Nature Hub

 Edited by Amal Udawatta A newly identified bird, named 'Rayadito Subantartico' (Aphrastura subantarctica), is seen at Gonzalo island, Cabo de Hornos area, Magallanes region, Chile, in this undated handout picture released on August 26, 2022. Universidad de Magallanes-Centro Internacional Cabo de Hornos/Handout via REUTERS SANTIAGO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - In a sparse, windswept pasture at the frigid tip of South America lives a tiny bird whose quiet life is shedding light on the importance of studying the world's most remote places. In the Diego Ramirez Islands, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from southern Chile's Cape Horn, scientists have identified the Subantarctic rayadito, a 0.035 pound (16 gram) brown bird with black and yellow bands, and a large beak that is confounding biologists. That's because the Subantarctic rayadito, which resembles a rayadito species that inhabits the forests of southern Patagonia and nests in trunk cavities, was found "living in a place w

  By Jenny Hill, BBC Berlin correspondent, Edited by - Amal Udawatta. Image caption, Hundreds of tonnes of dead fish have already been removed from the River Oder The men in waders looked solemn as they heaved buckets of dead fish from a boat and lay the corpses on a tarpaulin stretched out on the riverbank. They had been doing this for eight days near the city of Szczecin, faces masked against the nauseating stench. "I just feel numb now," said one worker, sadly. Something is killing fish - in their thousands - on the River Oder. The river forms a border between Poland and Germany. Despite weeks of investigation, experts from both countries have been unable to establish exactly what is to blame. Hundreds of tonnes of dead fish have already been removed. Scientists suspect someone polluted the water with a substance that appears to have caused high salt levels. That encouraged golden algae to flourish. The toxins it emitted killed the fish. The rotting corpses then further re

By Esme Stallard, BBC News Climate and Science, IMAGE SOURCE, STEVE DE NEEF/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/ GETTY IMAGES A fifth effort to pass a global agreement to protect the world's oceans and marine life has failed. Talks to pass the UN High Seas Treaty had been ongoing for two weeks in New York, but governments could not agree on the terms. Despite international waters representing nearly two-thirds of the world's oceans, only 1.2% is protected. Environmental campaigners have called it a "missed opportunity". The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 - the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. That agreement established an area called the high seas - international waters where all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research. Marine life living outside of the 1.2% of protected areas are at risk of exploitation from the increasing threats of climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic. IMAGE SOURCE, TIM GRAHAM/GETTY