This ‘floating continent’ could collect and recycle plastic from the ocean in future

Good News Notes: “‘The 8th continent’ is an award-winning design that recycles ocean plastic and is completely self-sustainable. Its five-part structure contains everything from greenhouses and living quarters to biodegradable waste collectors. Senior designer at Zaha Hadid Architects in London, Lenka Petráková, developed the idea for her student master thesis a few years ago in Vienna,…

How to fight microplastic pollution with magnets

Good News Notes: “As a child, Fionn Ferreira spent hours exploring the coastline near his hometown of Ballydehob in south-west Ireland. But the more time he spent on the sheltered, shingle-strewn coves nearby, he grew increasingly shocked by the large amounts of plastic litter he found strewn across the beach and in the sea. “It…

Sea Turtles Get New Lease On Life At Florida Aquarium

 Good News Notes: “The threats to sea turtles are as big as the ocean they inhabit: red tide, overfishing, rising seas swamping their nesting grounds and being stunned by the winter cold. But a rehabilitation facility in Apollo Beach that opened last year is giving a new lease on life to many endangered turtles. I’m…

Sea turtle is swimming again with Thailand’s first prosthetic flipper

Good News Notes: “Goody the sea turtle lost her left flipper years ago after she got stuck in a fishing net. She was left immobile — until a team of researchers in Thailand fitted her with the country’s first prosthetic flipper.  The olive ridley sea turtle was helped by Thai environment authorities and a group…

Ancient sea turtle fossil found in Alabama named new genus, species

Good News Notes: “A study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have revealed that fossils found in west Alabama belonged to a turtle who swam the seas 75 million years ago. The discovery of the new genus and species of sea turtle may fill a gap in the animal’s evolution, according to…