A wrap of the biggest stories and best writing about the outdoors from New Zealand and around the world.

Swiss brand On is embracing advanced spray-on materials with a robot-made sneaker. They believe it can improve performance at this month’s Paris Olympics.

The Cloudboom Strike LS is lace-free and is designed to be more adaptable, dynamic and supportive than your average running sneakers. And they are extremely lightweight. A men’s US size 8.5 weighs just 170g per shoe.

The shoes already have a convincing track record: Kenyan runner Hellen Obiri, triumphed at this year’s Boston Marathon wearing a pair.

Its inventor, Johannes Voelchert, came up with the idea as a student after seeing a Halloween-themed hot glue gun that shot decorative spiderwebs. “I saw that there was a quick way of creating a textile onto a complex shape,” Voelchert, now On’s senior lead of innovation concept design, said in the brand’s video. “A shoe seemed to be the right object.”

The company claims its technology reduces the carbon emissions of producing a shoe’s upper by 75%, compared to its other sneaker models. Read the full story from CNN. 

World’s rarest whale spotted by Dunedin man having a cup of tea

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said a creature, believed to be a male spade-toothed whale was reported washed up on the beach at Taieri Mouth in Otago on 4 July.

Patrick Gallagher decided to see what the waves were up to that morning. So he went online to look at webcam footage of Taieri Mouth.

On the camera, he saw something that looked like a beached whale and did a double take. “I almost didn’t call it into DOC because I thought they must’ve known about it or it had been there for a while. I didn’t want to be annoying.”

DOC ranger Jim Fyfe contacted Gallagher later that day. “He mentioned that they’d been able to grab it and that it was a super rare beaked whale that was going to be frozen and held for further research,” Gallagher said.

“The rarest whale on the planet was found by me sitting on my couch, having a cup of tea, dreaming about having a surf when my wee baby daughter was feeling a little bit hōha.”

Since the 1800s, only six spade-toothed whale samples had been documented worldwide – the most recent was from Gisborne in 2017. Read the full story from Stuff.

Extreme heat killing hikers in western USA

Three hikers died over the weekend in suspected heat-related cases at state and national parks in Utah, including a father and daughter who got lost on a strenuous hike in Canyonlands National Park in extreme temperatures.

The daughter, 23, and her father, 52, sent a 911 text alerting dispatchers that they were lost and had run out of water while hiking the 13 km Syncline Loop.

Later Saturday, first responders in southwest Utah responded to a call about two hikers “suffering from a heat-related incident” at Snow Canyon State Park.

Tourists continue to flock to parks in southwestern states during the hottest months of the year, even as officials caution that hiking in extreme heat poses serious health risks.

Three hikers have died in the past month at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, where summer temperatures on exposed parts of the trails can exceed 49C. Read the full story from the AP. 

Therapists Urge Patients to Spend Time Outdoors

Spending as little as 10 minutes a day in nature can yield short-term benefits for adults with mental illness, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Ecopsychology. The new meta-analysis examined 30 years of published research on the social, mental and physical health effects of exposure to nature, including urban nature.

“We know nature plays an important role in human health, but behavioural health and health care providers often neglect to think about it as an intervention,” said Joanna Bettmann, a professor at the University of Utah.

From 14,168 studies that met their initial search criteria, Bettmann and her multidisciplinary research team carefully narrowed their analysis to focus on 45 studies, which included a total of 1,492 adult participants with a diagnosed mental illness.

“Ten minutes in urban nature is far less intimidating, expensive and time-consuming for people who do not have the time, resources, interest, community support or equipment to venture into wilderness for days or weeks,” wrote the authors. Read the full story from Mirage News.

Warnings issued after visitors go walking on frozen Mt Cook lake

Recent photographs show hordes of people ignoring safety signs and walking across the frozen glacial lake in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.

Visitor and marine scientist James Nikitine, who took the photos, told Breakfast there was a “huge sign” warning people to stay off the lake. Nikitine said his sons were “appalled” at seeing the people go against the safety instructions.

The behaviour has prompted warnings from DOC. Senior ranger Niamh Espiner told Breakfast the risks were “pretty serious”.

“This is an alpine lake, a glacial lake. Right at the base of Aoraki Mount Cook — the tallest mountain in New Zealand. It is an alpine environment, and the thickness of the ice the people are walking on, it can vary a lot.” Read the full story from One News.