Portland Becomes First City in Maine to Ban Plastic Straws Gonna toot my own horn just a wee bit on this Really Awesome Development. Last week, the city of Portland, ME, my current stomping grounds, banned single use plastic drinking straws (and stirrers and splash sticks - but that's less catchy to say). The city... Continue Reading →
Filipino Scientists Have Invented a Device to Monitor Coral Without Getting in the Water I'm gonna level with you, my loyal Venger-ers, this Really Awesome Development (R.A.D. - get it??) makes me kinda sad. For us marine scientists, the science part is pretty much just an excuse to get in the water - we live... Continue Reading →
The Ocean Cleanup Successfully Catches Plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch I missed my R.A.D. as Hell anniversary, y'all! A whole year of (mostly) weekly PSAs about the coolest forking shiz in the ocean. Gotta be honest, I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with this. I'm also pretty proud of The Ocean Cleanup,... Continue Reading →
Image from: https://smartfin.org/about/ Millions of Athletes Hit the Ocean Every Year. Scientists Want to Know What They're Seeing. You don't have to be a scientist to do science. Or, rather, you are a scientist if you're doing science, but you don't need a degree (or in some cases any formal training) to do so. The... Continue Reading →
Photo by the author. Mako Sharks Get New Protections From Trade International leaders recently met in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss amendments to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (known as CITES). In this 18th meeting of the 183 CITES members, many species gained new international protections against trade, including... Continue Reading →
Photo from here. Researchers Use Epigenetics to Determine the Age of Dolphins We tend to think of DNA as set in stone: immutable instructions the body follows from birth through life until death. In truth, DNA is dynamic throughout life and even subject to outside influence from the environment. It's one of the raddest things... Continue Reading →
Image from the Ocean Cleanup in the below article. Parts one, two, and three of this series here. The Ocean Cleanup: Into the Twilight Zone It feels like it's been getting harder and harder to find some ocean positivity to share with you all (also, this week everything is dominated - as it absolutely should... Continue Reading →
Image from Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Have you heard the phrase: “the way to the heart is through the stomach”, or some variation of such? It may be a stretch, but I’m going to interpret it as “people care about the things they can eat”, hence why I’m linking you... Continue Reading →
Photo from the article by Ryutaro Goto / Courtesy A. Richard Palmer. Meet the Noisy, Head-Butting Marine Worms That Live Near Japan It appears this "Strange Critters" segment is becoming a regular thing for the R.A.D. series (see the argonaut oceanic octopus featured a couple weeks ago). This week we've got a tiny (<3cm) deep... Continue Reading →
Photo from Phil's 1stPix. There's Another Thing Killing The Coral Reefs, And We Can Actually Fix This Problem Is the constant existential threat of the looming climate crisis always harshing your mellow? Do you wish there were more opportunities to address the problem locally? Do you live in southern Florida?? Then you'll be happy to... Continue Reading →
