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An estimated five tons of rock lobster walked out of the sea this week following a harmful algal bloom that has been developing on the West Coast of the Western Cape. Also known as a red tide, it is the latest in increasing incidence of the devastating phenomenon. Algae are simple plants found in the world’s oceans that produce about 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, are a food source for small fish and crustaceans, and play a vital role in marine ecosystems. But too much of a good thing can have dire consequences. In certain conditions, microscopic forms...

Thousands of dead fish and other marine life carcasses are washing ashore in the San Francisco Bay Area, creating a foul smell. Experts point to an unprecedented "red tide" algae bloom as the mostly likely cause. Abnormal numbers of dead crabs, bat rays, striped bass, white sturgeon and more have been spotted throughout the Bay area over the last week, officials say, notably at Oakland's Lake Merritt. The start of the fish die-off could date back even further—as the harmful algae bloom has been spreading since late July. The carcasses are worrying environmental scientists, as they mark a devastating loss...

What a bad year to be a Florida manatee. For the first time on record, more than 1,000 of the sea mammals have died in a calendar year — and it’s not even December yet. That could amount to 1 in every 7 of the state’s manatees gone in less than 11 months. Many of them starved, thanks to a die-off of seagrass, a problem worsened by human-made pollution. In the short run, Florida owes it to this iconic mammal to find ways to mitigate the damage. It’s also time to put the manatees back on the endangered species list,...

Surfers ride bioluminescent waves off California coast ByBen Hooper April 30 (UPI) -- Surfers off the California coast were caught on camera taking advantage of bioluminescence in the water by riding the neon blue waves after dark. Surfers were recorded off the coast of San Diego and elsewhere in southern California riding the waves amid unusually bright bioluminescence in the ocean. The phenomenon, caused by algae in the water, made it appear as though the surfers were riding glowing blue waves. Residents said the bioluminescence has been unusually bright recently. A pod of dolphins was caught on video last week...

One potential alternative food source – both for humans and the animals we eat – is algae. Humans have eaten macroalgae, like wakame and nori seaweed, for thousands of years. But recently attention has turned to the nutritional and environmental potential of their microscopic cousins. Microalgae are tiny protein-rich organisms found in both fresh and seawater. They typically contain essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, including omega-3, omega-6 along with omega-7, along with vitamins, such as A, D and E. The nutritional content varies depending on the type of microalgae, but two currently dominate the market for human consumption. The...

With bugs, algae and other resource-efficient foods we could feed one million people on Mars within a century of arriving there. Scientists even invented a martian diet. Cannon and colleagues modeled the food needs of a human population on Mars that grows to one million over about a hundred Earth years through a combination of immigration and reproduction. Though the settlement would need to import a lot of food at the start, it could transition to an entirely Martian-grown diet in about a century with the right food choices, they found. The major limiting factor is space — or rather,...

Mississippi closed all mainland beaches on the state's coastline during the Fourth of July weekend due to toxic bacteria sweeping the state's Gulf Coast. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has been closing beaches due to blue-green algae blooms since June. By Sunday, the spread of the noxious bacteria forced the department to close the state’s last open mainland beach.

New sustainable biopolymer technology may one day free the world of its worst pollutant Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University Summary: A new Tel Aviv University study describes a process to make bioplastic polymers that don't require land or fresh water — resources that are scarce in much of the world. The resulting material is biodegradable, produces zero toxic waste and recycles into organic waste. FULL STORY: The invention was the fruit of a multidisciplinary collaboration between Dr. Alexander Golberg of TAU's Porter School of Environmental and Earth Sciences and Prof. Michael Gozin of TAU's School of Chemistry....

Over the past decade, “biofuel” has been a major buzz word in the world of clean energy and environmental science. As the topic of advanced biofuels continued to trend over the years, investments and studies ballooned accordingly. Now, however, with a bit of hindsight it has become clear that the vast majority of chatter and speculation about the “next big biofuel” set to change the energy landscape was just hot air. Many claims made by energy startups, blogs, and think tanks were a bit short of credible, to put it lightly. A laundry list of companies over time claimed that...

Seahorses are a group (genus Hippocampus) of small fish belonging to the family Syngnathidae, which also includes pipefish and sea dragons. These creatures are named for the shape of their head, which looks like the head of a horse.They are found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world.Unlike most other fish, seahorses are monogamous and mate for life. Pygmy seahorses of the genus Hippocampus are diminutive in size (0.5-1 inch, or 1.36-2.6 cm, long).They live in close association with octocorals, colonial hydrozoans, bryozoans, seagrass and algae.They are morphologically distinct from the more numerous and larger species (0.9-14 inches,...

