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Tag: The Ocean Cleanup

Great Whites get down to business, the Ocean Cleanup flounders, and a livestock carrier goes down – What’s up with the Ocean this week?

Posted on September 9, 2020September 8, 2020 By Andrew Thaler
News

Frisky business for Great White Sharks. For only the second time since western scientists began studying the ocean, Great White Shark mating has been documented in the wild. Shark sex is infrequently observed in the wild, and this fisherman’s observations can provide invaluable insight in the lives and loves of this iconic species. The Ocean … Read More “Great Whites get down to business, the Ocean Cleanup flounders, and a livestock carrier goes down – What’s up with the Ocean this week?” »

Vanishing Islands, nuclear leaks, oceans of plastic, and one feisty Beluga. Weekly Salvage: November 18, 2019

Posted on November 18, 2019November 17, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Transcript available below.

Read More “Vanishing Islands, nuclear leaks, oceans of plastic, and one feisty Beluga. Weekly Salvage: November 18, 2019” »

Unprecedented destruction in the deep Gulf of Mexico, The Ocean Cleanup’s River Pivot, and More! Weekly Salvage: October 28, 2019.

Posted on October 28, 2019October 28, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Transcript below.

Read More “Unprecedented destruction in the deep Gulf of Mexico, The Ocean Cleanup’s River Pivot, and More! Weekly Salvage: October 28, 2019.” »

The Ocean Cleanup has an ocean of problems, whales, KISS, and more! Weekly Salvage: October 7, 2019

Posted on October 7, 2019October 6, 2019 By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on The Ocean Cleanup has an ocean of problems, whales, KISS, and more! Weekly Salvage: October 7, 2019
Weekly Salvage

Read More “The Ocean Cleanup has an ocean of problems, whales, KISS, and more! Weekly Salvage: October 7, 2019” »

Deep-sea gator falls covered in isopods, more struggles for the Ocean Cleanup, a robot lost in the cold (but not the one you’re thinking of), and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 18, 2019

Posted on February 18, 2019February 17, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

What do you do if you find yourself at the helm of a major Louisiana marine science institution? If you’re Dr. Craig McClain, you plant the first experimental Alligator falls in the deep Gulf of Mexico!

Photos courtesy Dr. Craig McClain via Deep Sea News.

On the other hand, if you find yourself at the helm of a US Navy destroyer, you might want to review this incredible and exhaustive accounting of the USS Fitzgerald disaster and how training deficits, exhaustion, and poor decision making compounded to create a deadly situation.

USS Fitzgerald. Public domain photo.

Read More “Deep-sea gator falls covered in isopods, more struggles for the Ocean Cleanup, a robot lost in the cold (but not the one you’re thinking of), and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 18, 2019” »

Hagfish, hagfish, hagfish, hagfish, the social value of a hydrothermal vent, more ways plastic booms could kill the ocean, and hagfish. Monday Morning Salvage: January 28, 2019.

Posted on January 28, 2019January 27, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

It’s all hagfish today, baby!


Hagfish appear to use slime to avoid predators like sharks (top) and large fish (bottom). The images above are from videos showing fish eating a hagfish, which then produces slime and is able to escape (Images from wikimediacommons).
  • No One Is Prepared for Hagfish Slime
  • Found: The First Fossil of the Slime-Spewing Hagfish and ‘Like finding a sneeze’: fossil identified as 100m-year-old hagfish.
  • Slime, baby, slime!

Read More “Hagfish, hagfish, hagfish, hagfish, the social value of a hydrothermal vent, more ways plastic booms could kill the ocean, and hagfish. Monday Morning Salvage: January 28, 2019.” »

Booms that go boom, a deep-sea mining spiral, dying to go green, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: January 7, 2019

Posted on January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

  • The US Government enters it’s third week of shutdown over Trump’s Border Wall. Democrats in the House passing funding bills identical to the one unanimously passed by the Senate. Despite that, McConnell won’t let those funding bills come to a vote in his Senate. The Republicans own this travesty.
  • ‘Appalling’ toilets and rule-breaking as US shutdown hits national parks.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • How a Seaweed-Eating Microbe Could Help Fight Plastic Pollution
  • Apple finally admits what we basically all knew: being able to repair electronics is bad for the iPhone’s bottom line and that’s really bad news for the environments. Tim Cook to Investors: People Bought Fewer New iPhones Because They Repaired Their Old Ones.
  • Snow at sea is lovely.

