Breaking Waves: Ocean News

‘Reimagining matter’: Nobel laureate invents machine that harvests water from dry air

admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:00:11 +0000

Omar Yaghi’s invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every day

A Nobel laureate’s environmentally friendly invention that provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane or drought, could be a life saver for vulnerable islands, its founder says.

The invention, by the chemist Prof Omar Yaghi, uses a type of science called reticular chemistry to create molecularly engineered materials, which can extract moisture from the air and harvest water even in arid and desert conditions.

Chelsea flower show seeks new charity sponsors after mystery donors end support

admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 07:00:05 +0000

Exclusive: Project Giving Back, set up in 2022 to help charities exhibit show gardens, says this year will be its last

Chelsea flower show is looking for new charity sponsors after the mystery philanthropic couple who have spent more than £23m on show gardens end their support.

Project Giving Back was set up by two anonymous donors in 2022, and since then it has paid for 63 gardens at the most prestigious horticultural event in the world, held each summer at the Royal Hospital gardens in south-west London.

Floreana giant tortoise reintroduced to Galápagos island after almost 200 years

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:00:49 +0000

Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after ‘back breeding’ programme using partial descendants

Giant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years.

The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a living larder during their hunting voyages.

Trump’s EPA to roll back rule limiting hazardous mercury from coal plants

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:01:03 +0000

Environmental groups warn that weakening air toxics and mercury standards will lead to higher health-related costs

The Trump administration announced on Friday it would roll back air regulations for power plants limiting mercury and hazardous air toxics at an event in Kentucky, a move it says will boost baseload energy but that public health groups say will harm public health for the most vulnerable groups in the US.

There are problems with a geoengineering techno-fix for the climate crisis | Mike Hulme

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:00:37 +0000

Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worse

Fly-tipping dog caught on CCTV in Sicily – video

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:34:33 +0000

A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump rubbish bags by the roadside in an attempt to outsmart anti-fly-tipping cameras, municipal police have said. The 'canine courier' was caught on newly installed surveillance footage, prompting officers to post the clip on the city’s official Facebook page with a pointed message: 'Inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility.' The owner has since been identified and fined.

Man in Sicily trained his dog to illegally dump rubbish, say police

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:30:46 +0000

City of Catania calls ruse to avoid CCTV cameras installed to stop fly-tipping ‘as cunning as it is doubly wrong’

A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump bags of rubbish by the roadside in an attempt to evade surveillance cameras installed to combat fly-tipping, municipal police have said.

Week in wildlife: a peek-a-boo fish, dunkin’ frogs and a white crow

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 08:00:28 +0000

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

How ‘smog capital of Poland’ saved 6,000 lives by cutting soot levels

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 06:00:24 +0000

Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better health

As a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.

“It’s not that we have this feeling that nothing can be done. But it’s difficult,” Mazur said.

New drone unit to investigate illegal waste dumping across England

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 05:00:24 +0000

Government announces tougher measures to tackle unlicensed sites as ‘prolific waste criminal’ is ordered to pay £1.4m

A new 33-strong drone unit is being deployed to investigate the scourge of illegal waste dumping across England, the government has announced.

The improvements to the investigation of illegal waste dumping – which costs the UK economy £1bn a year – come as the ringleader of a major waste crime gang was ordered to pay £1.4m after being convicted at Birmingham crown court.