Central Coast council says residents should not touch the balls and avoid beaches where they wash ashore
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Debris balls have again washed up along the New South Wales coast as officials warn residents not to touch the mysterious spherical globules and to avoid beaches where they appear.
Central Coast council said on Thursday the debris balls – which are grey and about 10mm to 40mm in size – had been found on beaches including at The Entrance, the Grant McBride baths, Blue Bay, Toowoon Bay, North Shelly, Shelly and Blue Lagoon.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/21/2025 - 19:51
08/21/2025 - 13:00
Researchers ‘shocked’ to discover some species settling down for sleep 50 minutes later than rural counterparts
Urban birds stay up significantly later than their rural counterparts, according to research that highlights the impact of light pollution on wildlife.
The study, based on recordings submitted by bird enthusiasts to a popular species identification and mapping website, showed that light pollution caused birds to sing for an average of 50 minutes longer each day, with some species waking up an hour earlier and settling down for the evening an hour later.
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08/21/2025 - 10:00
Eucalyptus regnans – which regularly reach 60 to 80m tall – lose about 9% of their trees for every degree of warming, research finds
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Victoria’s mountain ash forests are thinning rapidly as the globe heats up, and could lose a quarter of their “giant” trees that grow up to 80m tall in the coming decades, research has found.
Forests of Eucalyptus regnans – one of the tallest tree species in the world – lose about 9% of their trees for every degree of warming, according to a University of Melbourne-led study published in Nature Communications.
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08/21/2025 - 10:00
Sponsorship of News Corp’s event series has given Australia’s richest person a vehicle for her anti-net zero crusade
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You won’t be able to have a cremation because the ovens won’t be allowed to run on fossil fuels, and hospitals will be forced to shut for more than half the year because they have emitted too much CO2.
Are you terrified yet?
Defence manufacturers would “be forced to close for much of the year at least”
The Royal Flying Doctor Service would not be able to collect any patients for eight months of the year “as we’ve exceeded our emissions permitted”
Cancer and maternity patients would be left to fend for themselves because “we have to close the hospitals for nine or 10 months of the year”
Funerals would be delayed because of something to do with refrigeration and “ovens” – honestly, you’ll have to work that one out for yourself
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08/21/2025 - 10:00
Researchers also suggest system could resolve problems with irregular and weather-dependent Earth-based supply
Solar panels in space could cut Europe’s terrestrial renewable energy needs by 80% by 2050, a study has found.
Using a detailed computer model of the continent’s future power grid, the researchers found that a system of space-based panels designed by Nasa could reduce the cost of the whole European power system by as much as 15%. It could also cut battery use by more than two-thirds.
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08/21/2025 - 07:46
Farmers that supply supermarket are already harvesting wheat, oilseed rape and oats amid dry conditions
Harvests are coming two weeks early because of drought, Waitrose has said, as it prepares to stock autumnal fruit in summer.
Farmers that supply the supermarket are harvesting wheat, oilseed rape, oats and malting barley a fortnight before they generally would, according to the supermarket. A lack of rainfall coupled with the hot weather has caused the crops to race through their growing stages and mature early.
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08/21/2025 - 07:16
A town had big plans for the facility site, until the Trump administration ordered it to stay open, a move it extended this week
Donald Trump has made several unusual moves to elongate the era of coal, such as giving the industry exemptions from pollution rules. But the gambit to keep one Michigan coal-fired power station running has been extraordinary – by forcing it to remain open even against the wishes of its operator.
The hulking JH Campbell power plant, which since 1962 has sat a few hundred yards from the sand dunes at the edge of Lake Michigan, was just eight days away from a long-planned closure in May when Trump’s Department of Energy issued an emergency order that it remain open for a further 90 days.
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08/21/2025 - 06:27
Changing weather patterns are affecting planting and pose a threat to a variety of species, says head of development
Rising temperatures in the spring and unpredictable autumns are making the huge task of restoring the UK’s lost meadows even more challenging, the National Wildflower Centre (NWC) has warned.
The centre, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary next month, champions projects aimed at reviving wildflower-rich meadows, 97% of which have been lost in the past 80 years.
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08/21/2025 - 04:34
Suspension of soy moratorium could open up area of rainforest the size of Portugal to destruction
One of the key agreements for Amazon rainforest protection – the soy moratorium – has been suspended by Brazilian authorities, potentially opening up an area the size of Portugal to destruction by farmers.
Coming less than three months before Brazil hosts the Cop30 climate summit in Belém, the news has shocked conservation groups, who say it is now more important than ever that consumers, supermarkets and traders stand up against Brazilian agribusiness groups that are using their growing political power to reverse past environmental gains.
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08/21/2025 - 01:01
In Glass Mountain, Michael Lundgren captures remote American landscapes with a haunting stillness, revealing the hidden rhythms and enthralling mystery of the natural world
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