Recent News
Every spring, Arctic plants rely on direct and indirect cues from the environment — like warmer weather, longer days and shrinking sea ice cover — to tell them when they should awaken from winter’s slumber. But as the climate warms, these plants are getting mixed signals about when to rouse.
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Russia is increasing its presence, both militarily and commercially, in the Arctic, taking advantage of the absence of U.S. leadership or presence in the region.
[ More ]New satellite imagery appears to confirm a report earlier this week that China has nearly completed structures intended to house surface-to-air missile systems on its three largest outposts in the disputed Spratly chain of the South China Sea — “part of a steady pattern of Chinese militarization” there.
[ More ]China, in an early test of U.S. President Donald Trump, has nearly finished building almost two dozen structures on artificial islands in the South China Sea that appear designed to house long-range surface-to-air missiles, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
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The risk of running out of rare earth metals that are essential to modern technology has led to a surge in interest in mining the deep seas.
[ More ]Asteroid mining has gained steam in the popular psyche: who doesn't love the idea of flying up to one of the giant rocks flying by and somehow harvesting it of its precious metals like platinum. But today at the 2017 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of the Sciences, scientists considered whether we should pursue another, far more likely alternative: mining the seafloor.
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China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday warned Washington against challenging its sovereignty, responding to reports the United States was planning fresh naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea.
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A Russian spy ship spotted about 70 miles off the coast of Delaware on Tuesday has begun "loitering" 30 miles from a US Navy submarine base in Connecticut. The U.S. Navy has responded that they are aware of its presence but respect its right to be there, even for intelligence gathering purposes, as within the freedom of navigation rights shared by all nations and that the U.S. frequently employs.
[ More ]A large research synthesis, published in one of the world’s most influential scientific journals, has detected a decline in the amount of dissolved oxygen in oceans around the world — a long-predicted result of climate change that could have severe consequences for marine organisms if it continues
[ More ]A new international study has demonstrated that deepsea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deepsea life. This study, led by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in the U.K., was the first to review all the available information on the impacts of small-scale sea-floor disturbances simulating mining activity.
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