Latest news with #GulfOfMexico
Bloomberg
19 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Carlos Slim Is Quietly Becoming Pemex's Partner of Last Resort
The transformation of Mexico's richest person into its most important oil baron came about slowly, almost subtly. Carlos Slim built up a stake in Talos Energy Inc. before flipping it for the company's Mexican unit. There was a 2023 deal for $530 million to buy a pair of oilfield assets from a fellow billionaire. Then a $1.2 billion plan to develop a gas deposit in the Gulf of Mexico. Add it all up, and Slim has spent more than $2 billion to become the most prominent private partner to state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos — and, really, one of the only investors willing to do business with the heavily indebted, operationally challenged oil monopoly.
Fox News
a day ago
- General
- Fox News
Bright red fish caught by Mississippi angler with electric reel breaks new record
A Mississippi angler just broke a fishing record in the Magnolia State. Joseph Hoang of Biloxi, Mississippi, caught a vermilion snapper using an electric reel. The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) certified the all-tackle state saltwater fish record for the month of May. The snapper weighed 6 pounds and 9.6 ounces, according to the MDMR news release. Vermilion snappers are known for their bright red color and slender body. They can grow up to 2 feet long and weigh up to 7 pounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The fish can be found from North Carolina down to Brazil, including in the West Indies, the Gulf of America and the Caribbean Sea. Red snapper season started in Mississippi on May 23. Anglers are allowed to harvest two red snappers per person per day with a 16-inch minimum size limit. The largemouth bass is Mississippi's state fish. It's also the most common fish to find, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP). Largemouth bass can reach weights greater than 10 to 15 pounds, sometimes stretching over 26 inches in length, according to the MDWFP.
Forbes
a day ago
- Climate
- Forbes
The 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season Starts Now
Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm at the time of this NASA photograph, is pictured in the Gulf of ... More Mexico off the coast of Yucatan Peninsula. This week marks the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, a date that should resonate not only with meteorologists and emergency managers, but also with every business, homeowner and community leader along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. While the historical peak of hurricane activity arrives later in the summer, in some years, we've seen storms form well before the official start. That is why June should be considered more than a ceremonial marker, but a call to pay attention, to stay informed, and to act early. Between 2015 and 2021, the Atlantic hurricane season delivered an unprecedented string of early season named storms, each forming before the traditional June 1 start date. This stretch began with Tropical Storm Ana in May 2015 and included the extraordinary formation of Hurricane Alex in January 2016, an event that hadn't been seen since 1938. From 2015 through 2021, every season had at least one named storm form in May or even earlier, a testament to how warm waters and neutral to La Niña conditions had created a fertile environment for early development. The development of the first tropical storm of the season has transitioned back to a June or later ... More over the past three seasons. The 2025 season is also expected to have a slow start. Yet, 2022 to the present season, have signaled a break from this pattern. In 2022, Tropical Storm Alex arrived on June 5, and in 2023, Tropical Storm Arlene formed just one day into the official season on June 2. Last year took an even more notable turn, with Tropical Storm Alberto not forming until June 19, the slowest start since 2014. With 2025 continuing this trend, these later starts mark a significant shift from the previous pattern of early storms and suggest that the conditions favoring May development may be giving way to new climate signals. Strong upper-level winds, known as wind shear, have been more active in recent springs, disrupting the delicate balance that typically allows tropical systems to organize. In addition, 2023 and 2024 featured a powerful El Niño, which tends to strengthen westerly winds in the Atlantic, making early development less likely. Another very important factor in early season storm suppression are huge dust clouds from the Sahara Desert, carried across the Atlantic all the way to the United States. The latest dust storm is expected to reach the Gulf states this week. All these factors combine to illustrate that while early storm formation can offer a clue about springtime atmospheric patterns, it does not tell the whole story of a season's eventual activity. The recent shift to the first storm forming after the start of the season, compared to just a few years ago when storms regularly formed before June 1, highlights how dynamic and unpredictable hurricane forecasting can be. While the timing of the first named storm each year provides valuable insight into springtime atmospheric patterns, it does not offer a complete forecast of what the rest of the season will bring. After all, 2023 had a slow start yet ended as one of the most active seasons in memory. The real drivers of a season's intensity are the interplay of warm sea-surface temperatures, mid-summer wind shear, the Saharan dust layer reach, and the broader state of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Some of the necessary conditions for storm