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Essay by Eric Worrall
And you thought alarmists had reached peak absurdity…
Scientists Think Climate Change Is Causing Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage in Dolphins
By Luis Prada
October 10, 2025, 3:25pmWell, here’s a bummer of a story. Dolphins are getting Alzheimer’s, and climate change might be the one driving them senile.
That ultimately means that we are giving dolphins Alzheimer’s. Add it to the ever-growing list of scary effects of climate change that are suddenly all rearing their ugly heads at the same time.
A new study published in Communication Biology examining the brains of 20 common bottlenose dolphins that stranded themselves in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon between 2010 and 2019 found they showed Alzheimer’s-like brain damage.
Dolphins that washed ashore during algal bloom seasons had brain concentrations of a neurotoxin called 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (2,4-DAB, for short) that were an astounding 2,900 times higher than those that beached during less toxic times.
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/scientists-think-climate-change-is-causing-alzheimers-like-brain-damage-in-dolphins/
…
The abstract of the study;
- Published: 30 September 2025
Alzheimer’s disease signatures in the brain transcriptome of Estuarine Dolphins
- Wendy Noke Durden,
- Megan K. Stolen,
- Susanna P. Garamszegi,
- Sandra Anne Banack,
- Daniel J. Brzostowicki,
- Regina T. Vontell,
- Larry E. Brand,
- Paul Alan Cox &
- David A. Davis
Communications Biology volume 8, Article number: 1400 (2025)
Abstract
Climate warming is one factor increasing the severity of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Innovative exposure models are needed to understand how HABs affect brain health. Here, we examined HAB exposure on the brain transcriptome of dolphins found stranded in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. We report the neurotoxin 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (2,4-DAB) is 2900 times more concentrated in dolphin brains during bloom seasons compared to non-bloom seasons. The same dolphins show 536 differentially expressed genes whose enrichment reveal impairment in GABAergic synapses, basement membrane alteration, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk factors that increase with each subsequent season. Dolphins also display concurrent AD-like neuropathological changes and elevated AD gene expression with 2,4-DAB exposure. Our study demonstrates disproportionate seasonal exposure to 2,4-DAB increases AD signatures in the brain transcriptome. As our climate warms, HABs will continue to intensify. Understanding the impact of HAB exposures will help to identify populations at risk for neurological illnesses.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08796-0
Sooo – they took a bunch of dead dolphins which beached themselves during algal blooms, and compared them to dead dolphins which beached themselves in other times, and concluded the algal blooms caused the problem.
The study also claims humans are at risk because of food chain amplification.
The word which comes to mind about this study is “tenuous”.
The population studied was Florida’s Indian river lagoon dolphins. From what I can tell there is no evidence that population is being impacted by climate change. The dolphins survive in water which has high nitrate levels and frequent algal blooms, though a Florida Atlantic University investigation suggested the problem is sewage, not fertiliser runoff. I can’t help thinking if dolphins can survive and maintain a stable population in the midst of such human caused challenges, nothing humans are doing is a significant threat to the wider population of dolphins.
Climate Change is Giving Alarmists Carte Blanche for Any Old Nonsense.
Consider all the climate alarm bombarded at us over the last decade or two…
With most MPs ignorant of the urgency, how can the UK ever reach net zero? The Grauniad
How can they possibly be unaware after XR, Just stop oil etc? Alzheimers?
The late, great John Brignell once compiled a list of all the things supposely caused by global warming. Here it is.
Got a problem? Blame global warming! | spiked
Unfortunately, our problems wear suits and do mad things.
Finally relief from Sisyphus Rock or is it RIP from the Herculean task John Bignell.
Thanks for posting that, I’m on an I pad out in the boonies and linking to his web page wasn’t going to happen.
Wrong cetaceans…they look wrong for dolphins…was it done on porpoise..?
Climate change makes your piano need a tuna.
But not your file system.
Try this one:
The Dusky dolphin (Aethalodelphis obscurus) is a small oceanic dolphin found in coastal waters of the Southern Hemisphere.
The photo description right above the photo at the top of this article states “Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)”. Note the word “Pacific”.
So, yeah, dolphins . . . but not a species found off the coast of Florida.
