Every few decades mass blooming in Mizoram’s forests causes a rodent boom – and devastation to crops. The cycle is well-known, so why aren’t farmers and authorities better prepared?
In the hills of Mizoram state in north-east India, the first thing that farmers notice are the swarms of stink bugs, known locally as thangnang. It can mean only one thing: the rats are coming. And with them, famine.
As dawn breaks in Mamit district, Maunsanga, a 62-year-old farmer, walks across his plot, stopping where his rice crop once stood. He bends down to examine a broken stalk.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/11/2026 - 03:00
07/11/2026 - 01:00
Teachers call for schools to be urgently adapted for hot weather amid reports of nausea, fainting and heatstroke
The extreme heat that has hit the UK twice in the past few weeks has left teachers struggling to cope as temperatures in some classrooms climb above 40C, with pupils and staff suffering from heatstroke, nausea and headaches.
Teachers say they have been desperately trying to keep children safe, with some covering younger pupils in wet paper towels as they lie on the floor, while older students have been given trays of water under their desks to put their feet in.
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07/10/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 11 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00205-1
The climate-smart MSP framework to support biodiversity objectives
07/10/2026 - 16:01
Matthew Wielicki frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos from rightwing PragerU
The Trump administration has tapped a former geochemist who has railed against “climate alarmism” and calls himself an “Earth science professor-in-exile” to oversee the federal government’s flagship report about climate impacts on the US.
Matthew Wielicki, who lacks formal training in climate science, will now lead the nation’s Global Change Research Program, which federal officials have gutted during Trump’s second term.
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07/10/2026 - 15:37
Habitat destruction strongest driver of species loss, with legislation keeping 99% of listed species from going extinct
The Trump administration repealed a crucial part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Friday, finalizing a new rule that will open habitats of imperiled wildlife to development, logging, mining and other uses.
For the last 50 years, the landmark environmental law included a broader understanding of the word “harm”, which ensured that not just the plants and animals themselves were protected but also the places that are critical to their survival. The inclusion of habitat in the “harm” definition was upheld by the supreme court in 1995, which ruled in support of old-growth forest protections relied on by endangered spotted owls.
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07/10/2026 - 11:54
Carmakers welcome ruling against suit claiming manufacturers including Nissan, Ford and Peugeot fitted devices to defeat emission tests
Car manufacturers have welcomed a high court verdict that rejected most of the allegations in a “dieselgate” claim brought on behalf of 1.6 million UK owners of polluting cars.
In her judgment, Lady Justice Cockerill said that “in the majority of instances, the court found that the relevant strategy did not constitute a prohibited defeat device” – software that enables the engine to behave differently in tests.
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07/10/2026 - 08:06
Twenty-three people missing and four Britons thought to be among those who died trying to flee Almería blaze
‘I had an incredible escape’: British woman tells of close encounter with wildfire
At least 12 people have been killed and 23 are unaccounted for after one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires broke out in the south-eastern province of Almería as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.
The regional government of Andalucía said the victims, four of whom are believed to be British, had died while trying to escape the flames near the village of Bédar in the municipality of Los Gallardos.
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07/09/2026 - 10:00
A brown huntsman is the quickest of more than 250 species analysed by scientists in the UK and Germany
If arachnophobes were not frightened enough by the horrific ability of Australia’s huntsman spiders to drag dead mice up the sides of fridges, they now have another reason.
They might be the fastest spiders on the planet.
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07/06/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 07 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00226-w
From fishers to sea rangers: a new wave in marine stewardship
07/03/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 04 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00224-y
A climate adaptation framework for marine resource monitoring programs
