Coral Reefs Are Running Out of Time to Recover, Research Find

31 August 2026 at 07:01

Rising sea temperatures mean reefs don’t have enough time to bounce back between intense heat waves, a new report warns.

Bleaching corals at Looe Key Reef off Florida in 2023.

‘It was like fighting a dinosaur’: Sydney shark attack survivor recalls left hook that helped save her life

The Guardian

By: Achol Arok

31 August 2026 at 08:01

Leah Stewart, who was bitten while swimming at Coogee beach, says she asked herself ‘which limb am I willing to lose’ as she fought back

An Australian woman who lost an arm after a shark attack at a Sydney beach has described delivering a “left hook” punch to the four-metre great white as its open mouth came within centimetres of her face.

Leah Stewart, 34, a teacher and mother of a one-year-old, was attacked by the shark while on a morning swim at Coogee beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on 13 June.

Country diary: We’re going on a nurdle hunt | Richard Smyth

The Guardian

By: Richard Smyth

29 August 2026 at 07:30

Whitley Bay, North Tyneside: A huge community effort is under way to clear up a spill of these disastrously resilient beads. We take a family trip to the beach to do our bit

My son spots the first one. It’s about the size of a lentil, and half-buried in the dry sand.

We’re on the beach at the seaside town of Whitley Bay. We’ve just walked past a clean-up crew of about 40 volunteers in hi-vis clothing and rubber gloves, kneeling or stooped over black buckets. This is the aftermath of the Tyne nurdle spill, which sounds much funnier than it is.

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