Researchers make disturbing discovery after analyzing hundreds of dolphin autopsies: 'A nightmare to get rid of'
Short-beaked common dolphins, one of the most widely distributed marine mammals in U.K. waters, are dying in large numbers from infections that are more likely to become fatal because of toxic chemicals called PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls. These pollutants were banned in the U.K. back in 1981, yet they're still showing up in disturbing quantities in dolphin blubber.
A similar U.K. study in 2021 also found alarming amounts of PCBs in otherwise healthy male harbour porpoises.
This recent dolphin study looked at the post-mortem records of 836 dolphins found between 1990 and 2020. Researchers said that for every 1 milligram per kilogram increase in PCBs, the dolphins' risk of dying from an infection increased by 1.6%. And with every 1 degree Celsius rise in ocean temperature (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the risk jumped another 14%.
"Because [PCBs are] so persistent, they're a nightmare to get rid of," Rosie Williams of the Zoological Society of London said.
Dolphins are at the top of the ocean food chain, which means toxic chemicals such as PCBs accumulate in their bodies at much higher concentrations than in other species.
This research highlights how pollution and overheating oceans aren't just problems in isolation. Together, they make marine life even more vulnerable. That includes risks to animals we rely on for food, along with the ripple effects on coastal communities that depend on healthy oceans to survive and thrive.
It also sounds the alarm on other persistent pollutants, including PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are still widely used and just as difficult to eliminate from the environment.
These so-called "forever chemicals" show up in everything from drinking water to wildlife and have been linked to health risks such as cancer, hormonal disruptions, and immune system issues.
While the U.K. banned PCBs decades ago, the chemicals are still reaching waterways through old industrial stockpiles and byproducts of modern manufacturing.
Do you worry about air pollution in and around your home?
Yes — always
Yes — often
Yes — sometimes
No — never
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
Efforts to address the issue include removing remaining equipment that utilizes these PCBs and upgrading water treatment systems to better filter out long-lasting pollutants.
Persistent pollution may feel overwhelming, but staying informed is one of the best ways to drive change. Learning more about these issues and taking conscious action helps build a cleaner, healthier future for all of us.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
an hour ago
- CNET
Don't Forget to Thaw Your Frozen Meat Ahead of Fourth of July Cookouts
Planning on grilling over the Fourth of July weekend? Don't forget about the meat in your freezer. If you're planning to indulge in it this holiday weekend, you'll want to make sure that you properly thaw it beforehand. Experts warn against cooking frozen meat because the internal temperature often doesn't get high enough to kill lingering bacteria, especially around bones and more central structures. If consumed, it could pose a very serious health risk. I asked Diego Campos Vargas, executive chef at CAMP in Greenville, South Carolina, an expert when it comes to churning out high-quality dishes for carnivores. I recently dined at his establishment, where I noshed on everything from seared scallops and grilled octopus to steak pinchos and merguez agnolotti -- all of which were cooked perfectly and left a lasting impression. "Unfortunately, we live in a society where we expect things to move fast and to be ready, but food shouldn't be that way. You shouldn't speed up cooking methods and processes," he says. "You can cook meat from frozen, but not with all products." That said, Vargas shares with us one exception to the thaw process. Here are his top tips for anyone who may be short on time, but who still want to achieve flavorful mealtime success. Best practices for safely thawing meat Poultry and other large cuts if meat should be thawed slowly in the fridge for safety. Getty Images 1. The slow thaw is best Nothing beats a slow thawing method to preserve the integrity of meat and prepare it safely. "Ideally, you want to thaw proteins slowly in a fridge," says Vargas. "At CAMP, we plan ahead. When we get our delivery on Wednesday, we know we will need to prepare the duck confit, octopus, etc. over the weekend." "Instead of storing in the freezer, we will store it in sheet pans inside our walk-in. This way, the product slowly gets to the same temperature as the walk-in. By the second day, the protein is ready to be processed and cooked as needed," he adds. 2. Thaw under cold running water But if time is of the essence and you're in a situation where meat must be thawed immediately, Vargas says that the best practice is to place the protein in a container under the sink and allow cold water to run continuously over it. " This will ensure the water stays at a constant temperature," he says. "The Department of Health and Environmental Control recommends that you run cold water when practicing this technique because bacteria love that 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 100 degrees Fahrenheit environment." Read more: How to Properly Thaw Turkey 3. No time to thaw? Braising is your best bet If there is one cooking technique that yields the most successful cooking-from-frozen outcome, it's braising. Not only does the initial high temperature and subsequent extended cooking time kill bacteria and break down the meat's tough fibers, but it's a method that also allows the layering of flavors along the way. "You will be able to infuse more flavor and moisture to the end product throughout the cooking method," Vargas says. The best way to thaw frozen meat is in the fridge over night. AnnickTo braise frozen meat, start by searing each side of the cut (see below on the best cut types) with olive oil or butter in a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. The meat should