Hurricane Idalia shows nature may provide the best shoreline protection – NPR

"Living Shoreline" large dome artificial reefs are ready to be positioned off the coast of Florida (by Amanda Nalley, courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ via Flickr).

When Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast in August (2023), one of the hardest hit areas was Cedar Key. A nearly 7-foot storm surge battered the small fishing community…(NOAA) says Idalia caused an estimated $3.6 billion in damage…But on Cedar Key, when the water receded, scientists found some good news amid all the damage. Nature-based “living shoreline” projects built to protect roads, buildings and other structures were relatively undamaged…

How much carbon can oysters store? Scientists are trying to find out – Grist

Sanderling eating oysters, Tybee & Jekyll Islands, Georgia (by James Diedrik CC BY 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Scientists all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are trying to bring oyster populations back, and not just because they’re a popular food. Oysters are also important for healthy coastal ecosystems. And researchers are now studying how creating new oyster reefs could help fight climate change by sequestering carbon…

The Fantastical Mind of Benjamin Von Wong – Jejune Magazine

Benjamin Von Wong (by Peter Durand, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Bringing an idea to life takes innovation, passion and a whole lot of patience. What’s more powerful is if the creation brings people to another world for just a moment and sparks a new notion in the viewers…Benjamin Von Wong is doing it as we speak. The Canadian-born artist is a big advocate for Ocean Plastics and has been creating art pieces to bring awareness to the most critical issue faced today — Pollution…

The World Is Running Out of Male Sea Turtles – Science Alert

Green Sea Turtle (by Laura Gooch CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Green sea turtles are already an endangered species, mainly due to humans hunting them, harvesting their eggs, degrading their habitats, or entangling them in garbage of some kind. But they also face another, more insidious threat from people: the loss of male hatchlings from the species…that this is partly caused by rising temperatures due to climate change – but a new study has now unveiled another human-caused problem driving this trend. Certain pollutants may promote feminization in sea turtles, explains lead author Arthur Barraza, a toxicologist with the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University…