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Tag: climate change
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Trump Administration Guts Endangered Species Act, setting back conservation efforts by decades, dooming thousands of charismatic species to extinction, and sealing his legacy as the racist president that is unambiguously worse than Nixon. Look, at this point, if you aren’t calling your representatives on the regular to demand impeachment, I don’t know what to tell you.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Ballard announces new plan to search for Amelia Earhart’s plane. Cool.
- Side Note: Ballard’s search for the Titanic has now been revealed as a front to search for two lost US nuclear submarines. Many defense experts also believe Earhart’s flight was used to provide cover as the Navy populated the Pacific with airfields. So perhaps something else is happening here, too.
- Whooshh! Salmon Cannons Are A Thing.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- What Makes Things Slimy? Now, I’m just a humble country deep-sea ecologist, but I reckon it’s probably the slime.
- I’m not not considering this: I Live Alone in an Island Paradise.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- This tune gives me so much anxiety. Scientist Composes Game of Thrones-Worthy Song From Climate Change Data.
- Huge if scalable: New plastic closes the recycling loop.
- Deep in the Ocean’s Trenches, The Legacy of Nuclear Testing Lives: The discovery of “bomb carbon” miles below the surface shows how deep human impact goes.
For the last several years, I’ve been working off the weight gained and fitness lost from a decade of grad school, post-doctoral research, job hunting, and, ultimately, launching my own company. The gym, to put it mildly, had not been a priority. Running and weight training went a long way towards getting me back to where I wanted to be, but I had hit a plateau. Every spring and summer I’d make incremental improvements, every winter, I’d fall back into old habits. It was a sustainable situation, but not fantastic.
Last summer, I set a goal for myself. While the weather was just on the wrong side of that threshold that makes running something I’m willing to do first thing in the morning, I would instead swap out my sneakers for an Oculus Rift, and spend an hour, four or five days a week, playing fitness-oriented virtual reality games, for fifty sessions. That schedule would get me through the winter and hopefully keep me more active than I otherwise would.
To better illustrate this plan, I made a GIF, just for you:
Unsurprisingly, the science behind Virtual Reality and exercise is still in its infancy.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Some light, but useful, advice: Don’t Burn Driftwood at the Beach (or Anywhere).
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Good news everybody! Canada bans deep-sea mining, oil and gas drilling in marine protected areas.
- The Tough Sell of Turtle-Saving Tech (and check out David’s article from… a very long time ago: Turtle excluder devices: analysis of resistance to a successful conservation policy).
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
It’s month two of the longest shutdown in US history and there’s only one party who won’t allow a vote to reopen the government proceed. Have you called you senator today?
And while I have your attention, FYI:
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)3-D Printing the Ulitmate Deep-Sea Christmas Tree
- Oceans Warming Faster Than Predicted, Scientists Say and Ocean Warming Is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds.
- Ministry hints Putin’s Arctic ambitions are not realistic. There is unease in several Russian government ministries as officials start to understand that the President’s objectives for the Northern Sea Route can not be reached. The only way to please the president might be to expand the sea route itself.
- Hagfish are so good. We don’t deserve hagfish.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- ‘We Are Not Prepared to Die’: Island Nations Push Ambitious Plan at UN Climate Talks.
- This is beautiful: What the ocean floor can tell us about climate change.
Cuttings (short and sweet): Follow Joe Cunningham, a marine engineer who was just elected to Congress, on twitter! The dive bombing birds of Newfoundland. By Craig McClain, for Deep Sea News How much does it cost to save a species? Less than you think! By Erik Vance, for the last word on nothing. Spoils (long … Read More “Dive bombing birds, octopus intelligence, and a red tide update: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, December 6, 2018” »
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- With ice melting in Canada’s Northwest Passage, the area will soon be a new route for international shipping. Follow Life Under the Ice on OpenExplorer!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Legendary submarine pilot Erika Bergman is exploring Belize’s Blue Hole using state-of-the-art SONAR scanning tools and ROVs. A couple floppy-haired dudes are going too.
- DSV Alvin made its 5000th dive. Way to go, little submarine!
- A boon to ocean conservation? Certain fungi can degrade marine plastics.
- I missed this over the summer, but Nash was an incredible guide and touring ancient Chamorro caves with him was the highlight of my time in Guam. He will be missed by many: Traditional seafarer Ignacio ‘Nash’ Camacho dies.