develop a crust and turn golden brown. Once this happens, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside. Next, add aromatics such as garlic and onions and soften them in the leftover fat. You may need to scoop out a bit of the protein's juices beforehand, as frozen meat will release more liquid than thawed meat. Deglaze the pan with a liquid of choice. This will typically be stock, broth, wine or even beer. Bring the pot to a simmer and add your meat, ensuring that the liquid doesn't completely cover it. Instead, the protein should be sitting in a shallow bath on low heat. Cover the pot and allow for the meat to cook for a couple hours or until it reaches desired tenderness. You can also add vegetables, herbs or anything else to enhance flavors, though cooking times will vary by ingredient (i.e. a potato is going to take longer to cook than celery). It's also advised that frozen meat be cut into smaller pieces before or after searing, as it will cook more evenly and timely. Safety tip: The type of meat and cut matters Tender cuts of steak should be thawed before cooking, no questions asked. Chowhound It's no surprise that different protein cuts often require different cooking techniques and times to maximize their flavor and tenderness. Vargas recommends, at least with beef, that you take the cut of meat into consideration before deciding to braise from frozen. Typically, larger cuts that demand longer cooking times such as osso bucco are ideal for braising. If it's a filet mignon that only requires a few minutes of sear, the meat must be thawed. A good rule of thumb: If the protein will literally transform and break down through braising, it should be OK to cook from frozen. Anything smaller and with less fat content will require a thaw. How long you freeze your proteins matter, too Simply placing meat in the freezer won't suffice to extend its life. Different types benefit from different freezing techniques and lengths of time. Some meats will thaw quicker thanHigh-fat cuts like rib eyes can certainly last in the freezer for longer, but it's wise to follow these recommended freezing times for more popular options: Octopus: one month Chicken breast: two months Chicken legs and thighs:three months Pork butt: three months Pork chops: two months Beef filets: two months Chuck beef: four months "As a rule of thumb, I would say that you want to freeze proteins for less time if they cook at a lower temperature," recommends Vargas. "For example: fish is cooked 'well-done' at 135 degrees Fahrenheit while beef is cooked well-done at 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to freeze fish and all other seafood for less time than you would beef and pork." Proper sealing is key during the freeze To achieve maximum freezer capabilities, Vargas recommends investing in a vacuum seal machine with proper storage bags. "I freeze leftover raw proteins all the time in my house," he reveals. "The bags also make it easy for thawing in the fridge." Fish can also be frozen, but not for as long as beef can be."When freezing, water molecules freeze, but when thawed out, the molecules melt and become the liquid that leaks from the protein," explains Vargas. "All those juices could be part of the protein, but they are lost after freezing. This influences the quality of the product greatly." Looking for the latest and greatest models to keep meat and all of its components intact? Check out our round-up of the top vacuum sealers of 2025.
CNET
an hour ago
- CNET
Don't Forget to Thaw Your Frozen Meat Ahead of Fourth of July Grilling
Grilling for Fourth of July weekend? Don't forget about the meat in your freezer. If you're planning to indulge in it this holiday weekend, you'll want to ensure to properly thaw it beforehand. Experts warn against cooking frozen meat because the internal temperature often doesn't get high enough to kill lingering bacteria, especially around bones and more central structures. If consumed, this can pose a very serious health risk. I asked Diego Campos Vargas, executive chef at CAMP in Greenville, South Carolina, an expert when it comes to churning out high-quality dishes for carnivores. I recently dined at his establishment, where I noshed on everything from seared scallops and grilled octopus to steak pinchos and merguez agnolotti — all of which were cooked perfectly and left a lasting impression. "Unfortunately, we live in a society where we expect things to move fast and to be ready, but food shouldn't be that way. You shouldn't speed up cooking methods and processes," he says. "You can cook meat from frozen, but not with all products." That said, Vargas shares with us one exception to the thaw process. Here are his top tips for anyone who may be short on time, but not on achieving flavorful mealtime success. Best practices for safely thawing meat Poultry and other large cuts if meat should be thawed slowly in the fridge for safety. Getty Images 1. The slow thaw is best Nothing beats a slow thawing method to preserve the integrity of meat and prepare it safely. "Ideally, you want to thaw proteins slowly in a fridge," says Vargas. "At CAMP, we plan ahead. When we get our delivery on Wednesday, we know we will need to prepare the duck confit, octopus, etc. over the weekend." "Instead of storing in the freezer, we will store it in sheet pans inside our walk-in. This way, the product slowly gets to the same temperature as the walk-in. By the second day, the protein is ready to be processed and cooked as needed," he adds. 2. Thaw under cold running water But if time is of the essence and you're in a situation where meat must be thawed immediately, Vargas says that the best practice is to place the protein in a container under the sink and allow cold water to run continuously over it. " This will ensure the water stays at a constant temperature," he says. "The Department of Health and Environmental Control recommends that you run cold water when practicing this technique because bacteria love that 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 100 degrees Fahrenheit environment." Read more: How to Properly Thaw Turkey 3. No time to thaw? Braising is your best bet If there is