Today NFK looks at three recent stories about whales. Endangered Atlantic right whales are shrinking in size; an endangered Pacific gray whale makes a record-setting trip; and scientists use bomb detectors to find an unknown group of pygmy blue whales.
Published in “Environment”
Sea life near Turkey is being threatened by a layer of slimy brown foam on the ocean's surface. The foam, which many people are calling "sea snot", is natural, but it's triggered by pollution and global warming.
Recently, scientists have found examples of two kinds of animals that were thought to be extinct. One is a kind of tortoise last seen in 1906, the other is a river otter that scientists thought no longer existed in Argentina.
Last week was a tough one for fossil fuel businesses. Large oil producing companies in the Netherlands and the United States had some major defeats. The pattern suggests that fossil fuel companies are facing difficult times ahead.
Huge amounts of plastic waste have spilled from a burning ship off the coast of Sri Lanka. The waste is covering the country's best known beaches with plastic. A cleanup effort has begun, but there are worries that the pollution could grow worse.
Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo erupted on Saturday night, forcing tens of thousands of people in the city of Goma to leave their homes. The lava reached the edge of the city, but did less damage than some people had feared.
In today's news roundup, Israel and Palestinian militant groups have agreed to stop fighting temporarily, scientists in Michigan find a massive 100-year-old fish, and a machine that makes pizzas while you wait fails to impress people in Italy.
Something unusual is happening in the eastern United States: insects that have been underground for 17 years are coming out in great numbers, mating, and making lots of noise. In a few weeks, they'll disappear for another 17 years.
On Monday, Gujarat, India was hit by the strongest storm ever to strike India's west coast. Cyclone Tauktae has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and made India's Covid-19 emergency even more difficult to deal with.
Germany's top court has ruled that parts of the country's 2019 climate action law must be changed because they don't do a good job of protecting young people. The result was a big victory for the nine young people who started the lawsuit.
Taiwan is taking serious steps to deal with its worst drought in 56 years. The extreme dry weather has left many farmers unable to grow crops and is threatening many other businesses in the country.