Nature, Environment, Climate Change, Ecology

‘It feels cool to be a cog in change’: how doughnut economics is reshaping a Swedish town

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:00:57 -0400

A casual mention of Kate Raworth’s theory has grown into the basis for decision making in Tomelilla

In a small town in Sweden, the local authority is carrying out an unusual experiment.

In 2021 one of the team had been reading an article about the concept of doughnut economics – a circular way of thinking about the way we use resources – and he brought it up. “I just mentioned it casually at a meeting, as a tool to evaluate our new quality of life programme, and it grew from there,” says Stefan Persson, Tomelilla’s organisational development manager.

Inside Elon Musk’s plan to rain SpaceX’s rocket debris over Hawaii’s pristine waters

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 07:00:38 -0400

Texas has long been under threat from the launches and explosions of SpaceX rockets. Now Hawaii is emerging as another possible victim

The north-west Hawaiian island of Mokumanamana is said to be touched by the gods. Bisected by the Tropic of Cancer latitude line, it is deep in the Pacific Ocean, about 400 miles from Honolulu. The island’s steep rocky cliffs give way to indigo blue waters dotted with monk seals and stony coral. No humans have lived on Mokumanamana, but it has the world’s highest density of ancient Hawaiian religious sites.

“It sits as a boundary between what Native Hawaiians refer to as ‘pō’, the darkness, and ‘au’, the light,” said William Aila, the former chair of Hawaii’s department of land and natural resources. “When a Hawaiian passes, their soul makes its way from wherever it is in the main Hawaiian Islands, up to the North-western Hawaiian Islands. And at that juncture, at pō, they’re met by their ancestors.” As Aila tells it, if a person has been good, they can pass into pō and be with their ancestors, who inhabit the Pacific waters west of Mokumanamana.

US waterways are full of dumped tires. The ‘River Cowboy’ won’t stand for it

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 07:00:38 -0400

Tires take decades to decompose, and millions are improperly dumped every year. An intrepid group sets out to clear Kentucky’s ‘conveyor belt of trash’

In the 1980s, Russ Miller and his wife moved to a far edge of eastern Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, where they built a homestead on a ridge hugged by three sides of the river. It’s the kind of place you can only get to with a hand-drawn map. A place so remote that the farther and farther you drive to get to it, the more unsure you are that you are in the right place.

They would spend leisurely afternoons drifting the river in inner tubes, until they started noticing what floated alongside them: heaps of discarded junk.

Trump’s $1tn for Pentagon to add huge planet-heating emissions, study shows

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 06:00:35 -0400

Exclusive: 17% increase in military spending will add emissions equivalent to those of some entire countries

Donald Trump’s huge spending boost for the Pentagon will produce an additional 26 megatons (Mt) of planet-heating gases – on a par with the annual carbon equivalent (CO₂e) emissions generated by 68 gas power plants or the entire country of Croatia, new research reveals.

The Pentagon’s 2026 budget – and climate footprint – is set to surge to $1tn thanks to the president’s One Big Beautiful Act, a 17% rise on last year.

Technicolour lakes and butterfly brains: Wellcome photography prize 2025 – in pictures

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 02:00:30 -0400

From microscopic images inside a human kidney to self portraits of enduring epilepsy and endometriosis, this year’s selection is as moving as it is dazzling

Neanderthal groups had their own local food culture

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 01:00:42 -0400

A comparison of cut marks on bones reveals that Neanderthal groups living fairly close to each other had their own distinct ways of butchering animals

Mining companies are pumping seawater into the driest place on Earth. But has the damage been done?

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 01:00:31 -0400

In Chile’s drought-stricken Atacama desert, Indigenous people say desalination plants cannot counter the impact of intensive lithium and copper mining on local water sources

Photographs by Luis Bustamante

Vast pipelines cross the endless dunes of northern Chile, pumping seawater up to an altitude of more than 3,000 metres in the Andes mountains to the Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper producer. The mine’s owners say sourcing water directly from the sea, instead of relying on local reservoirs, could help preserve regional water resources. Yet, this is not the perception of Sergio Cubillos, leader of the Indigenous community Lickanantay de Peine.