Rather surprising that the WUWT editor for the above article could not have included a photo of one of the following:
“Dolphins commonly found in the waters off the coasts of Florida, including both the Atlantic and Gulf sides, are bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris).”
Joe Biden has been Alzheimering for 4 years,
getting lost on stage,
falling up the gangway 3 times in a row,
shaking hands with invisible people,
being pushed aside by the easterbunny(there is no country in the world a mascott can do this with a president and get away with it without getting in deep deep trouble – only when everyone knows he is mentally gone and needs special assistance )
and none of the “experts” was able to see it(while the rest of the world was laughing about demented Joe all the time),
but they know it when they see a dead dolphin and that it is somehow related to co2.
Expertism at its best.
I have questions. If dolphins beach themselves during algae blooms and when there are no algae blooms what is the point of this study? Are the changes in the brain due to the algae bloom? Are the changes in the brain permanent? Has the sea temperature changed and if so by how much?
I also have a statement, there is no proper science showing that added CO2 causes catastrophic global warming. Again what is the point of this study?
The points of the study
1) money.
And relating something to AGW is the gold standard of scientific parasitism.
b) deflection
The increase of dolphin suicide can not be related to Arcancide and the Clintons(though even this is way more likely than co2),
but before some crazy conspiracy theorists blame it on off shore windmills it is better to preemptively blame it on co2 = the science is settled and from now on Alzheimer is the reason for dolphin suicide and no other of the 100 possiblereasons.
Far more likely that any perceived Dolphin self harm is being caused by Wind Farm intrusion into their home and the likelihood of continued further intrusions.
That’s exactly what I meant with “preemptive”.
Almost all of this stranding stuff is indeed man-made, be it ships,submarines etc.
And in this case the reason is fighting AGW = windmills.
And in this case they are trying to establish a narrative before the real reason goes mainstream.
“Almost all of this stranding stuff is indeed man-made,…”
What evidence is there that they never did it before Man came along and did “stuff” that could have affected them?
Strandings could have been going on for centuries but there weren’t enough people around to notice or record the events.
The increase that has been noticed is more likely not due to “Climate Change” but the efforts to stop it.
To get a grant by blaming something on Climate Change which never would have happened without Man’s CO2.
The Green New Deal. (or should that be “Steal”?)
“Hey hey, look at that castle!”
“Oh yeah… What’s a castle?”
“I don’t know, why do you ask?”
“Ask what? Who are you anyway?”
“I don’t know… Hey, look at that castle!”
— Jasper Carrott, on goldfish memories
I was going to write something…
… but I can’t remember what it was. !
I decided to write Something Clever
Where ??
I don’t recall seeing it. 😉
In case you missed it… I’ll write
Something Clever
again
“Our study demonstrates disproportionate seasonal exposure to 2,4-DAB increases AD signatures in the brain transcriptome.”
Further research is needed to map the transcriptome from the brain to the dorsal fin across decadal patterns of storm surge amplitudes and lightning intensities. In such a hetero-latitudinal species experiencing sub-tropical isolation, the ion attraction coefficients could plausibly induce a neuro-pathway channel for charge-activated synthesis of the 2,4-DAB as the fin breaks the surface at meter-scale elevation excursions combined with convective storm conditions. Early modeling suggests that even a 1.62E-3 eV capacitive affinity could trigger the synthesis of the necessary diamino and butyrate precursors within the nerve ends of the fin.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
What was the price for the buy in on this AI research project?
3 fins.
It’s off the wall stuff like this that is turning people off to AGW. “It’s caused by climate change” has become a punch line.
It certainly has.
I use the “must be global warming” line every time some mundane inconvenience occurs, for example –
a shopping cart at Costco has deteriorated plastic covering on the grab bar.
What else could cause that but global warming?
(you know it’s just “following THE science”)
“I use the “must be global warming” line”
I hear it reasonable often anymore.
Climate Change is giving Alzheimer’s to
DolphinsClimate Researchers as is evidenced by the nonsense in most climate papers“Scientists Think Climate Change Is Causing Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage in Dolphins”
Do you think they are thinking this on porpoise?
I just came to WUWT from the Babylon Bee, and was treated with the headline, “Claim: Climate Change is Giving Alzheimers to Florida’s Dolphins”.