Read More “Booms that go boom, a deep-sea mining spiral, dying to go green, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: January 7, 2019” »

Eat hagfish, work at LUMCON, clone Vaquita, question floating trash collectors, and more! Monday Morning Mega-Salvage: August 13, 2018

Posted on August 13, 2018August 12, 2018 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

  • It’s time for Africosh! The annual Africa Open Science and Hardware Summit Heads is in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this year!
  • LUMCON is hiring! They’re looking for two exceptional coastal and marine science faculty hires in any discipline. And they have the best “come work for us” video!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Hakai Magazine is my jam this month.
    • How an Epidemic Exposed the Ecological Importance of Sea Stars: The near eradication of British Columbia’s sea stars demonstrated the dynamic role they play in regulating kelp forests.
    • How to Dismantle a Blue Whale: In Chile, a team of volunteers confronts stench and gore to ensure a new life for a dead whale. [Warning: Link contains graphic pictures of whale evisceration]
  • I’ve been following this project for almost 2 years. Awesome to see how far they’ve come. NinjaPCR is a WiFi enabled, Opensource DNA Amplifier and Thermocycler for Polymerase Chain Reaction developed by 2 hackers in Tokyo.
  • Plastic wrap made from shellfish and plants is completely compostable.

Hagfish (just Hagfish)

  • Yes, people do eat hagfish. Yum! Snake-like creature writhes, squirms on grill.
  • Hagfish are the emissaries of love, not war. Stop it. Synthetic ‘Slime’ To Help US Navy Trap Enemy Ships.

Read More “Eat hagfish, work at LUMCON, clone Vaquita, question floating trash collectors, and more! Monday Morning Mega-Salvage: August 13, 2018” »

HAGFISH! Also deep-sea mining, climate change, The Ocean Cleanup, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 17, 2017

Posted on July 17, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • Hakai Magazine want to hear from you! Dear Hakai Magazine Reader, Who Are You?

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Everything Tangier is utterly fascinating right now: Angry messages to the Trump-supporting mayor of Tangier Island illustrate a need to listen, not to shout.
  • I’m still just dumbfounded by this: Did a Glowing Sea Creature Help Push the U.S. Into the Vietnam War? In other words, Ocean Literacy could save us all from annihilation.
  • I really hope you’re not sick of hagfish yet. Because Hagfish!

  • Best headline, ever: Sea Spiders Pump Blood With Their Guts, Not Their Hearts.

Read More “HAGFISH! Also deep-sea mining, climate change, The Ocean Cleanup, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 17, 2017” »

Bony-eared assfish, shark swarms, ocean plastics, and more! The Monday Morning Salvage: May 15, 2017

Posted on May 15, 2017May 14, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • This is you last day to submit public comments in defense of the Environmental Protection Agency! The time to save the EPA is now!  If you don’t know quite what to say, I’ve  prepared a script for you.
  • 27 National Monuments are under review by the Department of the Interior. Our Nation Monuments are our National Treasures. Don’t let them be sold to the highest bidder! Submit formal public comments on the DOI Monument Review and make your voice heard.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • This bony-eared assfish, courtesy of Sheldon Comics. Go show the some love on Twitter and Patreon.

  • “You are paddleboarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks… exit the water in a calm manner.” When paddleboarding, this is not what you want to hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5SPMrmRMjE

  • But, of course: The Viral Video of 15 Sharks Circling Near Surfers in California Shows a Much Bigger Problem.

Read More “Bony-eared assfish, shark swarms, ocean plastics, and more! The Monday Morning Salvage: May 15, 2017” »

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