Archive

There often are tiny bits of plastic in the fish and shellfish we eat. Scientists are racing to figure out what that means for our health. BY ELIZABETH ROYTE Read this story and more in the June 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine. In a laboratory at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in Palisades, New York, Debra Lee Magadini positions […]

What are microplastics? What about a garbage patch? This glossary helps demystify plastic pollution. BY ELIZABETH ATALAY, LAURA PARKER, AND HEIDI SCHULTZ – National Geographic This story is part of Planet or Plastic?—The National Geographic multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take their pledge. […]

Sharks have a serious PR problem. Starting with Steven Spielberg’s movie Jaws, the admonition ‘don’t go in the water’ became a matter of common sense for many people. Threatening background music used in shark documentaries and media coverage focusing on negative events, such as attacks on surfers, helped build the unfavorable image of sharks. After years of being depicted […]

    By the Divers Alert Network Medical Team www.danap.org Scuba diving exposes you to many effects, including immersion, cold, hyperbaric gases, elevated breathing pressure, exercise, and stress, as well as a post-dive risk of gas bubbles circulating in your blood. Your heart’s capacity to support an elevated blood output decreases with age and with disease. Having […]

Keeping yourself in good working order is as important as maintaining and servicing your dive kit WORDS DR. PETER LARKIN From basic ear problems to serious heart and circulation issues, there are various ailments that can stop us being fit to dive. Dr. Peter Larkin scans the body from head to toe and points out the […]

By Stefano Mariani and Judith Bakker Imagine studying animals without seeing them. Does that sound ludicrous? To people like us, who first got interested in biology because we love animals and enjoy studying them, yes, it sounds like a poor deal. Yet, if you think about what forensic investigators do when they seek DNA evidence […]

Underwater explorers reveal how breakthroughs in technology are changing marine archaeology. Advances in underwater technologies have ushered in a golden age of exploration and discovery, complementing the classic research and detective work skills necessary to find long-lost wrecks, and helping to make our marine heritage accessible to all. ‘As the technology develops, becoming cheaper and more […]

The chances are that you or someone you know has been stressed out on a dive. It can be triggered by any numbers of things, such as tough conditions or extreme depth. Charlotte Boan asks a panel of diving experts what is stress, its causes and how to avoid it. ASKING THE EXPERTS WHAT ARE […]

“Just one word… plastics…There’s a great future in plastics.” Remember this famous quote from the 1967 film, “The Graduate“?  It foreshadows the incredible rise of the plastic industry, which took off like a runaway train shortly after its release. Now, over 40 years later that train is about to run off the tracks. We produce […]