Friday of Interesting News: 22nd Feb 2013

Sorry for the lateness of this everyone, I've been out all day supervising a dive for my boss and it took rather a lot longer than anticipated! Hopefully this'll give you something to read over the weekend though:

Photography
Nikon announce 24MP D7100 DSLR
Sony announces mirrorless camera (NEX-3N)
The iPhone gets a new underwater housing, but how good is it?
BT Tower takes a record-breaking panorama of surrounding London
Our World Underwater Competition 2013 Winners announced

Marine Biology
Unusual winter sighting of sperm whales off Scotland's west coast
Do fishery catches really reflect how many fish there are in the sea? World leading scientists are divided.

So your beef might be horse? Big deal! Red Snapper could be one of 30 species
New fishing net cuts cod bycatch by 60% in langoustine fishery


Deepest ever hydrothermal vents found by UK team at 5000m...
...and they're dropping pig carcasses nearby. Find out why. 
Velvet belly lanternshark avoids predators using glowing spines

Alvin returns to service, but are subs the best tools for deep-water exploration?


Arctic ice in a 'death sprial'. Will we have an ice-free Arctic again?
Sea level rises are a settled fact and will come with global warming

Great Barrier Reef to be photographically mapped to establish rates of change

Divers save a stabbed tiger shark
And a baby dophin is freed from an 'aerobie'
More evidence that dolphins call each other by 'name'
Whales benefit from reductions in ocean noise
The end of the sawfish?

Could squid fly? Totally! (if they really wanted to)
Raja Ampat shark & ray reserve is approved
Why marine reserves could benefit even oceanic sharks
The world's most abundant virus has been found in the deep-sea

That's your lot! Have a good weekend!

Friday of Interesting News: 15th Feb 2013

Since yesterday was Valentine's Day, I thought we'd go with a bit of a romantic theme today!

Think your Valentine's Day was romantic? See how the marine world does it:

• May I have this dance? Blue-footed boobies 'dance' to attract a mate*
• Seahorses mate for life and the males carry the young
• Ever get tired of having just one penis? This sea slug has multiple disposable ones...
• ...But the alligator has a bungee penis
• Blue whales are all heart
• Adult sea spiders carry their young on their backs
• Flatworms 'joust' with their penises - the winner gets to be the dad
• Starfish prefer the spray & pray approach
• Unlucky in love? At least you're not a male anglerfish

Better late than never! The best marine themed Valentine's Cards this side of the interwebs:

• Happy Valentines Day from Aquaman
• Sealife Valentine's Cards & even more here
• Monterey Bay e-cards

Marine Biology

• Do we now have too many cod? 
• Sustainable seafood goes high-tech with QR coded sushi
• Does your seafood feel pain? The debate continues.
• Using whale oil to fuel whaling ships? Seriously?!

• Look! Scientists are real people too!
• New species of fish have been found in the deep-sea off New Zealand
• Trenches to be explored for novel antibiotics
• A turtle swims again thanks to prosthetic flippers
• One in six of the species from Finding Nemo are threatened with extinction

• My friend Charlotte Hopkins has started a new blog about her PhD work on MPAs
• Taking a closer look at the creation of a Pacific marine reserve

• Turning the tables: Using seismic study data to track whale calls
• Good with computers? New competition seeks automatic 'caller ID' recognition for Right Whales

• Life has been found sealed under Antarctic ice!

• This is just weird: A wingsuit developed to let you 'fly' underwater.

And finally...

• A ghost crab vs. a daschund? There can only be one winner!

*I know LOADS of birds do this too, but blue footed boobies are my favourites so that's what you get.

Friday of Interesting News: 8th February 2013

Now that I'm back from the land of snow and ice that is Austria, it's time to get back to our almost-regularly scheduled Fridays of Interesting News!

Photography
National Geographic disappoint by awarding a photo of a captive tiger top prize in their competition
Jason Isley turns tiny sea beasts into terrifying man-eaters in his wonderful portfolio
Feeling the cold? Not these guys! A wonderful shot from BBC's new series 'Spy in the Huddle'

Marine Biology

Sea urchins may hold the key to creating an effective carbon capture device...
...But sharks could hold a treatment to cancer!
MEPs vote to reform the common fisheries policy this week and end discarding - find out what it means here
Polar bears 'doomed' without a plan to save them
A new species of 'lazy predator' (a zoarcid fish) has been found in the deep sea

Want to learn everything cool about the sea? Check out the TED Ocean Wonders talks!
Don't have time for TED? This'll do instead.

How big can a giant squid get?
Corals look very cool under a laser microscope
The 10th MBA Postgraduate Conference is open for registration as of this week.

Tomorrow I'm off out with the RIB to the Clyde to give some of my colleagues a bit of boat handling practice, so if I have any decent photos to share with you from that trip I'll hopefully get them online over the weekend.

Have a good weekend!