Microscopic ocean predator with a taste for carbon capture

Good News Notes: “Scientists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have discovered a new species that has the potential to sequester carbon naturally, even as oceans warm and become more acidic. The microbe, abundant around the world, photosynthesises and releases a carbon-rich exopolymer that attracts and immobilizes other microbes. It then eats some of…

Could wind turbines help to enliven our warming waters?

Good News Notes: Offshore wind is set to move further and further from shore, as demand for renewable energy grows and new floating turbine technology makes deep-water expansion possible. However, for the first time, large areas of the UK continental shelf now open for development are “seasonally stratified”. David Attenborough has described these seasonal seas as some of the…

Mussels can be a natural filter to remove microplastics from the ocean

Good News Notes: “In the waters of a marina near the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in England, a group of mussels are busy at work: filtering the water for microplastics. As the bivalves feed, they suck bacteria, algae, and anything else in their surroundings, including microplastics, out of the water and into their gills. When they…

Report: Whales Are “Nature’s Solution to Climate Change”

Good News Notes: “If we want to halt or even reverse global warming, we need to find a way to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere — and increasing the number of whales on Earth might be our best option.” “A single whale absorbs an average of 33 tons of carbon dioxide over the course…