Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World

For the week ending Friday, Dec. 16

Brokeback whale

A humpback whale with a back apparently broken during a vessel strike has completed a 3,000-mile journey from Canada to Hawaii by doing what researchers describe as the breaststroke. Named Moon, the lone humpback appeared to be in “considerable pain” during the journey, according to the research group BC Whales. It has tracked Moon for the past decade, usually when she was feeding on krill around British Columbia’s Fin island. In 2020, they observed her birthing a calf and teaching it to feed and migrate. But in September, they noticed her body had become twisted, leaving her unable to propel with her tail. Her recent journey was said to have left her emaciated and covered in whale lice.

Guatemala’s restive Fuego volcano erupted with a flow of lava and columns of ash that forced authorities to close a major highway. Lava from an 2018 eruption devastated the former village of San Miguel Los Lotes, killing 215 people. Fuego is one of the most active volcanoes in Central America.

Vanishing plants

Good vibrations

Australian engineers have developed a way to create green hydrogen 14 times faster through electrolysis. By using high-frequency vibrations in the process, the team from RMIT University says the development could accelerate the global shift toward cheap hydrogen fuel for transportation and other uses. “With sound waves making it much easier to extract hydrogen from water, it eliminates the need to use corrosive electrolytes and expensive electrodes such as platinum or iridium,” said Amgad Rezk. He added that the new process will allow the use of much cheaper electrode materials such as silver.