logo
Aussie beach plagued by 'masses' of bluebottles

Aussie beach plagued by 'masses' of bluebottles

Yahoo03-03-2025

A popular Aussie beach has been covered in blue after thousands of bluebottles washed up onto the sand on the weekend, forcing many hopeful swimmers to stay dry and others to swim elsewhere.
Onshore winds blew the stingers onto Maroubra Beach in Sydney on Sunday and it looked like the sand was covered in clusters of shiny blue plastic from the pictures taken by beachgoers. Nippers competing at the beach had to relocate due to the risk of stings , however, in true Aussie fashion, some swimmers still chose to hit the waves.
"Randwick Council Lifeguards do not close beaches when bluebottles are sighted, but instead erect signs in and around the flags to warn beachgoers," a council spokesperson told Yahoo News about the recent onslaught of blueblottles.
Sydney man Greg Tannos told Yahoo News there were "masses of them" and it appeared the winds blew "just one big colony" on the beach. He was recently stung by one too.
🏖️ Aussies stunned by woman's unwitting act on beach
⚡️ Experts debunk popular bluebottle sting remedy
🧐 Aussie man stumped by peculiar beach find
Bluebottles float on top of the water and are at mercy of the wind thanks to their bubble-like gas filled sack. They are an unwelcome summer time visitor to many parts of the east coast and are easily recognisable from their colour — and painful sting.
It feels like an Aussie rite of passage to get stung by a bluebottle, and due to the "extremely painful sting", the experience often stays with swimmers long after the reddened marks disappear from their skin. Tannos explained the stings feel like you're "going into an electric shock in the water and then it keeps getting worse".
Up to 30,000 bluebottle stings are reported annually, however, no deaths have been recorded from the stingers.
"While bluebottle stings are very painful, they are generally not dangerous to humans," the council spokesperson said.
It is important not to rub the sting area.
Carefully remove the blue tentacles with your fingers.
Rinse the area with sea water.
Ice the area.
If hot water is available, place the affected area under the hottest water you can comfortably tolerate.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

What Would Actually Happen If You Tried to Open the Airplane Emergency Door Mid-flight?
What Would Actually Happen If You Tried to Open the Airplane Emergency Door Mid-flight?

Travel + Leisure

time12 hours ago

  • Travel + Leisure

What Would Actually Happen If You Tried to Open the Airplane Emergency Door Mid-flight?

