The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/12/2024 - 02:00
07/12/2024 - 01:00
Hundreds of Europeans touring the American west and adventurers from around the US are being drawn to Death Valley national park, even though the desolate region known as one of Earth’s hottest places is being punished by a dangerous heatwave, which was blamed for a motorcyclist’s recent death
Continue reading...
07/12/2024 - 00:00
With up to 80% of butterflies in decline, people are being asked to spend 15 minutes to record number and type witnessed
Scientists are calling on the public to help track how British butterflies are moving north as the climate heats up.
Examining 50 years of data, researchers from the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation, which runs the annual Big Butterfly Count, have identified a clear northerly shift among many species, including the familiar garden favourites the comma, peacock and holly blue.
Continue reading...
07/12/2024 - 00:00
Researchers estimate 730,000 people a year in the US lose their ability to live independently due to traffic pollution
Reducing air pollution may help elderly people to live independent lives for longer, research has found.
Dr Boya Zhang, of the University of Michigan, who is one of the authors of the study, said: “Air pollution is linked to worse health – more lung disease, more heart disease, shorter life expectancies and more likelihood of dementia. Knowing that air pollution increases our risk of poor health as we age made us wonder if exposures might also impact how people can care for themselves in later life.”
Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 14:00
Australian scientists create brick refuges in greenhouses to help green and golden bell frogs survive infection
A “sauna” treatment for frogs has been used by researchers in Australia to successfully fight a deadly fungal disease that has devastated amphibians around the world, according to a new study.
Scientists created refuges for the animals using painted masonry bricks inside greenhouses that they called “frog saunas”. They found that endangered Australian green and golden bell frogs were able to clear infections from the deadly Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus, in the warmer conditions of the greenhouses, when they would otherwise have died. Many of the frogs that recovered in the refuges were then resistant to infection.
Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 12:06
Snail mail replaced with slug mail as scientists need 1,000 grey field slugs to explore their impact on various crops
It may be known as snail mail, but researchers are hoping the public will use the postal service to send them a different kind of mollusc: slugs.
A team of scientists and farmers carrying out research into slug-resistant wheat say they need about 1,000 of the creatures to explore how palatable slugs find various crops.
Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 11:30
Projected high of 10.3bn people is lower and will come earlier than expected, analysis suggests
The global population is likely to peak earlier than expected and at a lower level, according to new UN projections that officials have said offer hope of reduced pressure on the environment.
The analysis predicts there will be about 10.3 billion people by the mid-2080s, up from 8.2 billion this year.
Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 11:07
Lawyers acting for minister say emissions of coal extracted from mine should have been taken into account
The government has admitted that a proposed coalmine in Cumbria was approved unlawfully, as the carbon emissions of coal from the mine should have been taken into account in the planning decision.
This follows a precedent set by a supreme court judgment last month, when Surrey county council’s decision to extend planning permission for an oil drilling well at Horse Hill, on the Weald, was quashed.
Continue reading...
07/11/2024 - 10:15
Researchers have found that the key to a quick and cost-effective mapping of biodiversity has been right in front of our eyes all along, but at the same time invisible -- i.e., in the air that surrounds us.
07/11/2024 - 10:00
As Saturday after Saturday gets wiped out by bad weather, clubs are drowning in a sea of unplayed fixtures
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
The first thing Jamie Amendolia’s boys ask him when he picks them up from school every afternoon is the same: “Is training on? Is the game on? Has it been called off? Are we playing?”
Both of his sons, Sebastian, 10, and Alexander, eight, play football at Enfield FC in Sydney’s inner west. They’re footy fanatics. Except both have had their season thrown into chaos by the wet weather that has hit and bogged down Sydney’s weekends for months.
Continue reading...
