Doyne Farmer says a super-simulator of the global economy would accelerate the transition to a green, clean world
It’s a mind-blowing idea: an economic model of the world in which every company is individually represented, making realistic decisions that change as the economy changes. From this astonishing complexity would emerge forecasts of unprecedented clarity. These would be transformative: no more flying blind into global financial crashes, no more climate policies that fail to shift the dial.
This super simulator could be built for what Prof Doyne Farmer calls the bargain price of $100m, thanks to advances in complexity science and computing power.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/12/2026 - 03:00
02/12/2026 - 01:48
In today’s newsletter: Misinformation, rising bills and shifting party lines have reshaped attitudes toward green policies at a time when the UK has experienced unprecedented weather events
Good morning. It has rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
No, I’m not reciting the story of Noah’s Ark, but a tale from the Met Office. In some parts of the UK, the forecaster said it really has rained for 40 days in a row. Devon, Cornwall and Worcestershire have barely had a break.
Politics | Female Labour MPs have told Keir Starmer to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a “complete culture change” in Downing Street after a series of scandals.
Canada | Canadian police have identified the suspect who carried out a school massacre in remote British Columbia as an 18-year-old woman with a history of mental health problems.
UK news | An undercover officer who deceived three women into sexual relationships said his superiors did nothing to prevent him from doing so, the spycops public inquiry has heard.
US news | A Cheshire woman who was shot dead by her “reckless” father while visiting him in the US after a row about Donald Trump was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.
Television | James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for playing the lead in hit 90s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, has died.
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02/12/2026 - 00:11
A dozen red roses may say 'I love you', but many conventional bouquets carry an environmental price, having been imported by air, dipped in chemicals and wrapped in plastic. Guardian Australia's Petra Stock explains how you can choose flowers that show you care for both a valentine and the environment
Roses are red, violets are blue: why Valentine’s Day flowers need a redo
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02/12/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 12 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00184-3
Towards climate-ready marine protected areas: challenges and strategic pathways
02/11/2026 - 19:58
The government has not made enough of a dent in emissions, but global trends and a shambolic opposition offer a rare opportunity to act
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There is good news out there, even if it feels like scraps in a world on the brink. Some came last week – with plenty of caveats – when analysts at the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) found coal-fired power generation decreased in both China and India last year.
This is a potentially big shift. Among other things, it exposes the hollowness of arguments in Australia that there is no point doing anything about the climate crisis because the big Asian economies are building endless new coal plants.
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02/11/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 11 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00177-8
Achieving 30×30: How different nations report their contributions to international marine conservation targets
02/07/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 07 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00185-2
The science enterprise faces growing challenges in the United States that require stronger connections between research and decision-making. Yet training at the science–policy interface remains concentrated in graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, limiting broader participation. As early-career professors with expertise in marine policy, we offer ten practical strategies for faculty members, departments, and institutions to support students’ interest in ocean policy and build broader policy literacy across campus.
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 | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
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