The most important thing in the exit row on a plane isn't the extra legroom—it's the emergency door. These doors are strategically located throughout the aircraft so that passengers can easily evacuate, regardless of whether they're in first class or the last row. The Airbus A380—the world's largest commercial aircraft—has 16 emergency doors. That's approximately one for every 50 passengers. While part of the flight attendant safety speech includes pointing out where the nearest emergency doors can be found, it doesn't include the answer to one burning question. What happens if you try to open the emergency door mid-flight? If you ask American Airlines First Officer Steve Scheibner, nothing would happen if you tried to open the door—because you can't open the emergency door mid-flight. Unless you're capable of lifting 25,000 pounds, it's physically impossible. 'Once this door gets pressurized in flight, it's nine pounds per square inch,' says Scheibner, who goes by Captain Steeeve on TikTok where he has more than 380,000 followers. Another pilot-turned-social media sensation explains it further on YouTube: 'We pressurize our aircraft to a lower altitude so that you guys can breathe,' says Pilot PascalKlr. 'The inside pressure pushes the door in its frame.' Scientists liken it to how a drain plug works. Given the small size of sink and bath drains, it takes a substantial amount of effort to pick them up. Also, most emergency exit doors on planes open inwards. Still, physics isn't the only thing keeping emergency doors closed during flights. On most commercial aircraft, all cabin doors automatically lock once the plane has reached a certain speed. According to Scheibner, it's approximately 80 knots (92 miles per hour). They can't be manually unlocked until the plane slows down again. Obviously, these locks weren't customary back in 1971 when the infamous 'D.B. Cooper' parachuted out of a Boeing 727's rear door with $200,000 in cash somewhere over southeastern Washington. In fact, because hijacking passenger planes was common in the late '60s and early '70s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) amended their safety regulations in 1972 and started requiring large passenger aircraft exits to be designed so that they can't be opened during flight. Exit sign in an airplane. Margot Cavin/Travel + Leisure Even though it's not possible to open an emergency door mid-flight, people have tried. In fact, every year passengers make headlines for trying to do so. A few weeks ago, an All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Houston was diverted to Seattle after an unruly passenger kept trying to open the emergency doors. Cabin crew and fellow passengers managed to restrain him using zip ties. Upon landing in Seattle, the passenger was handed over to the local police and FBI. And when an American Airlines passenger on a flight from Albuquerque to Chicago tried to open an emergency door 20 minutes into their flight last year, the plane returned to Albuquerque where law enforcement was waiting. If the plane isn't far from its final destination, it will usually try to land there. That's what happened on another American Airlines flight in 2024 when a passenger flying from Milwaukee to Dallas attempted to open an emergency door mid-flight. A flight attendant was injured in the process, and the man was charged with a federal crime. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. At the very least, trying to open an emergency door mid-flight is a great way to get yourself on the dreaded no-fly list. While most passengers who try to open emergency doors fail, at least one appears to have succeeded. In 2023, a passenger on an Asiana flight about to land in Daegu, South Korea allegedly opened the emergency door he was sitting next to. The plane was more than 700 feet off the ground at the time. While the plane was able to safely land, and no one was seriously injured, 12 people went to the hospital and were treated for hyperventilation. 'The wind was stinging my legs and hitting my face so hard I couldn't even breathe properly,' the passenger sitting next to him recalled in an interview with CNN. Asiana immediately launched an investigation to see how the door was able to be opened. It also issued a statement saying it would stop selling certain exit row seats on its Airbus A321-200 aircraft. But this doesn't exactly mean that sitting next to an emergency door is dangerous. On the contrary, some experts say the exit row boasts the safest seats on the plane. 'If there was a seat that was safer, being close to an emergency exit increases the chance of getting out quicker,' Cary Grant, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's College of Aviation, previously told T+L.

Golden Retriever Greets Visitor—What Cam Captures Next Leaves Owner Stunned
Golden Retriever Greets Visitor—What Cam Captures Next Leaves Owner Stunned

Newsweek

time13 hours ago

  • Newsweek

Golden Retriever Greets Visitor—What Cam Captures Next Leaves Owner Stunned

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A man greeted by his uncle's dog couldn't believe what the Ring camera captured just moments after he arrived. Jacob Aguilar told Newsweek via TikTok that he was visiting his uncle after coming back from Hawaii to catch up and share stories from his trip. When he arrived, his uncle's golden retriever, Cubs, was the first one to greet him at the door. In his June 6 video posted to his TikTok account, @_jacoboooo, the dog walked out the door and sniffed Aguilar with excitement; she loved having visitors. When Cubs went into the driveway to check for others, Aguilar handed his uncle an item and the two started making their way inside. Aguilar quickly glanced back and thought the dog snuck back inside, prompting him to close the door behind him. However, the Ring camera revealed she didn't go back inside. The Ring camera showed Cubs flabbergasted that they would close the door in her face. She paused and stared at the door before running up to do a sniff test, which confirmed her disbelief. Cubs looked back to see if someone else might've been outside, but when no one turned up, she ran back to the front door. "We hadn't realized until my aunt pointed out, 'Where is Cubs!?'" Aguilar said. "She then checked the Ring camera and noticed she was waiting outside the front door." Cubs never barked to alert the family she was outside. Instead, she waited patiently because she knew they'd realize soon enough. Aguilar called her a "good and well-behaved doggie." "Both me and my uncle were in shock because we both thought she went back inside!" he said. Feeling horrible about the mistake, Aguilar said he "...made it up to her with lots of pets and love." Screenshot from a June 6 TikTok video of a golden retriever greeting a guest and being stunned when they accidentally closed the door on her. Screenshot from a June 6 TikTok video of a golden retriever greeting a guest and being stunned when they accidentally closed the door on her. @_jacoboooo/TikTok TikTok Users React The TikTok clip reached over 466,000 views and 63,400 likes within three days of it being posted. Users demanded justice and extra treats for the mistake. "Not the welcoming committee being left outside!" one user commented. Another added: "She like, 'I know tf they didn't just...'" A third user wrote: "That'll be her last time greeting you like that." And a fourth pointed out: "You even looked back!!!" which Aguilar replied: "I peeked and thought she went in on the other side." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