development are already in place. By spring, we were already seeing record warm ocean temperatures as evidenced by the earliest 90-degree water temperature reading in history at Virginia Key, Florida, just off the coast from Miami. New approaches to forecasting tropical storms are reshaping how we understand and respond to these formidable systems. The emergence of artificial intelligence models, such as Microsoft's Aurora AI project, are providing powerful tools for sifting through massive datasets and delivering more precise storm projections. This cutting-edge technology uses machine learning algorithms to find subtle patterns in atmospheric and oceanic data, offering earlier and more accurate predictions of storm development and intensification. Meanwhile, DTN, the company I work for, recently launched the Hurricane Threat Index to look beyond just wind speeds and surge at landfall. This index incorporates impacts well inland, recognizing that the heaviest rainfall and strongest winds often extend far from the coastline, as recent storms like Harvey and Florence have demonstrated. The model also elevates the importance of multiple risks associated with a hurricane. For example, Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region, but the most catastrophic impact occurred in western North Carolina after Helene weakened to a tropical storm. Within the threat index both the hurricane and subsequent flooding would rate a high severity risk and communicated as such to those potentially impacted. These advances in technology and methodology ensure that forecasts are more holistic and more relevant to the evolving risk landscape, helping decision-makers better prepare for the full range of storm threats. As the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season begins, we're reminded that storms don't always follow the patterns of the past. The seven-year stretch of early-season storms, followed by recent seasons with later starts, clearly illustrates how climate variability and long-term changes continue to reshape our understanding of risk. As we stand on the brink of this new season, let's treat June 1 not simply as a date on the calendar, but as a call to action: to plan, and to stay vigilant. In the face of nature's power, preparation remains our most effective and enduring defense.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
Shark Skeletons Aren't Bones. They're Blueprints.
Blacktips are medium-sized coastal sharks commonly found in warm, shallow waters around the world, ... More including the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Sharks don't have bones. Instead, their skeletons are made from mineralized cartilage, an adaptation that has helped these predators move through the oceans for over 400 million years. A new study takes a deeper look — quite literally — at how this cartilage works. Using a combination of high-resolution 3D imaging and in-situ mechanical testing, a global team of scientists have mapped out the internal structure of shark cartilage and found it to be much more complex than it appears on the surface. The findings not only help explain how sharks maintain their strength and flexibility, but also open the door for developing tough, adaptable materials based on nature's own engineering. The research focused on blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) and involved a collaboration between the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University, the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Germany, and NOAA Fisheries. Blacktips are medium-sized coastal sharks commonly found in warm, shallow waters around the world, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They typically grow to about 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length, though some individuals can reach up to 8 feet (2.4 meters). Named for the distinctive black markings on the tips of their dorsal, pelvic, and tail fins, blacktip sharks primarily eat small fish, squid, and crustaceans, using quick bursts of speed to chase down prey. The team zoomed in on their cartilage using synchrotron X-ray nanotomography, a powerful imaging technique that can reveal details down to the nanometer scale. What they found was that the cartilage wasn't uniform. In fact, it had two distinct regions, each with its own structure and purpose. One is called the 'corpus calcareum,' the outer mineralized layer, and the other is the 'intermediale,' the inner core. Both are made of densely packed collagen and bioapatite (the same mineral found in human bones). But while their chemical makeup is similar, their physical structures are not. In both regions, the cartilage was found to be full of pores and reinforced with thick struts, which help absorb pressure and strain from multiple directions. That's especially important for sharks, since they are constantly in motion. Their spines have to bend and flex without breaking as they swim. The cartilage, it turns out, acts almost like a spring. It stores energy as the shark's tail flexes, then releases that energy to power the next stroke. The scientists also noted the presence of tiny, needle-like crystals of bioapatite aligned with strands of collagen. This alignment increases the material's ability to resist damage. Researchers also noted helical fiber structures in the cartilage, the twisting patterns of collagen helping prevent cracks from spreading. These structures work together to distribute pressure and protect the skeleton from failure; this kind of layered, directional reinforcement is something human engineers have tried to mimic in synthetic materials, but nature has been perfecting it for hundreds of millions of years. The intermediale cartilage of a blacktip