Harsh living conditions caused by major fluctuations in the carbon content and sea levels, over-acidification and oxygen deficiency in the seas triggered the largest mass extinction of all time at the end of the Permian era 252 million years ago.

Life on Earth was also anything but easy after the obliteration of over 90 percent of all species: Throughout the entire Early Triassic era, metazoan-dominated reefs were replaced by microbial deposits. Researchers had always assumed it took the Earth as long as five million years to recover from this species collapse.

U-533 was a Nazi German U-Boat (Type IXC/40) that operated during World War II between April 15, 1943 and October 16, 1943. It was first launched on September 11, 1942 with a crew of 53, under the command of Helmut Hennig.

It was sunk by a Royal Air Force Blenheim bomber while it was operating in the Gulf of Oman. Of the crew of 53, only one survived by staying afloat without a life jacket for 28 hours until he was rescued by the HMS Hiravati near Khor Fakkan.

A study published this month estimates that the number of sea turtles accidentally caught and killed in United States coastal waters has declined by an estimated 90 per cent since 1990.

This is a dramatic reduction achieved in fisheries where specific regulations have been implemented to reduce bycatch. The report, published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation, is the first attempt to make a cumulative estimate of sea turtle bycatch and mortality from interactions with U.S. fisheries. 

British Columbia’s spiny dogfish has become the world’s first shark fishery to be deemed sustainable, offering a glimmer of hope for globally overfished shark populations. The London, England- based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has concluded that B.C.'s commercial hook-and-line dogfish fishery is sustainable following an independent scientific assessment by the accredited certification body Moody Marine Ltd.