruin as scientists scramble to identify the main cause of the huge declines.
Commercial beekeepers have reported losing more than 60% of their colonies, on average, over the winter, according to an ongoing Project Apis m. survey that covers more than two-thirds of America’s managed bees.
We’re running our invertebrate of the year competition again! Between March 24 to April 2, we’ll be profiling a shortlist of ten invertebrates which were chosen by readers and selected by our wildlife writers from over 2500 nominations. The voting will open at midday on Wednesday April 2 until midday Friday April 4, with the winner to be announced on Monday April 7.
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03/25/2025 - 00:04
Algae blooms can be a problem for marine life and people but it’s not yet clear if warmer oceans and nutrient runoff are causing more of them
Confronting images of dead seadragons, fish and octopuses washed up on South Australian beaches – and disturbing reports of “more than 100” surfers and beachgoers experiencing flu-like symptoms after swimming or merely breathing in sea spray – attracted international concern last week.
Speculation about the likely cause ranged from pollution and algae to unusual bacterial infections or viruses. We can reveal the culprit was a tiny – but harmful – type of planktonic algae called Karenia mikimotoi.
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03/24/2025 - 21:03
Environment minister defends ‘balanced and sensible’ changes amid questions of how ‘rushed legislation’ would work
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See all our Australian election 2025 coverage
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The Albanese government’s new bill to protect Tasmanian salmon farming has passed the lower house, despite experts warning it could stop communities challenging other decisions, including coal and gas developments, and may not even be effective in its principal aim.
Labor’s changes to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act sailed through the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening, with 111 votes in favour and 14 votes in opposition, and were due to be dealt with in the upper house on Wednesday.
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03/24/2025 - 20:27
From our broken environmental laws to the role of gas, there are some big questions that remain unanswered by both major parties
See all our Australian election 2025 coverage
Gina: the billionaire who wants to make Australia great
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A national election campaign is days away and the focus in Canberra is on a federal budget that wasn’t going to happen until a tropical cyclone threatened southern Queensland a fortnight ago. The climate crisis and environment are expected to get passing mentions.
But there is a strong case that they should be at the forefront of debate over the next six weeks, understandable cost-of-living concerns notwithstanding.
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03/24/2025 - 12:48
Downing Street says PM focusing on ‘bringing durable peace in Ukraine’ after Steve Witkoff’s comments
There have been a lot of claims recently, in the rightwing papers and on social media, that the government is wasting a fortune on expensive cars for disabled people getting benefits, through the Motability scheme. Archie Bland has a very good explainer setting out how the scheme actually works, and showing why many of these allegations are false or misleading.
The forthcoming plan to fix the NHS will see funds allocated to social care, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has suggested. PA Media reports:
Streeting said spending NHS resources “more effectively though social care” will be better for patients and deliver better value for taxpayers.
At present, social care is most often paid for by councils, but thousands of people at any one time are stuck in NHS hospital beds even though they are fit to be discharged.
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03/20/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 21 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00108-7
Strengthening the seascape of global environmental assessments to support ocean sustainability
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | [email protected] +12077011069
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