Decades ago, Lake Michigan teemed with nutrients and green algae, casting a brownish-green hue that resembled the mouth of an inland river rather than a vast, open-water lake. Back then, the lake’s swampy complexion was less than inviting to swimmers and kayakers, but it supported a robust fishing industry as several commercial companies trawled for perch, and sport fishermen cast their lines for trout. But in the past 20 years, Lake Michigan has undergone a dramatic transformation. In analyzing satellite images between 1998 and 2012, researchers at the Michigan Tech Research Institute were surprised to find that lakes Michigan and...

Senator Charles Schumer has called on Congress to quickly pass the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act, which he said would help combat the rise in toxic algae found in Long Island waterways. Left unchecked, said Mr. Schumer, these toxic blooms could contaminate Long Island’s drinking water and damage economies dependent on fishing and recreation. Starting in 2019, it would authorize $22 million per year for five years to help conduct research on harmful algal blooms and continue an interagency working group to advance the understanding of hypoxia, or low oxygen, and harmful algal blooms. The bill...

When spring arrives in the Arctic, both snow and sea ice melt, forming melt ponds on the surface of the sea ice. Every year, as global warming increases, there are more and larger melt ponds.Melt ponds provide more light and heat for the ice and the underlying water, but now it turns out that they may also have a more direct and potentially important influence on life in the Arctic waters. Mats of algae and bacteria can evolve in the melt ponds, which can provide food for marine creatures. This is the conclusion of researchers in the periodical, Polar Biology.Own...

Pink snow may be aesthetically pleasing, but scientists have found that it is indicative of the rapid pace of global warming. This snow, which thrives in high-latitude and high-altitude regions, is found in areas comparable to the Arctic, where Chlamydomonas nivalis algae, which is normally green, has a chemical reaction to the UV rays from the sun and takes on a reddish-pink hue. Scientists have been aware of rose-tinted snow since 1818, but they initially misunderstood its origins, believing it came about as a result of iron deposits left behind by a meteor. However, subsequent findings from the same year...

An algae found commonly in ponds could provide a cure for blindness, according to one US biotechnology company. Retrosense, a Michigan-based firm, hopes to transplant a light-sensitive protein from a specific type of algae into the eyes of blind people, to restore their sight. The company will soon begin human clinical trials, after the transplanting process was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last month, WIRED reports. The algae, called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, is a simple single-cell organism that lives in dirt and water. It cannot see, but has a primitive “eye-spot”, allowing it to sense where the sun...

SEATTLE (AP) — A vast bloom of toxic algae off the West Coast is denser, more widespread and deeper than scientists feared even weeks ago, according to surveyors aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel. This coastal ribbon of microscopic algae, up to 40 miles wide and 650 feet deep in places, is flourishing amid unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures. It now stretches from at least California to Alaska and has shut down lucrative fisheries. Shellfish managers on Tuesday doubled the area off Washington's coast that is closed to Dungeness crab fishing, after finding elevated levels of marine...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Toledo has put its water quality on "watch" status because of the toxins that shut down Toledo's public drinking-water system for three days a year ago. The water is safe to drink, city officials said. Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said the water was put on watch because microcystin had been detected in the intake crib about three miles out in Lake Erie. The toxin was not detected in tap water, she said. "Our water treatment process is effectively removing the microcystin," according to the city's online water-quality dashboard. "We have an advanced warning system...

Joule says “will go commercial in 2017″: solar fuels on the way March 23, 2015 | Jim Lane     “Staged industrialization process” beginning; exotic yields from an exotic organism that uses CO2, water and nutrients and secretes ethanol or diesel. Former Total, Alcatel CEO Serge Tchuruk is now at the helm as the Joule team updates The Digest on the progress in New Mexico. For fans of the “solar renewable fuels” company Joule, there’s significant news from Bedford: the company has announced that it will undertake a “staged industrialization process”, to culminate in a 1000-acre production plant starting construction...

Imagine this: you're gushing blood. Nothing seems to make it stop. Then you apply a gel to your wound, and within seconds, the bleeding stops. In minutes, you're healed. This is the premise of VetiGel, an algae-based polymer created by Joe Landolina — a 22 year-old who invented the product when he was just 17. Landolina is now the co-founder and CEO of Suneris, a biotech company that manufactures the gel. Last week, Suneris announced that it will begin shipping VetiGel to veterinarians later this summer. Humans won't be far behind. When injected into a wound site, the gel can...

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (Calif.) - A third dog died Thursday after exposure to toxic algae at an East Bay park, and broken-hearted dog owners say the park district's warnings have been too little, too late. "It's this green algae that's everywhere, it's fatally toxic to dogs, "warned Katie Stone, intercepting hikers at the Lake Chabot marina Friday evening. "She was healthy as can be, I walked her about five miles every day, " Stone says sadly, showing a snapshot of her five year old chocolate Labrador, Josie. "It's completely unbelievable, it was like a nightmare, like when am I going...