River Green for a Day

It all started with Plumbers Union Local 130 about 60 years ago and the city of Chicago is still dyeing the Chicago River green in celebration of St Patrick’s Day. Probably not the most environmentally-friendly way to celebrate, but it does stand out:

The Chicago River as it flows through downtown after it was dyed green in celebration of St. Patrick's Day on March 13, 2021.
Scott Olson / Getty Images

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Soft robot?

Check out the “soft” AUV that a team of Chinese researchers have developed and tested in the Mariana Trench!

A BlueROV2 with Newton Gripper was used to release the little “mantabot” at depths of 8m and 70m during its testing phase, before the little flapper dove to 3,224m in the South China Sea and then 10,900m in the Mariana Trench.

Full article at: TechExplore 04mar21 and Nature.com

Royal Australian Navy training to use AUVs

The Royal Australian Navy is training members in the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) at the Australian Maritime College (AMC), based in northern Tasmania.

Under the deal, up to 80 Navy personnel will study in Tasmania each year and be taught by AMC staff how to use AUVs to enhance the country’s war fighting efforts.

Full article at: ABCNews 28feb21

Balloons danger to marine life

More and more organizations are moving away from the use and release of balloons in any form, for good reason. A study by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and CSIRO found that, although hard plastic accounts for the vast majority of debris ingested by seabirds, it is far less likely to kill than soft plastics such as balloons. “Although soft plastics accounted for just 5% of the items ingested, they were responsible for more than 40% of the mortalities”.

Full article at: Australasian Science May/Jun2019

Study results at: Nature.com/Scientific Reports