Cubillos and his fellow activists believe that the mining industry is helping to degrade the region’s meagre water resources, as Chile continues to be ravaged by a mega-drought that has plagued the country for 15 years. They also fear that the use of desalinated seawater cannot make up for the devastation of the northern Atacama region’s sensitive water ecosystem and local livelihoods.

Tax on AI and crypto could fund climate action, says former Paris accords envoy

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 01:00:29 -0400

Laurence Tubiana urges governments to consider levies on energy-hungry technology

Governments should consider taxing artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies to generate funds to deal with the climate crisis, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.

Laurence Tubiana, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and a former French diplomat, is co-lead of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, an international initiative to find new sources of funds for climate action by taxing highly polluting activities including aviation and fossil fuel extraction.

Country diary: The fields are green again after misty midsummer mornings | Virginia Spiers

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:30:28 -0400

Tamar Valley, Cornwall: The heat has been tempered here of late, but still we have gatekeeper and ringlet butterflies seeking out the buddleia

In the relative cool of evening I pick yet more blueberries and blackcurrants from unusually heavily laden bushes in the fruit cage. The top net is not yet replaced after the snow damage before Christmas but, amazingly, there is no bird or squirrel predation. A blackbird continues to sing in the hedge and a young robin flits beside me, in search of insects. Across the lane, silence is broken as our neighbouring farmer, with telescopic handler, dextrously manoeuvres big round bales from the long trailer on to the spinning wrapper, before piling up the black-plastic-covered haylage in readiness for winter.

Late sun still lights the north‑facing slope opposite, where pale brown suckler cows, their calves and a bull spread across the pasture. Part of the main herd of around 100 pedigree South Devon cows, this group of 20 cows and calves at foot are rotated between the fields, and in our view throughout the summer months. Their long days of grazing are interspersed with regular lie‑downs, all gathered around the bull as they chew the cud.

Ken Henry says Australia's environmental laws are 'broken' and should be rewritten - video

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:15:59 -0400

Using a speech to the National Press Club as a rallying cry to federal parliament to finally agree on a rewrite of the quarter-century old Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, Ken Henry, now the chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, said that Australia's environmental protection laws are 'broken' and should be reformed. 'We have had all the reviews we need,' Henry said. 'All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let’s just get this done'

Fixing Australia’s broken environment laws hold key to productivity, ex-Treasury head says

Why we urgently need to talk about geoengineering

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0400

The idea that we might attempt large-scale experiments to cool the planet is horrifying to some, but it looks increasingly likely that we will have to do so this century

Have we found an unlikely solution to the climate impact of flying?

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0400

Aviation is probably the single hardest industry to decarbonise. Sustainable fuels aren't the answer, but Mike Berners-Lee thinks there is one at hand

New book is an illuminating but flawed look at the impact of emoji

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0400

Emoji add a new depth to communications, but what of their cultural impact? Keith Houston's Face with Tears of Joy offers some answers

Pink Floppy Disc and The Bitles: Embracing the future of AI music

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 14:00:00 -0400

Feedback tries to work out if a new indie rock band is releasing AI-generated music, and eventually decides to lean into this as the future

Rare images capture snow leopard cubs in their dens

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:00:32 -0400

Snow leopard cubs have been photographed in Mongolia - the first time researchers have visited one of the animals' dens since 2019

Simple device can produce water, oxygen and fuel from lunar soil

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:00:58 -0400

Using samples collected by the Chinese Chang’e 5 mission, researchers have discovered a new way to release water from lunar regolith and process the carbon dioxide breathed out by astronauts

The anthropologist who says shamanism works, even if you don’t believe

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:00:26 -0400

Shamanism is on the rise, both in practice and in popular culture. Manvir Singh has spent years exploring why it is so enduring, what we can learn from it and the surprising forms modern shamans take

Reform-led Durham county council scraps climate emergency declaration

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 11:36:22 -0400

Durham is thought to be first UK local authority to rescind its statement, in a move condemned as a ‘very dark day’

A Reform-led council is thought to have become the first in the UK to rescind its climate emergency declaration, a move condemned as “a very dark day” for the authority.

