Exclusive: Homes are heating up as summers get hotter but least well-off are shouldering greatest risk, study finds
Why UK housing is dangerously unprepared for impact of climate crisis
From shutters to reflective paint: how to prevent UK homes overheating
Lower-income householders, minority ethnic people and those with young children are more likely to live in homes at risk from dangerous overheating, research has found.
The UK has baked in multiple heatwaves this summer, with many people sweltering in dangerously hot homes that were not designed to withstand extreme temperatures. June was the hottest on record and in general this summer England was an average of 1.58C above average temperatures.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/10/2025 - 13:00
08/10/2025 - 13:00
Reducing urban heat islands, greening local areas and using heat pumps for air conditioning can also play a role
Low-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homes
Why UK housing is dangerously unprepared for impact of climate crisis
Extremely hot days in summer are becoming more normal across the globe, but in the UK and other typically mild countries, our homes are not prepared. A third of UK homes are susceptible to overheating, and research shows that renters, people with young children and those from ethnic minorities are at particular risk of living in dangerously hot homes in England.
So what can be done to cool down homes?
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08/10/2025 - 12:25
Voluntary climate commitments were supposed to be a step towards progress. A change in political climate has revealed their weaknesses
Earlier this month, as Nordic countries were hit with an unprecedented heatwave and wildfires in the US began spurting “fire clouds”, Barclays pulled out of the net zero banking alliance. The story may have seemed less alarming than extreme weather, but it has existential implications, as the finance sector quietly surrenders its former climate commitments.
The initiative forms part of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a voluntary network of banks that Mark Carney, formerly the UN’s special envoy on climate action and now Canada’s prime minister, launched in 2021. At the time, the alliance, which encourages banks and asset managers to work towards the goals of the Paris agreement, seemed like an optimistic step in the right direction. Mr Carney described it as a “breakthrough”.
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08/10/2025 - 07:56
French officials says heatwave in southern Europe complicates efforts to contain biggest wildfire since 1949
Tourist trails have been closed on Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy as firefighters tackle a huge blaze on the volcano’s slopes, while officials warned of another “challenging day” for those working to contain France’s biggest wildfire since 1949.
The wildfire on Mount Vesuvius, close to Naples, broke out a few days ago and by Saturday afternoon had stretched to about 3km (1.9 miles) wide, destroying hundreds of hectares of woodland and killing wild animals. Thick smoke could be seen from Pompeii and Naples.
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08/10/2025 - 07:00
Scientists say lightning bugs are having a revival this year – but they’re concerned about the insects’ long-term viability
Max Vogel, a 29-year-old public defense attorney, was picnicking with friends in early August at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, when he noticed flashes of light appear in the air around him.
They were fireflies, bioluminescent insects that the Washington DC native had not seen while living in Oregon, where there are few, if any. For many Americans who live where fireflies do, their flashing lights at dusk are a tangible rite of summer – though one that may now be under threat.
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08/10/2025 - 04:00
Yes, they can be hard to spot – but this find highlights how little we know about creatures crucial to our ecosystem
Gwen Pearson is adjunct professor at Michigan State University Department of Entomology
Scientists recently announced they had found an enormous new stick insect in Australia. At 41cm in length and weighing 44g, the main question I heard was: “Why didn’t scientists notice something that big before now?”
The short answer is: it’s a stick. Stick insects spent over 100m years perfecting their cosplay as leaves, branches and moss. They are diabolically difficult to spot, even with fairly acute human vision. If you disturb a stick insect, its usual response is to fall to the ground and lie still. So now you are looking for a stick lying on the ground … among all the other sticks.
Gwen Pearson is adjunct faculty at Michigan State University Department of Entomology. She received the Entomological Foundation Medal of Honor for her work in education and science communication
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08/09/2025 - 10:23
Over 300 million years ago, Illinois teemed with life in tropical swamps and seas, now preserved at the famous Mazon Creek fossil site. Researchers from the University of Missouri and geologist Gordon Baird have reexamined a vast fossil collection, uncovering three distinct ancient environments—freshwater, transitional marine, and offshore—each with unique animal life. Their findings, enhanced by advanced imaging and data analysis, reveal how sea-level changes, sediment conditions, and microbial activity shaped fossil formation.
08/09/2025 - 07:00
US Bureau of Land management is working to rapidly strip protections to largest tract of land in the US
The Trump administration’s plan to expand oil and gas drilling in a 23m acre reserve on the Arctic Ocean is sparking an impassioned response, amid fears it threatens Arctic wildlife, undermines the subsistence rights of Alaska Natives and imperils one of the fastest-warming ecosystems on Earth.
More than a quarter of a million people have responded to the 2 June proposal from the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to roll back protections on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), the largest tract of public land in the US.
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08/09/2025 - 06:00
Exclusive: Polluted water was released into loch near Glasgow because Royal Navy failed to maintain 1,500 water pipes, says watchdog
Radioactive water from the base that holds the UK’s nuclear bombs was allowed to leak into the sea after old pipes repeatedly burst, official files have revealed.
The radioactive material was released into Loch Long, a sea loch near Glasgow in western Scotland, because the Royal Navy failed to properly maintain a network of 1,500 water pipes on the base, a regulator found.
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08/09/2025 - 05:00
Experts working to benchmark resource use of AI models say new version’s enhanced capabilities come at a steep cost
In mid-2023, if a user asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT for a recipe for artichoke pasta or instructions on how to make a ritual offering to the ancient Canaanite deity Moloch, its response might have taken – very roughly – 2 watt-hours, or about as much electricity as an incandescent bulb consumes in 2 minutes.
OpenAI released a model on Thursday that will underpin the popular chatbot – GPT-5. Ask that version of the AI for an artichoke recipe, and the same amount of pasta-related text could take several times – even 20 times – that amount of energy, experts say.
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