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Toxins produced by blue-green algae have been found in dolphins that turned up dead in Florida waters after a 2018 red tide that coincided with a blue green algae bloom.
Toxins produced by blue-green algae that have increasingly polluted Florida waters have been found in dead dolphins that also showed signs of Alzheimer's-like brain disease, according to a new study led by University of Miami researchers.
The study, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal
PLOS One, is the first to show detectable levels of the toxin, commonly called BMAA, in dolphin brains that also displayed degenerative damage similar to Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease and Parkinson's in humans.
While more work needs to be done to determine whether the toxins cause the disease, the study concludes that dolphins and their complex brains could provide a key sentinel for the potential threat from toxic algae blooms to humans.
"Not to be too political, but it goes to show the health of marine animals and water quality," said David Davis, lead author and a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine neuropathologist. "Everything's directly related."
The findings add to a growing body of research that focuses on the health threat from harmful algae blooms, which climate scientists warn could worsen as the planet warms. South Florida is
particularly vulnerable, with miles of coast, a lake that is a third of the size of Rhode Island, rivers and estuaries, and an agricultural industry and swelling population that continue to feed blooms with pollution from fertilizer and sewage.
Comment: "This is the strongest hail in nearly 30 years, it is very rare," said Cheng Lin, deputy head of the meteorological bureau of Jinping.
Some other intense hail storms from around the world recently include:
- India's capital Delhi enjoys unusual hail storm
- Rome turns to ICE: Italian capital comes to a standstill after it was battered by torrential rain and giant hailstones
- Hail storm kills 400 kangaroos and 150 goats in New South Wales, Australia
- Freak 'hailnado' blankets southern Queensland with tennis-ball-sized hail
- Violent hail storm and ice accumulation hits Liguria, Italy
- Walnut-sized hail and flash floods hit Turkey's northern provinces
- Severe hailstorm cripples traffic, paralyzes public transport in Mexico - 2 feet deep hail cover
- 'Felt like gunshots hitting the windows': Residents of Greensburg, Indiana look back at weekend damage caused by baseball-size hail
- Massive hail injures multiple people, kills zoo animals and damages 400 vehicles in Colorado Springs
- Foot of hail on Highway 22 near Longview, Alberta makes it look like December instead of July
Such devastating hail across the planet is being under reported in the media.New research shows that Earth's upper atmosphere is cooling as the sun is entering one of the deepest Solar Minima of the Space Age. Martin Mlynczak of NASA's Langley Research Center says, It is likely that atmospheric dust loading from increased comet and volcanic activity is also contributing to these 'intense' or 'freak' hailstorms, the cooling effect of which causes ice crystals to form.