Jupiter in Cancer Wants You to Redefine What Family Really Means
Jupiter in Cancer Wants You to Redefine What Family Really Means

Elle

time14 hours ago

  • Elle

Jupiter in Cancer Wants You to Redefine What Family Really Means

Feeling a tug on your apron strings? A collective shift is coming today, June 9, as adventurous Jupiter sails into Cancer, the sign of women, home, and families. Jupiter spends approximately 12-13 months in each zodiac sign, blessing us with yearlong cycles in which to stretch, grow, and find our fortune. Even better? Caring, intuitive Cancer is Jupiter's happiest place in the zodiac, its 'exalted' position in astro-speak. Nevertheless, there's an odd balance to strike between Jupiter's nomadic urges and Cancer's nesting instincts. Jupiter is the free spirit; Cancer, the nurturing mother. The way we 'do' family life could change in unpredictable ways between now and June 30, 2026. With conservatism on the rise among Gen Z, there might be a growing focus on the nuclear family. Population decline has become an existential worry—and an actual concern—in recent years. Hyperbolic Jupiter could drum up global worries about the extinction of the human race. And in Cancer, 'more is more' Jupiter could usher in a modern-day baby boom, at least for those who have the means to feed extra mouths. Here's a fascinating fact: Louise Brown became the first baby born by IVF on July 25, 1978, when—you guessed it—Jupiter was in Cancer. But baby fever could also feel equally dystopian. In the United States, fed-up tradwives have been quietly finding each other on TikTok, forming support groups in private chats and banding together to escape the oppressive lifestyle. Plus, without greater protections for reproductive rights, Jupiter in Cancer may struggle to deliver much of a baby boom in the United States. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, simply becoming pregnant has brought increased risk for some people, as miscarriages and stillbirths have led to a handful of criminal cases in select states. Simultaneously, social programs for families, like SNAP benefits and Head Start, are under threat. How do you afford a child, even if you want one? That struggle is sure to be a hot topic in the zeitgeist with Jupiter in Cancer. And despite the swing toward conservatism, heteronormative marriage could undergo a reputational reckoning. With Jupiter heading into Cancer, we may see more people cohabitating, consciously uncoupling, or skipping the whole 'white dress and mortgage' narrative altogether. Family will be redefined on our own terms. Regardless of your kid count, Jupiter in Cancer revs up the collective's maternal instincts. How do we care for each other? Nurture ourselves? Feel safe and protected? Those are bound to be hot topics over the next 13 months. And will the future be female? Jupiter in Cancer can bring a culture-wide shift with regards to women's rights, bodily agency, and access to power. Past cycles have definitely amplified these themes: On the heels of Jupiter's 2013-2014 odyssey in Cancer, Beyoncé brought gender rights to the VMAs, performing in front of a huge sign that read 'Feminist.' The same year, then-17-year-old Cancerian Malala Yousafzai became the youngest-ever person to win a Nobel Peace Prize for her work providing safe education for girls. As Jupiter flows through tender, tidal Cancer, the next 13 months will ask us to redefine what it means to belong. This transit invites us to weave stronger emotional bonds and to protect what's sacred—whether with chosen family or people who share our DNA. Expect fierce debates and heartfelt movements around reproductive justice, caregiving, and who gets to claim the title of 'family.' At its best, this cosmic cycle can birth a global reawakening around empathy, equity, and the power of community care. No, it may not look like a Hallmark card. But the future family is forming now—and if bountiful Jupiter has a say, it's got room for everyone at the table.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store