Durham county council, which has had an overwhelming Reform majority since the May local elections, passed a motion to rescind a declaration made in 2019. More than 300 local authorities have declared a climate emergency.

Southern Water issues hosepipe ban for 1m people in Hampshire and Isle of Wight

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 08:13:32 -0400

Announcement takes number of people hit by restrictions across England to about 8.5 million

Southern Water has become the fourth English utility to issue a hosepipe ban, taking the number of people hit by such restrictions to about 8.5 million.

The latest ban, which comes into force for about 1 million residents across large swathes of Hampshire and all of the Isle of Wight from 9am on Monday, comes after Yorkshire, Thames and South East Water announced similar measures.

How human eggs stay fresh for decades

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 06:00:11 -0400

In human beings, egg cells need to survive for about five decades, much longer than most other cell types – and they may achieve this unusually long lifespan by slowing down their natural cell processes

Underwater volcanic brine pools could be home to extreme life forms

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:00:50 -0400

An expedition in the Red Sea found several brine pools that appear to be fed by underwater volcanoes, which may be home to microbes and animals with unique adaptations

‘The place is bleached, a dead zone’: how the UK’s most beloved landscapes became biodiversity deserts

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:37 -0400

National parks, famous for their rich natural heritage, should be at the heart of efforts to protect habitats and wildlife. Instead, experts say they are declining – fast

Photographs by Abbie Trayler-Smith

Dartmoor is a place where the wild things are. Rivers thread through open moorland past towering rocky outcrops. Radioactive-coloured lichens cling to 300m-year-old boulders. Bronze age burial mounds and standing stones are reminders that humans have been drawn here for thousands of years. It is considered one of the UK’s most beautiful and precious landscapes.

Much of this moorland is officially protected as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) because it is considered home to the country’s most valued wildlife. Its blanket bogs, heathlands and high altitude oak woodlands are treasure troves of nature.

Ancient rocks show earliest evidence of tectonic activity on Earth

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 14:00:05 -0400

The origins of plate tectonics on Earth are hotly debated, but evidence from Australia now shows that parts of the crust moved in relation to each other as early as 3.5 billion years ago

We’ve discovered a new kind of magnetism. What can we do with it?

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:00:14 -0400

Researchers have found the first new type of magnet in nearly a century. Now, these strange "altermagnets" could help us build an entirely new type of computer

Brain changes with eating disorders similar to those in OCD and autism

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 11:00:54 -0400

In children with anorexia nervosa or other restrictive eating disorders, changes in the brain’s outer layer don’t seem to be due to lack of nutrition alone – and some mirror those seen in other neurological conditions

Why you shouldn't worry a nap will stop your child sleeping at night

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 11:00:48 -0400

Parents may discourage naps out of concern that their child won't then sleep at night, but research suggests that is not actually the case

Complex knots can actually be easier to untie than simple ones

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 07:00:24 -0400

Mathematicians have solved a decades-old problem in knot theory, discovering that linking two knots together can actually produce a knot that is easier to untie – the opposite of what was expected

Sheep are destroying precious British habitats – and we taxpayers are footing the bill | Chris Packham

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 06:30:30 -0400

Large parts of Dartmoor have been denuded of wildlife, harmed by farming and a mess of government schemes that are costly in every way

Britain’s uplands are dying. What should be some of the very best places for nature are the absolute worst. Across vast tracts of some of our most beautiful landscapes, life is rapidly ebbing away. Where once there was purple heather, bilberry and buzzing insect life, there are now over-grazed, sheep-infested ecological disaster zones. For a nation of nature lovers, it’s a disgrace.

