Wines produced after 2010 showed steep rise in contamination of trifluoroacetic acid, analysis finds
Levels of a little-known forever chemical known as TFA in European wines have risen “alarmingly” in recent decades, according to analysis, prompting fears that contamination will breach a planetary boundary.
Researchers from Pesticide Action Network Europe tested 49 bottles of commercial wine to see how TFA contamination in food and drink had progressed. They found levels of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a breakdown product of long-lasting Pfas chemicals that carries possible fertility risks, far above those previously measured in water.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/23/2025 - 03:35
04/23/2025 - 01:47
Take that Antony Greem
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04/23/2025 - 01:25
In early 2023, the planet's worst coral bleaching event began. More than two years later, 80% of the planet's reefs have been affected by successive marine heatwaves hitting ecosystems from the Great Barrier Reef to the Mesoamerican Reef
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04/23/2025 - 01:00
‘Chemical fingerprint’ shows 46% of wood samples certified as sustainable did not come from labelled country of origin
Nearly half of birch wood certified by leading sustainability schemes is misidentified and does not come from the labelled country of origin, according to new testing. The analysis raises fears that large quantities of sanctioned wood from Russia and Belarus are still illegally entering Britain.
New research by World Forest ID, a consortium of research organisations that includes Kew Gardens and the World Resources Institute, scrutinised the accuracy of dozens of harvesting-origin claims on birch products, which had almost entirely been approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) sustainability schemes.
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04/23/2025 - 00:00
Labour must deliver the green transition voters want, leaving Reform and the Tories on the side of economic decline and dictators
Which former British prime minister described the climate emergency as “a clock ticking to the furious rhythm of hundreds of billions of pistons and turbines and furnaces and engines … quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”?
The florid style gives it away. You’d guess Boris Johnson even if you’d forgotten that the master of Brexit bombast also had a sideline in net zero evangelism. It wasn’t the most memorable part of his repertoire and it didn’t catch on as a Conservative catechism.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
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04/22/2025 - 23:00
An ashen pallor and an eerie stillness all that remains where there should fluttering fish and vibrant colours in the reefscape, one conservationist says
The world’s coral reefs have been pushed into “uncharted territory” by the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the planet’s reefs, scientists have warned.
Reefs in at least 82 countries and territories have been exposed to enough heat to turn corals white since the global event started in January 2023, the latest data from the US government’s Coral Reef Watch shows.
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04/22/2025 - 23:00
Ocean-inspired artworks created using kelp-based pigment will be sold to raise funds for conservation
Last year in early summer, Alex Glasgow could be seen hauling up a long string of orangey-black seaweed on to the barge of his water farm, located off the west coast of Scotland near Skye. Growing on the farm was what Glasgow described as “perhaps the quickest-growing biomass on the planet”: seaweed.
The weed from Glasgow’s farm, KelpCrofters, is used in everything from soil fertiliser to artisanal soaps to glass-making and is part of a burgeoning industry – not just in Scotland, but around the world.
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04/22/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 23 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00112-x
Shades of blue: the regional structure of the ocean economy in Brazil
04/22/2025 - 22:05
Dozens of miniature horses and their human running mates have taken part in the Great Northern Gallop, an adventure race through dense forests and across rugged beaches in New Zealand’s Far North. Participants run or walk 100km over four days for the event, which raises money for the welfare of miniature horses
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04/22/2025 - 10:48
Presenter believes decision was taken due to the technology’s link with net zero after he was told he risked accusations of political bias
The BBC presenter Evan Davis has been told he can no longer host a podcast about heat pumps due to the corporation’s concerns that discussing the technology risks “treading on areas of public controversy”.
The presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM programme had hosted 20 episodes of the Happy Heat Pump Podcast, which launched in 2024. It has covered issues around installing the technology, the cost, noise levels and the alternatives for people replacing their gas boilers.
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