I now need to clean the soda off of my screen that came out of my nose. Thanks for the laugh!
Mankind has no effect on climate change. So this has been happening all of the time and is beyond mankind’s control.
I might suggest that climate change hysteria is causing people to build offshore windmills. It might be that these windmills are affecting dolphins. Of course I have no expertise, qualifications or evidence but ……
More evidence that “climate change” is the source for every wild idea that pops into a climate activist’s head.
“The word which comes to mind about this study is “tenuous”.”
The first word which came to my mind was “insane”.
Satellites show that the planet has been cooling for two years.
“And you thought alarmists had reached peak absurdity…”
The “Richter Skala” to measure the earthquake magnitude is upwards “open”, so any peak us just temporarily until it is surpassed.
I think we just have to come up with a catchy name to measure the level of this kind of absurdity, like “plus ultra”, “gimmemore”, “dingdingtilt” or “LMAO”.
Ah well, such absurdities are still worth a good laugh…
“Alzheimer’s-like brain damage”
Since my wife passed from this disease a year ago- I’ve read a bit about it. I read one report that said autopsies of people who passed from another cause often have been found with similar brain issues yet they died without any sign of the disease so “Alzheimer’s-like brain damage” proves nothing.
Heard recently from a pod of dolphins off Key West, Florida:
“So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
Should I be worried?
Abstract –“Climate warming is one factor increasing the severity of harmful algal blooms (HABs)…..As our climate warms, HABs will continue to intensify..”.
Paper –“The last decade has recorded some of the warmest surface temperatures in modern times in Florida and surrounding states.4…..Twenty common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus truncatus) found stranded in the IRL [Indian River Lagoon] from 2010 to 2019 were examined in this study…..Causes of death included acute trauma, emaciation and inanition, viral infection and pneumonia, which were present in both the control and experimental groups……”
4–https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
“….. September 11, 2025: The August 2025 report from Maliye Karmakuly seemed inconsistent with history and its neighbors, off by about 12 °C. This was confirmed by looking at other sources. Inspecting the whole time series showed that the same faulty report was also submitted for June 2024 and June 2025, where it was less noticeable, being off by about 3-4 °C. All three reports were omitted from our analysis. This was reported to NCEI. …May 31, 2025: Due to system upgrades, the retired GISTEMPv2 station data tool is no longer available due to its reliance on a now unsupported database software library. Please use the current GISTEMPv4 station data tool to search for and to plot individual station data…..The basic GISS temperature analysis scheme was defined in the late 1970s by James Hansen when a method of estimating global temperature change was needed for comparison with one-dimensional global climate models….”
There is no doubt that dolphins among other animals have lethal and sublethal effects from toxins produced by the now called “superblooms.” Living in the ocean is tough and they are susceptible to some human disease and pollution. There was a fishery for them once, recall North Carolina and Texas shrimpers shot them for allegedly tearing their nets, but more easily done by sharks. This produced a food habit study, they like shrimp.
There is increasing evidence that marine biology papers don’t get adequate editing and could be shorter and more coherent. With all this new genetic technology it seems especially important with the complicated biochemistry. It would help to delete the irrelevant and probably inaccurate crisis portions, the obvious facts known to those reading the paper, and read the citations better. As some here have noted these problems are a whole lot more widespread than the overshadowing by the climate work.
I remember a visit to the hippopotamus in the zoo with my dad. I was about four or five and very impressed, like everybody gathered at the railing, by the trash can sized maw of an adult hippo. People were pitching popcorn kernels into this abyss and the animal came swimming closer. When it was just below us, my dad upended his giant box of popcorn into its mouth. The animal took a gulp and it was gone. This was greeted with laughter, cheers and applause by the crowd.
Correct behavior toward wild animals has subsequently been improved by mid-level bureaucrats with not much to do, as in a WSJ article yesterday about a NOAA rule protecting dolphins from therapy practitioners. This is because the close engagement with recovering addicts and mentally ill disrupts their normal hunting and resting behaviors. Encountering a dolphin in the wild requires that you “back away slowly,” according to the ruling.
I haven’t seen similar laws yet preventing shark, alligator or hippo therapies, but given another Biden term, they might have had time to rally.
Did the study account for all the cell phones tossed into the ocean by the “Freedom” flotilla?