One of the very worst areas is the Dartmoor commons. These exemplify everything that is wrong about England’s upland management. In a recent Natural England survey of Dartmoor’s protected sites, only 26 out of 22,494 hectares (55,583 acres) were found to be in an ecologically favourable condition – that’s 0.1%. All the blanket bogs and all the heathland surveyed are in an appalling state, and in many places these once wonderful habitats are in decline.

Chris Packham is a naturalist, broadcaster and campaigner

Water might be even more important for alien life than we thought

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 05:00:06 -0400

Without enough liquid water on the surface, a planet's atmosphere can become choked with carbon dioxide, raising temperatures to a level beyond what is survivable for all known life

Climate scientists urge others to take up CO2 tracking as US cuts loom

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 03:00:47 -0400

Proposed budget cuts in the US will lead to the loss of vital carbon dioxide measurements, but no other countries are preparing to step in so far, researchers warn

Built-in fire extinguishers can prevent battery explosions

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 16:00:45 -0400

Adding fire-suppressing chemicals into batteries can prevent overheating, fires and explosions, cutting the risks for electric vehicles and portable electronics

Nor'easters slamming New England are growing more powerful

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 16:00:28 -0400

Much like hurricanes further south, the strongest storms to pummel the US north-east are getting even stronger as sea surface temperatures rise

You don't need to take drugs like Ozempic consistently to lose weight

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 16:00:17 -0400

People with disrupted access to GLP-1 drugs, like Ozempic, still seem to lose substantial amounts of weight

The truth about de-extinction: is it even possible, and why do it?

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:00:34 -0400

Ambitious projects aim to put dire wolves, woolly mammoths and passenger pigeons back into our ecosystems. But with so many technical and ethical hurdles, what is the real motivation?

Pet behaviourist explains real reason cats meow at you - 'it isn't a sign of affection'

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 09:27:00 -0400

Ever wondered why your cat seems to have a lot to say to you, but not to others? There is a reason behind this selective chatter.

Are batteries based on contact lenses the future of energy storage?

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 09:00:18 -0400

UK company Superdielectrics says its polymer technology could make batteries cheaper and easier to recycle, but its energy density must improve to compete with lithium-ion devices

Most warming this century may be due to air pollution cuts

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 06:00:13 -0400

Satellite data suggests cloud darkening is responsible for much of the warming since 2001, and the good news is that it is a temporary effect due to a drop in sulphate pollution

Killer in the nest: how young storks are being strangled by plastic

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 01:00:05 -0400

Researchers in Europe found everyday plastics, especially farmers’ baler twine, being used by the birds as a building material and entangling their young. It is a problem that affects other species too, say experts in the US, UK and Argentina

On a late spring morning in the farmlands of southern Portugal, Dr Marta Acácio set her ladder against a tree and began to climb. Four metres up, she reached the giant white stork nest that was her goal. She knew from telescopic camera shots there was a healthy looking chick inside – and now she wanted to ring it.

But when Acácio, an ecologist from University of Montpellier in France, tried to scoop up the chick, it would not come away: it was tethered to the nest by a piece of plastic baler twine. She turned the chick over and recoiled: its belly was a mass of maggots.

Ed Miliband would let a turbine farm destroy Brontë country. We need net zero, but at what cost? | Simon Jenkins

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 01:00:03 -0400

Of course the climate crisis must be confronted, but history, tranquility and beauty must also count for something

Nowhere does landscape marry passion quite so much as in Yorkshire’s Wuthering Heights. The tempestuous Pennine contours and tumbling streams perfectly frame Emily Brontë’s turbulent romance. Wild storms and dark gullies echo the cries of Heathcliff, Cathy and sexual jealousy. From moorland peaks to the historic Brontë village of Haworth below, the scene is unspoilt.

