Over 15,000 photographers entered the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026. Julien Anton won top prize for a striking black‑and‑white seahorse portrait (also taking Ocean Wildlife), and Jenny Stock earned the Female Fifty Fathoms Award. Winners span seven main categories plus the Ocean Portfolio Award, including Wildlife, Fine Art, Adventure, Conservation (Impact), Conservation (Hope), Human Connection, and The Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds.
Kotaku reports Sony’s State of Play revealed Maneater 2, a sequel to the shark RPG Maneater, set in Neptune’s Kingdom with a new bull shark and mutated sea threats; the trailer showed wild tricks, encounters like an orca, and a 2027 release window likely targeting PS5.
Zealandia is a coherent continent-sized crust of about 4.9 million square kilometres, roughly 94–95% submerged in the South Pacific, making it Earth’s eighth continent by geological criteria. Its classification rests on four tests (elevation above the seafloor, distinctive geology, continental crustal structure, and a sufficiently large, well-defined area) and is supported by rocks, gravity, seismic, and magnetic data linking offshore ridges to onshore belts. Separation from Gondwana began around 105–85 million years ago as the Tasman Sea opened, with modern mapping (2023) tying the submerged edges together at reconnaissance scale. The size is about 1.5 times India’s land area and roughly two-thirds the size of Australia, and while school maps commonly show seven continents, Zealandia’s status reflects geological, not cartographic, convention. There is no global authority mandating a continent count, so Zealandia’s “eighth continent” label remains a scientific classification rather than a universally official designation.
Pokémon Pokopia’s free 2.0 update unlocks underwater exploration and housing, adds new customization options (hair colors and patterns), and brings broad quality-of-life and gameplay tweaks (bulk item transfers, item deletion in objects, improved depth placement). The patch introduces the Dive move, underwater building, new items and emotes, and a host of fixes and improvements across habitats, crafting, and multiplayer, all centered around the new Bubbly Basin region.
Pokopia’s free 2.0 update adds the Dive ability for underwater exploration and building, fixes and streamlines habitat mechanics so Pokémon are less finicky about furniture, and improves item management and other QoL tweaks; the paid Bubbly Basin DLC also releases with new content.
Pokémon Pokopia’s first paid DLC, Bubbly Basin, arrives August 5 on Switch 2, adding an underwater area accessed via a new free Dive move, buoyant blocks for 3D underwater builds, new decor, a watermelon crop, and a Dream Island. The content is part of the Pokopia Expansion Pass ($35) and isn’t sold separately, bringing the total package to about $105 with the base game, while teasing more DLC drops and secrets to explore.
Pokémon Pokopia is getting a paid Expansion Pass that goes live today, introducing an underwater area called Bubbly Basin with new Water-type Pokémon, outfits, and a Dive ability. The first content wave lands in August, with two more waves planned for later this year, and a free update is also coming in August.
Strategy's executive chairman Michael Saylor posted a BTC acquisition tracker on X with the caption 'A good time to add more dots,' a signal that a fresh bitcoin purchase may be disclosed this week. Strategy holds about 843,706 BTC at an average cost of $75,699 as of May 31, leaving the treasury roughly $11.7 billion underwater at current prices as BTC trades around the $61k level. The signal follows Strategy's June 1 disclosure that it sold 32 BTC (May 26–31) for about $2.5 million to fund the STRC dividend, and it comes one day before the June 8 annual meeting vote on moving STRC dividend payments from monthly to twice monthly. If a new buy is disclosed, it would fit Saylor’s pattern of signaling purchases ahead of 8-K filings, amid a broader market backdrop of weak prices and ETF outflows.
Vampire Survivors is prepping version 1.15 Lycaeum, the 'Wet Update' for Switch (and Switch 2), which adds an underwater stage called The Lycaeum with new enemies and fish-based weapons, plus new playable characters, buffs, faster loading times, 80+ bug fixes, and stability improvements. It also introduces a mid-run Darkana for weapon pickups, new bosses, an unlocks list, multiple save slots, character setup menus/filters, the option to unbanish stage items, and power creep options; patch notes haven’t been released yet, with a release window in the coming weeks.
Fifteen-year-old Evan Budz built BURT, a turtle‑inspired autonomous underwater robot that uses AI to scan for ecological threats (like coral bleaching and microplastics) with 96% accuracy; tested in a backyard pool and Lake Ontario, BURT uses four flippers instead of propellers to minimize habitat disturbance, runs on a Raspberry Pi, and includes holographic imaging for microplastics. The project won first prize at the EU Contest for Young Scientists (€7,000) after earlier success at the Canada‑Wide Science Fair.
A six-year-old parakeet named Bebe, owned by Steven Lawyer in the Bahamas, rode in a DIY mini-submarine dubbed the Bebosphere to about three feet underwater, offering the bird a rare underwater view as the owner says Bebe willingly entered the tube; the parakeet has also accompanied his owner on 15 skydives, stirring discussion about animal autonomy.
Divers found a 60,000-ton, cone-shaped cairn of unworked basalt stones beneath the Sea of Galilee, about 10 m tall and 70 m in diameter. First detected in 2003, the structure appears human-made with no signs of cutting or walls, suggesting a ceremonial site or ramp. Its age is uncertain, potentially dating to the Bronze Age (third millennium B.C.), and no underwater excavation has taken place due to cost and logistics, leaving researchers to debate its function and origin.
Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon won the grand prize at the Close-Up Photographer of the Year with an extreme close-up of a cauliflower-soft coral in Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait, captured using an underwater probe lens; the 7th edition drew over 12,000 entries from 63 countries across multiple macro and micro categories, highlighting tiny wonders from mayflies and stingless bees to moths and frogs in vivid, intimate detail.
Scientists have formally recognized Zealandia as Earth's eighth continent—spanning about five million square kilometers with more than 94% submerged in the Pacific—after International Ocean Discovery Program drilling and peer‑reviewed studies showing it meets continental criteria (thicker crust, coherent landmass, and ancient terrestrial fossils). This confirmation reshapes our understanding of Earth’s crust and could influence future maritime claims and exploration.
Edmunds data for Q4 2025 show 29.3% of trade-ins were underwater — nearly a record high — with the average underwater balance at $7,214 and more than a quarter carrying over $10,000 in negative equity. Those rolling it into new loans faced an average monthly payment of $916, with about 40.7% choosing 84‑month terms. The trend traces to pandemic-era pricing and limited leasing options; relief may come from MSRP-friendly deals, but many cars will remain underwater until depreciation slows enough for the balance to fall below value.
