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ScienceAnimalsBioluminescent Waves Draw Crowds to California Beaches
Stunning bioluminescent waves are crashing onto southern California shores. It’s quite the spectacle, but the light show is drawing crowds amid social distancing concerns. Shores between Baja California and Los Angeles are experiencing a significant algal bloom known as the “red tide,” according to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. These blooms are caused by large … Continued
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ScienceHealthGrim Reaper Educates Florida Beachgoers On the Benefits of Social Distancing
A few Florida beaches reopened this week despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, prompting one Florida lawyer, scythe in hand, to help beachgoers gain a better understanding of why that’s such a dumb idea. In a clip that went viral on Twitter Friday, what at first seems like a standard local news interview turns into something … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeUnchecked Climate Change May Erase Half of the World’s Sandy Beaches by 2050
I freaking love the beach. It is my place of solace come summertime and my preferred destination come vacation time. So it breaks my heart to share this news: Half of our world’s beaches could be gone by the end of the century. A new study published on Monday in Nature Climate Change shows the … Continued
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EartherEarth ScienceSwimming Banned at All Mississippi Beaches After Huge Toxic Algae Bloom
An unusually large bloom of toxic blue-green algae has prompted the closure of all beaches along the Mississippi coastline. Officials are attributing the bloom to excessive rainfall and overuse of fertilizers. On Sunday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, through its Beach Monitoring Program, announced the closure of two more Mississippi beaches, namely Pascagoula Beach … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignThis Automated Sand Printer Is Ready to Flood Your Instagram Feed With Beach Wedding Proposals
Wedding proposals are just one of the many minefields you have to navigate on social media platforms, and Ivan Miranda isn’t making things any easier. He’s designed and built an autonomous printer that can draw messages in sand, so now’s probably a good time to brace yourself for an endless barrage of “will you marry … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat the Hell Is This Sponge-Like Crap Washing Up on France’s Shores?
Late last week, strange sponge-like clumps began washing ashore in northern France. By the weekend, thousands of the foamy yellow balls were seen along nearly 20 miles of the coastline. Local authorities aren’t sure where the unsightly stuff is coming from, and an investigation is currently underway. As reported in The Local, this mysterious substance … Continued
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Tech News
Lost Irish Beach Mysteriously Reappears After 33 Years
Weather’s a bitch. Back in 1984, a vicious storm stripped the sand off of a picturesque beach in northwest Ireland. And then, around Easter, a freak tide brought it all back. Locals seem thrilled. The town at the center of this Easter miracle is Dooagh on Achill Island in the County Mayo. When the Great … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
Rising Sea Levels Could Decimate Southern California Beaches by 2100
Using a new computer model, scientists predict that upwards of 67 percent of Southern California beaches could be severely damaged by rising sea levels in the next 80 years. A new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research warns that 31 to 67 percent of Southern California beaches are at risk of complete erosion … Continued
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Tech News
Hong Kong’s Beaches Are Suddenly Covered in Trash and No One Knows Why
Visitors to Hong Kong’s beaches have taken to various social media channels to voice their outrage about the current state of the region’s beaches. Judging by the accompanying photos, they look more like trash oases than relaxing paradises. “I have never in my 20 years here seen consistently this much rubbish on our [South Lantau] … Continued
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Tech News
Old WWII Bomb Blown Up After Washing Ashore on a Florida Beach
This makes stepping on a jellyfish seem like no big deal: A beachgoer found a mysterious cylindrical hunk of sea-worn metal washed up on the shore at St. Pete Beach, Florida. It turned out to be a barnacle-covered M122 photoflash bomb from World War II, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
Trolley Tracks Once Ran Through the Beaches of Los Angeles
Trolleys once rivaled the crashing surf in the soundscape of Southland beaches. Along much of the Southern California coast from Santa Monica to Redondo and from Long Beach to Newport, a red dot—a distant Pacific Electric car—would appear down the shore. As it neared, the click-clack of the wheels moving over the wooden ties, the … Continued
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io9
Aerial Shots of Beach Show Man Wringing Order From Nature
These photos by Bernhard Lang look less like people enjoying a beach trip and more like they belong on Things Organized Neatly. Perhaps by a very anal giant. The shots are from Lang‘s Aerial Views Adria, which he describes thusly: The message might be to show the impact of human beings on the natural environment. … Continued
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Tech NewsThese Aerial Beach Photos Were Shot While Dangling from a Helicopter
Antoine Rose shoots photographs from the air. He shoots them hanging off the edge of a helicopter thousands of feet above ground—in wind, in subzero temperatures, in the dark. But sometimes the conditions are just right for a day at the beach, and Rose captures these surreal, candy-colored images of the sand and surf below. … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
The Plan to Build a Floating Beach That Travels Around NYC’s Shores
As summer rolls in with its heat and its sun, we’re all thinking of fleeing toward the beaches. For New Yorkers, that could soon be a beach on a reclaimed barge, floating along the Hudson River. Could it actually work? We talked to City Beach‘s structural engineer to find out. The idea for City Beach … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
A Town’s Famous Bioluminescent Bay Is Going Dark and No One Knows Why
For those who’ve seen it—and photographs don’t do it justice—the bioluminescent Mosquito Bay is one of the world’s most spectacular natural sights. Tiny plankton known as dinoflagellates light up the water like a glow stick at night. But since January, the glow has faded, throwing the entire Puerto Rican town into a panic. Vieques is … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
ScienceAnimals
Australian Sharks Will Now Be Tweeting Their Locations
There’s a great, bloody shark war going on in Western Australia right now. After six deaths in two years—making Western Australia the deadliest place on earth for shark attacks—the state has ratcheted up its side of the war by deciding to kill sharks. Lots of ’em. Any shark within one kilometer of the beach will … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsDesign
This Mug Screws Into Soft Ground to Stay Upright
If you’ve ever struggled to keep your drinks in their receptacle at the beach, this concept will have your pretty excited: Screw Cup is a mug that can be driven into the ground to help it stay upright. Designed by Barcelona-based Minji Jung, the cup screws into sandy beaches—or, presumably, other soft ground—to ensure it … Continued
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Tech News
25 Sizzling Photos Of Summer
It’s summer, which means we can all stop complaining how cold it is and start complaining how hot it is. It also means beaches, swimsuits, and s’mores. Winner: Bird Catcher My grilfriend and I were strolling down a quiet beach on a perfect sunny day. That’s when we saw a bunch of birds on the … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Shooting Challenge: Summer
Kool-aid. Sunscreen. Swass. It’s summer, that time we dream about all year, only to bitch about when it’s finally here. And for this week’s Shooting Challenge, capture the feeling of summer, in a single frame. The Challenge Photograph summer. The Technique I love our seasonal challenges. Like all seasons, I think that summer evokes a … Continued
By Mark Wilson