I cannot think of any British government for half a century that would have dreamed of destroying this place. Yet the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, apparently wants to do so, with the largest onshore windfarm in England, the Calderdale Energy Park. He clearly regards this unique landscape as the perfect spot for 41 giant wind turbines, each no less than 200m tall. Their height would top Blackpool Tower by 40m.

LIGO has spotted the most massive black hole collision ever detected

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 20:01:13 -0400

A puzzling gravitational wave was detected, and astronomers have determined that it comes from a record-breaking black hole merger

Beaker Street Science Photography prize – in pictures

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 11:00:43 -0400

Finalists for 2025 will be exhibited at Hobart’s Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from 6 to 31 August as part of the Beaker Street festival and will include the first-ever image of a wild eastern quoll glowing under UV light

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How do I feel about air conditioning? I’m very hot – but it’s destroying the planet | Emma Beddington

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 09:00:40 -0400

Yes, temperatures are rising. But more and more AC means more and more CO₂ – and then more and more global heating. Let’s have some long-term thinking instead

It’s way too hot. I’m cowering inside, curtains drawn, pale limbs clammily exposed, the sound of my overheated laptop fan drowning out the sound of an ancient, feeble desk fan. If it gets any hotter, I’ll stagger to my air-conditioned car and drive to the air-conditioned supermarket to stand in its chilly aisles, shamelessly fanning myself over the ravaged ice-cream cabinet in the freezer aisle. I’ve even become nostalgic for the summer when I shared an office with a man who insisted on having the AC set to 17C, meaning I had to wear a cardigan to work in August.

Ah, air conditioning, the dream. Or the nightmare? Welcome to appliance culture wars, 2025 edition. You may recall, in 2023, the US debated whether induction hobs were a communist plot; then last year Republicans tried, in all apparent seriousness, to pass the Liberty in Laundry and Refrigerator Freedom acts. This year has already featured Donald Trump pledging to “make America’s showers great again” (low water pressure means it takes 15 minutes to wet his “beautiful hair”) and now France is grappling with Marine Le Pen declaring herself its AC champion.

Repel ants and gnats from garden with one item you already have in kitchen

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 22:08:00 -0400

Ants, bugs and fungus gnats can wreak havoc in your garden, but luckily there's an item you already have in your kitchen you can use to repel them.

Campaigners question progress to clean England's Largest lake from pollution

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 11:00:00 -0400

Lake Windermere experienced significant algal blooms in 2022, turning parts of the lake green.

How government use of AI could hurt democracy

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 18:00:14 -0400

Countries are eager to use AI to automate some government processes, but this risks eroding citizens’ trust and feelings of democratic control – because AI mistakes can ruin their lives

We may have finally solved an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray puzzle

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:30:28 -0400

The IceCube neutrino detector has allowed researchers to resolve a debate about what types of particles make up ultra-high-energy cosmic rays – but much remains unknown about these rare events

Artificial cooling 'urgent' for Great Barrier Reef after warming spike

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:00:48 -0400

A drop in shipping emissions has caused a surge in warming at the Great Barrier Reef, fuelling calls for drastic actions such as marine cloud brightening to lower the risk of coral bleaching

Climate could warm another 0.5°C if we fail to capture far more CO2

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 07:00:46 -0400

Models suggest that meeting climate targets will be virtually impossible without steep emissions cuts paired with a huge expansion of carbon management technologies

Trees on city streets cope with drought by drinking from leaky pipes

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 07:00:09 -0400

Urban trees lining streets fare better in dry spells than those in parks – now it seems that leaky water pipes are the reason for their endurance

Hay fever relief could come in the form of a nasal 'molecular shield'

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 01:00:27 -0400

Mice experienced far fewer hay fever symptoms when a pollen-blocking antibody was applied within their nose