one cooking technique that yields the most successful cooking-from-frozen outcome, it's braising. Not only does the initial high temperature and subsequent extended cooking time kill bacteria and break down the meat's tough fibers, but it's a method that also allows the layering of flavors along the way. "You will be able to infuse more flavor and moisture to the end product throughout the cooking method," Vargas says. The best way to thaw frozen meat is in the fridge over night. AnnickTo braise frozen meat, start by searing each side of the cut (see below on the best cut types) with olive oil or butter in a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. The meat should develop a crust and turn golden brown. Once this happens, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside. Next, add aromatics such as garlic and onions and soften them in the leftover fat. You may need to scoop out a bit of the protein's juices beforehand, as frozen meat will release more liquid than thawed meat. Deglaze the pan with a liquid of choice. This will typically be stock, broth, wine or even beer. Bring the pot to a simmer and add your meat, ensuring that the liquid doesn't completely cover it. Instead, the protein should be sitting in a shallow bath on low heat. Cover the pot and allow for the meat to cook for a couple hours or until it reaches desired tenderness. You can also add vegetables, herbs or anything else to enhance flavors, though cooking times will vary by ingredient (i.e. a potato is going to take longer to cook than celery). It's also advised that frozen meat be cut into smaller pieces before or after searing, as it will cook more evenly and timely. Safety tip: The type of meat and cut matters Tender cuts of steak should be thawed before cooking, no questions asked. Chowhound It's no surprise that different protein cuts often require different cooking techniques and times to maximize their flavor and tenderness. Vargas recommends, at least with beef, that you take the cut of meat into consideration before deciding to braise from frozen. Typically, larger cuts that demand longer cooking times such as osso bucco are ideal for braising. If it's a filet mignon that only requires a few minutes of sear, the meat must be thawed. A good rule of thumb: If the protein will literally transform and break down through braising, it should be OK to cook from frozen. Anything smaller and with less fat content will require a thaw. How long you freeze your proteins matter, too Simply placing meat in the freezer won't suffice to extend its life. Different types benefit from different freezing techniques and lengths of time. Some meats will thaw quicker thanHigh-fat cuts like rib eyes can certainly last in the freezer for longer, but it's wise to follow these recommended freezing times for more popular options: Octopus: one month Chicken breast: two months Chicken legs and thighs:three months Pork butt: three months Pork chops: two months Beef filets: two months Chuck beef: four months "As a rule of thumb, I would say that you want to freeze proteins for less time if they cook at a lower temperature," recommends Vargas. "For example: fish is cooked 'well-done' at 135 degrees Fahrenheit while beef is cooked well-done at 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to freeze fish and all other seafood for less time than you would beef and pork." Proper sealing is key during the freeze To achieve maximum freezer capabilities, Vargas recommends investing in a vacuum seal machine with proper storage bags. "I freeze leftover raw proteins all the time in my house," he reveals. "The bags also make it easy for thawing in the fridge." Fish can also be frozen, but not for as long as beef can be."When freezing, water molecules freeze, but when thawed out, the molecules melt and become the liquid that leaks from the protein," explains Vargas. "All those juices could be part of the protein, but they are lost after freezing. This influences the quality of the product greatly." Looking for the latest and greatest models to keep meat and all of its components intact? Check out our round-up of the top vacuum sealers of 2025.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump cuts to NOAA, NASA ‘blinding' farmers to risks, scientists warn
The Trump administration's cuts to climate research and federal weather forecasting agencies are 'blinding' the U.S. to oncoming threats to its food supply — and kneecapping efforts to protect it. As Congress debates its own research and forecasting cuts, a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests that fossil fuel-driven climate change poses an existential threat to key parts of the American food supply. Heat waves and drought driven by fossil fuel burning could mean a collapse of Midwestern corn and soy yields later this century, said study co-author Andrew Hultgren of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The region, Hultgren noted, is both one of the world's richest breadbaskets and one of its most endangered. When temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, he told The Hill, 'It starts to become a question of how tenable it is to keep farming corn.' 'You do start to wonder if the Corn Belt is going to be the Corn Belt in the future,' he said. Proper forecasting and adaptation could cut those crop failures almost in half, the study found. But those corrective measures are under direct attack from President Trump's mass staff reductions at federal agencies concerned with tracking weather and climate — and the freezing of grants to any program or study that mentions climate. The effect on U.S. forecasting will be 'like losing your eyesight: slow and torturous,' said Jonathan Martin, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Wisconsin. Americans who have grown up amid the 'unheralded revolution' of ever-more-precise weather forecasts will find themselves in a world growing blurrier — even as the weather grows ever more volatile, Martin added. Farmers choosing what crops to plant each season are effectively betting on the heat and rain, which determines what will survive to market — a prediction that is both harder and more vital