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Four Heyphones - a specialist cave radio system that can transmit through hundreds of meters through solid rock - were relayed by the Police from Derbyshire to London Heathrow, to be flown out to Thailand by Rob Harper, Rick Stanton and John Volanthen

Thailand Cave Rescue: Brit cave divers report "gnarly diving"

The Cave

This cave system runs for many miles underground and is explorable from November to June. It is prone to seasonal flooding during the monsoon months: June to October. Apparently there are warning signs discouraging visits during the rainy season.

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The moment the group are found

This is the transcript of the conversation between Rick Stanton, John Volanthen and the trapped children.

John: How many of you [are there]?

Children: Thirteen

John: Thirteen? Brilliant!

John: There's two of us.... we had to dive.

John: We're coming, it's ok. Many people are coming. We are the first.

Children ask what day it is

John: Monday. One week and Monday. You have been here 10 days. You are very strong, very strong.

  Diving is a kind of leisure activity we never really associate with Stone Age people
Diving is a kind of leisure activity we never really associate with Stone Age people

Did Stone Age people swim and dive just for the fun of it?

Surfer's ear is the common name for an exostosis or abnormal bone growth within the ear canal. Irritation from cold wind and water exposure causes the bone surrounding the ear canal to develop lumps of new bony growth which constrict the ear canal. The condition is not limited to surfing and can occur in any activity with cold, wet, windy conditions such as windsurfing, kayaking, sailing, jet skiing, kitesurfing and diving.

Male orca breaching

Sounds of orca send whales fleeing

Regarded as one of the ocean's most formidable predators, killer whales are pack hunters, with some orcas hunting other marine mammals while others prefer to eat only fish. In a new study published in Journal of Experimental Biology, Matthew Bowers from Duke University and colleagues speculated whether aquatic mammals that are potential killer whale prey could distinguish calls of the predatory killers from those of other marine mammals.

Male orca breaching

Sounds of orca send whales fleeing

Regarded as one of the ocean's most formidable predators, killer whales are pack hunters, with some orcas hunting other marine mammals while others prefer to eat only fish. In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Matthew Bowers from Duke University and colleagues speculated whether aquatic mammals that are potential killer whale prey could distinguish calls of the predatory killers from those of other marine mammals.

Lemon sharks doing ... erh... something. A cobia is joining the merry-go-round
Lemon sharks doing ... erh... something. A cobia is joining the merry-go-round

What do sharks do all day?

What do sharks do when we’re not looking?

To answer this question, Murdoch University fish biologist Lauran Brewster attached accelerometers to the fins of 24 lemon sharks in the Bimini Islands, Bahamas to find out.

Similar to our wearable Fitbits, the accelerometer collects data about the sharks’ movements, which are then analysed using a statistical approach called machine learning. “Very basically, machine learning is a model that learns patterns in data and can be used to identify similar patterns in new data and make predictions from it,” said Brewster.

Underwater photographer Alex Mustard to receive an MBE

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List recognises a wide range of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom. The awardees are acknowledged for their distinguished work and achievements in a specific field, in this instance "the Arts, Music and Dance".

Alex Mustard will receive his MBE or Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire medal in the next few months.

It's an incredible happy shock and I am delighted

It has therefore been fascinating watching Mustard's career flourish. He has won a number of awards including the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

In 2003 he received the Visions In the Sea Award for Outstanding Contributions to Underwater Photography. Ten years later, in 2013, Alex was named the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his image Night Moves. The only time an underwater photograph has won this prestigious award. In 2016 he was given the ADEX 2016 Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Underwater Photography.

Lex Warner, John Chatterton, Richie Kohler, Rosemary E Lunn, Roz Lunn, stage cylinder, Scapa Flow, Scotland, XRay Mag, X-Ray Magazine, scuba diving news, CCR fatality
File Image: John Chatterton and Richie Kohler of the Deep Sea Detectives gearing up to dive in Scapa Flow, Scotland. Rosemary Lunn is assiting Richie Kohler to clip a stage cylinder to his left hand side | Image Credit: Simon Mills

The Lex Warner case continues a sad trend

On 14 August 2012 Lex Warner was about to conduct a technical dive off the Scottish coast. He was diving a rebreather and bailout stages and whilst he was crossing the deck of the dive boat, he stumbled, fell forwards and landed heavily on the deck. He went down on his knees, then onto his hands, before rolling onto his side and finally onto his back. Having been helped back to his feet by the boat’s crew, Lex Warner was reported to have expressed frustration and annoyance at himself for falling.

Some rockpool prawns prefer to stick with the food they found while others tend to forage for more choices.

Shy prawns fare better than bolder ones

Scientists at the University of Exeter studying rockpool prawns (Palaemon elegant) have discovered that they exhibit different personalities, and those that are "shy" tend to fare better when competing for food.

The findings of their study was published in Volume 140 of the journal Animal Behaviour.

In the study, the prawns, all taken from the Gyllyngvase beach in Falmouth, were tagged and tested on their level of boldness by placing them in an unfamiliar tank and observing how much they explored and ventured to the centre.

Soviet Sub found and identified

According to Wallin's report, UMEX (Underwater Exploration Team) found and identified Sch-317 yesterday, 2 May 2018.

This Soviet submarine lies at 78 meters / 255 ft between Gogland (Suursaari) and Tuiters (Tytärsaari) in the east part of the Gulf of Finland in Russian waters.

Sch-317 was sunk in 1942 by a German mine after surviving several attacks by allies that included bombing the Swedish coast.

The submarine's final resting place is near her home port.