Turkey’s president promised Saturday to rescue the Marmara Sea from an outbreak of “sea snot” that is alarming marine biologists and environmentalists.
A huge mass of marine mucilage, a thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms, has bloomed in Turkey's Marmara, as well as in the adjoining Black and Aegean Seas.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said untreated waste dumped into the Marmara Sea and climate change had caused the sea snot bloom. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with some 16 million residents, and five other provinces, factories and industrial hubs border the sea.
Marine mucilage has reached unprecedented levels this year in Turkey. It is visible above the water as a slimy gray sheet along the shores of Istanbul and neighboring provinces. Underwater videos showed suffocated coral covered with sea snot.
Erdogan said he instructed the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to coordinate with relevant institutions, municipalities and universities. Teams are inspecting waste water and solid waste facilities, along with other potential sources of pollution, he said.
“We will save our seas from this mucilage calamity, leading with the Marmara Sea,” Erdogan said. “We must take this step without delay.”
Marine experts say that human waste and industrial pollution is choking Turkey’s seas. They say the rise in water temperatures from climate change is contributing to the problem.
Abbott has announced a new FDA approved rapid COVID-19 test. Dr. John Hackett, divisional vice president of applied research and technology for Abbott's diagnostics business, joined Cheddar to discuss how the test works and its accuracy.
The system that came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane is being blamed for at least four deaths and widespread damage around Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people.
The storm's power is raising fears of a 20-foot storm surge that forecasters say would be “unsurvivable” and capable of sinking entire communities on the Texas and Louisiana coast.
U.S. health officials have sparked a wave of confusion after posting guidelines that coronavirus testing is not necessary for people who have been in close contact with infected people.
San Francisco Airport officially implements rapid coronavirus testing for employees, becoming the first U.S. airport to do so. Doug Yakel, public information officer, joined Cheddar to talk costs for potential widespread implementation, including passenger testing.
The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling — a development experts credit at least partly to increased wearing of masks — even as the outbreak continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the U.S. each day.
An Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Monday and confirmed most of the ancient redwoods had withstood the blaze.
Bee researcher Elaine Evans of the University of Minnesota cautions would-be beekeepers that the fast-growing hobby may be a lot more work than people think they're signing on for.
The new rule would tweak the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which regulates the fiduciary duties of private plan managers.
Crews were battling wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area and thousands of people were under orders to evacuate Wednesday as hundreds of wildfires blazed across the state amid a blistering heat wave now in its second week.