shark, with arrows highlighting the internal mineralized ... More network that supports and reinforces the structure. Dr. Vivian Merk, senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the FAU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the FAU Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, and the FAU Department of Biomedical Engineering, explained in a press release that this is a prime example of biomineralization: 'Nature builds remarkably strong materials by combining minerals with biological polymers, such as collagen – a process known as biomineralization. This strategy allows creatures like shrimp, crustaceans and even humans to develop tough, resilient skeletons. Sharks are a striking example. Their mineral-reinforced spines work like springs, flexing and storing energy as they swim.' Merk hopes that understanding how sharks pull this off can help inspire new materials that are both strong and flexible, perfect for medical implants, protective gear, or aerospace design. To test just how tough this cartilage really is, the team applied pressure to microscopic pieces of the shark's vertebrae. At first, they saw only slight deformations of less than one micrometer. Only after applying pressure a second time did they observe fractures, and even then, the damage stayed confined to a single mineralized layer, hinting at the material's built-in resistance to catastrophic failure. 'After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, we can now finally see how shark cartilage works at the nanoscale – and learn from them,' said Dr. Marianne Porter, co-author and an associate professor in the FAU Department of Biological Sciences. 'We're discovering how tiny mineral structures and collagen fibers come together to create a material that's both strong and flexible, perfectly adapted for a shark's powerful swimming. These insights could help us design better materials by following nature's blueprint.' Dr. Stella Batalama, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, agreed: 'This research highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration. By bringing together engineers, biologists and materials scientists, we've uncovered how nature builds strong yet flexible materials. The layered, fiber-reinforced structure of shark cartilage offers a compelling model for high-performance, resilient design, which holds promise for developing advanced materials from medical implants to impact-resistant gear.' This research was supported by a National Science Foundation grant awarded to Merk; an NSF CAREER Award, awarded to Porter; and seed funding from the FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science and FAU Sensing Institute (I-SENSE). The acquisition of a transmission electron microscope was supported by a United States Department of Defense instrumentation/equipment grant awarded to Merk.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
How Far Can We Degrade Our Hurricane Forecasting Before People End Up Dead?
As darkness descended on the Gulf of Mexico in October, a 1970s-era U.S. government turboprop plane neared the eye of the newly formed Hurricane Milton. When the plane's first radar scan arrived by satellite communications, I pounced and took to the airwaves, describing to viewers what I saw inside the storm: a dreaded vortex alignment signaling the early stages of rapid intensification. On social media I put it more plainly: 'Katy bar the door, this one's about to put on a show.' And Milton did just that, strengthening at a breathtaking rate over the next 24 hours to a 180-mile-per-hour Category 5 monster, the strongest Gulf hurricane in almost 20 years. But there was no October surprise on the Florida coast because we'd had ample warning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurricane hunters — enough time for people in the highest-risk areas to safely evacuate and businesses to prepare for the worst. But as we head into what NOAA forecasts will be another active Atlantic hurricane season, the Trump administration and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency are downsizing the agency, which houses the National Weather Service, the hurricane hunters and many other programs crucial to hurricane forecasters. Without the arsenal of tools from NOAA and its 6.3 billion observations sourced each day, the routinely detected hurricanes of today could become the deadly surprise hurricanes of tomorrow. The National Weather Service costs the average American $4 per year in today's inflated dollars — about the same as a gallon of milk — and offers an 8,000 percent annual return on investment, according to 2024 estimates. It's a farce for the administration to pretend that gutting an agency that protects our coastlines from a rising tide of disasters is in the best interests of our economy or national security. If the private sector could have done it better and cheaper, it would have, and it hasn't. Losing the hurricane hunters would be catastrophic, but that would be only the forerunner wave in a brutal, DOGE-directed tsunami to weather forecasting. In just three months DOGE has dealt the National Weather Service, which operates 122 local forecast offices around the country, the equivalent of over a decade of loss to its work force. Some offices have hemorrhaged 60 percent of their staff members, including entire management teams. National Weather Service forecast offices — typically staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year — are the source of all weather warnings received by Americans by phone, TV and radio. Without these warnings and data, local weather broadcasts and private weather apps couldn't operate. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