in an era of weather whiplash, where early-season heat waves can ripen crops only for late-season ice storms to kill them. Those seasonal predictions rest on a vast, taxpayer-funded observation system that connects land, air and sea — and which current budget proposals seek to scale back or eliminate. Trump has sought, for example, to end a wide array of NASA programs that monitor changes to the atmosphere, oceans and land; eradicate the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) office that serves as the 'nerve center' of federal climate research; and cut by two-thirds the funding of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Many of those cuts appear to be replicated in the House and Senate budget proposals, which excise billions of federal dollars — and in particular target what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called 'climate change and environmental funding at NOAA.' This policy is based on an 'ideological' foundation, said Christopher Sellers, an environmental historian at Stony Brook University. The administration, he said, is convinced that 'climate change isn't that real or alarming, and that climate alarmism — a species of 'wokeism' — is itself the bigger problem.' In addition to Wednesday's Nature study on the oncoming corn crisis, which drew on NASA research, federal agencies have previously funded or provided data to studies that sought to create new tools to help farmers navigate a more uncertain future. That included federally supported studies that modeled future declines in the ability to grow cotton in the Texas High Plains; investigations into how quickly the groundwater that feeds California agriculture can recover after drought; and projections that sought to forecast Midwestern floods a season ahead based on changes in the salt content of the ocean. That last study depends on 'good knowledge of the ocean state a season ahead,' said lead author Laifang Li of Pennsylvania State University — which itself depends on NASA salinity-sensing satellites that are kept calibrated by the NOAA-funded Argo network, a web of 4,000 floating ocean buoys that monitor the salt and temperature of the ocean. Both the satellites and buoys are at risk under the president's budget, threatening weather forecasts for the whole U.S. — and particularly the vital farm country of the Midwest and California. Cuts to primary research and forecasting are exacerbated by cuts to the public-facing documents that make use of them and the farm adaptation programs the federal government funds — or used to. In April, the president canceled the National Climate Assessment, which distilled research like Hultgren's or Li's into actionable insights that federal and local extension agents transmitted to farmers. It also — in defiance of a court order — froze billions in conservation funding that had already been awarded to farmers and ranchers to help prepare their lands to help resist heat, flood and drought. Even if key Earth-monitoring programs survive, they will do so in an environment where staffing is dramatically reduced and where the executive branch is openly hostile to climate research. The Trump administration is aiming to cut NASA's budget by 25 percent, or more than 5,000 people, which adds to cuts earlier this year of 7 percent at NOAA and 10 percent at the NSF. The don't-say-climate campaign goes beyond weather or agriculture. In the last five months, the administration has blocked the Department of Defense from considering the security risks posed by a heating world; kept the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from modeling the northward march of tropical diseases; and yanked back funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency aimed at making flood- and storm-prone communities less prone to disaster. But cuts at NOAA pose an immediate threat because of their impact on agriculture, said John Sokich, former head of congressional affairs at the National Weather Service. With the proposed cuts, 'we're not going to be able to understand what's happening, much less predict what's happening.' In addition to giving farmers insight on what to plant, seasonal forecasting built on the NOAA and NASA networks tells Western dam managers how much water to release downstream. It also warns when low rivers could raise shipping costs. And beyond the seasonal forecasts, federally funded climate data and forecasting forms an essential element in the long-term decisions farmers make about how to use their land, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist and a professor at Texas A&M University. Farmers know the climate is changing, Nielsen-Gammon said, 'and they're trying to adapt.' But programs like the now-defunct National Climate Assessment, he said, had been essential to letting them know which changes are 'natural variability, which ones are going to accelerate? Do we need to put in a new irrigation system — or is the water going to run out anyway?' Hultgren told The Hill that he had expected to find that the U.S., like other wealthy countries, offered farmers a relative harbor from global heating. 'I thought, oh, the corn belt farmers are going to be fully protected, right? They can make all the investments they need to make to mitigate these losses.' But the cost of those investments, and the sheer toll of extreme heat pushing ever earlier into the season, meant that 'the people who have the most to lose are going to lose the most.' Hultgren is 'cautiously hopeful,' he said: He thinks that studies like his, which show how 'climate change coming home to roost in these more developed economies like the US,' will help drive action to both slow it and adapt to it. The long backlog to academic research — this study was in the works for nine years — means that such findings will continue to come out throughout Trump's second term. But if proposed cuts go through, the research pipeline that would provide the actionable insights of the 2030s risks getting cut off. 'Nature is pushing back on us,' Hultgren said. The nation risks 'blinding our eyes' to the information that would let it push back. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
