The animals were thought to have moved away from the shallow waters of Loch Carnan in South Uist, but returned later on in the day.

However, marine experts said the whales have not been seen since yesterday evening and are now thought to have left the loch. Their apparent departure follows the death of one of the animals, whose body was discovered on an island in the loch.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the whale has suggested it died of an infection. Dave Jarvis, of the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), said: “It appears that what has been witnessed is a group of these extremely social creatures accompanying an ill individual and that the infection may have caused this animal to strand. Read more

Few of us are fortunate enough to enjoy clean municipal tap water — the rest have to make do with clunky bacteria-riddled filters and wasteful bottled H2O. Enter Zuvo Water, which has hopped on Indiegogo to fund its elaborate and tech-centric Stratus water purification system.

It includes WiFi-enabled hardware, filters, optional “intelligent” faucets and a cloud-connected smartphone app that’ll tell you when to swap out old cartridges for new ones. These are no ordinary filters either — they go beyond simple carbon filtration by combining ultraviolet light (UV), oxygenation and carbon with a patented five-step process, which Zuvo claims makes it the “only filter system in the world that is self cleaning.” Beat that, Brita. Read more

Climate change threatens every part of the U.S. in one-way or another, but in South Florida, it’s not just a threat: it’s a looming catastrophe. Much of the area lies just a few feet above sea level, and thanks to warming temperatures and melting polar ice, the sea is on the rise. A few decades from now, significant parts of the region could literally be underwater. Not only that: while hurricanes could be fewer as time goes on, the ones that do sweep in are likely to be more powerful, with higher winds and more devastating storm surges that will drive the high water much deeper inland.

But that’s not what keeps people like Earl King up at night.

King is the Deputy Director of Public Works, Utilities and Engineering in Hallandale Beach, just south of Ft. Lauderdale. Among other things, he’s in charge of making sure his town has access to fresh drinking water. But the sea is pushing in from underground to contaminate the community’s wells — and as sea level rises, the problem is only going to get worse. Read more