The study: Lunar rhythms and their carry-over effects may shape environmental sex determination in a coral reef fish

Published: 07 August 2024

Researchers have prototyped sensor-packed robot bugs that mimic biological digestive systems to meet energy needs, employ a Janus interface for a steady supply of nutrients and move on the water's surface like a water strider.

Called the Ocean of Things – and similar in essence to the multitude of sensor-packed smart devices that collect info across the Internet of Things – the project page states that sensor data would be uploaded to government-owned cloud storage for analysis, and that the OoT would support military missions while also being open to research bodies and commercial concerns.

The paper

The study analyses the water temperature of the Baltic Sea during the warm period 1993-2023 (May-August). The results show that the Lithuanian part of the Baltic Sea has experienced marine heatwaves almost every year. It is also observed that heatwaves in recent years last much longer than at the beginning of the study period.

The study

For decades, an oxygen-depleted dead zone that is harmful to sea life has appeared in the Gulf of Mexico in a region off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. This year, it's larger than average, federal scientists announced in a report Thursday.

This year, the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico entered into the top third of largest dead zones in records that go back 38 years, (..)

The 2024 zone in the Gulf is about 6,705 square miles, which is an area roughly the size of New Jersey.

The latest measurement is about 1,000 square miles larger than NOAA's prediction in June, calculated using discharge from the Mississippi River and nutrient runoff data from the U.S. Geological Survey.