Environment

Discovery by UK scientists prompts fear that melting ice will allow more plastic to be released into the central Arctic Ocean – with huge effects on wildlife

A British-led expedition has discovered sizeable chunks of polystyrene lying on remote frozen ice floes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.

The depressing find, only 1,000 miles from the north pole, is the first made in an area that was previously inaccessible to scientists because of sea ice. It is one of the most northerly sightings of such detritus in the world’s oceans, which are increasingly polluted by plastics.

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Puerto Ricans are still left without power after Hurricane Maria, and rebuilding efforts are further complicated with structural damage of a major dam. NPR's Michel Martin talks with Luis Ferre Sadurni of the New York Times about the devastation there.

People can't simulate realistic, internal sensations, like temperature change or pain — which is a reason why more people aren't terrified by climate change, says guest blogger Lisa Feldman Barrett.

(Image credit: Mic Smith/AP)

More than 100,000 bees have been targeted by rustlers in the past month alone – and keepers fear the culprits are from their own ranks

There was a lump in Katie Hayward’s throat as she spoke about the emotional impact of the thefts that have cast a shadow over Britain’s beekeepers. “The heartbreaking thing is that it’s a very close community. The fact that one beekeeper does this to another is the hardest thing of all,” she says.

Two years have now passed since Hayward’s farm in north Wales was raided, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of bees. But the rustlers have continued to be active. Most recently they have targeted the property of one of her Anglesey neighbours, where around 40,000 bees were taken last month.

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New Forest Octopus-like tentacles are stained with what appears to be congealed blood and there’s a stink of rotting flesh

Naturalists need good contacts, and generalists such as me depend on observant friends to pass the word when they see anything that might be of interest. A phone call alerted me. My friend had spotted a photographer at work, and enquired what he was taking. He had been tipped off that there was a rare fungus nearby and had come to get some pictures of it. Jeremy thought I should know.

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Health comes from the ground up, Charles Massy says – yet chemicals used in agriculture are ‘causing millions of deaths’. Susan Chenery meets the writer intent on changing everything about the way we grow, eat and think about food

The kurrajong tree has scars in its wrinkled trunk, the healed wounds run long and vertical under its ancient bark. Standing in front of the homestead, it nestles in a dip on high tableland from which there is a clear view across miles and miles of rolling plains to the coastal range of south-east Australia.

Charles Massy grew up here, on the sweeping Monaro plateau that runs off the eastern flank of Mount Kosciuszko, an only child enveloped by the natural world, running barefoot, accompanied by dogs and orphaned lambs. Fifth generation, he has spent his adult life farming this tough, lean, tussock country; he is of this place and it of him. But when his friend and Aboriginal Ngarigo elder Rod Mason came to visit he discovered that a lifetime of intimately knowing the birds, trees and animals of this land wasn’t significant at all.

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• National Weather Service says: ‘This is an extremely dangerous situation’
• Maria knocked out island’s power and several rivers hit record flood levels

Officials are rushing to evacuate tens of thousands of people from their homes in western Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria inflicted structural damage on a dam and unleashed “extremely dangerous” flash floods.

Some 70,000 residents in the municipalities of Isabela and Quebradillas were being evacuated by bus after a crack appeared in the nearly 90-year old Guajataca dam.

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Labor vowed to ban ‘trans-shipping’ in reef waters after UN’s scientific body raised concerns about proposal in 2014

The Queensland Labor government has flagged breaking a 2015 election promise by allowing the loading of coal ships at sea in the Great Barrier Reef marine park.

Labor vowed to ban so-called “trans-shipping” in reef waters after the United Nations’ peak scientific body raised concerns about a proposal off Hay Point near Mackay in 2014.

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About 10,000 villagers have fled their homes after surge in seismic activity around mountain stokes fears of eruption

Indonesian authorities have raised the alert level for Mount Agung volcano in Bali to its highest degree after a surge in seismic activity around the mountain sparked fears of an eruption.

Approximately 10,000 villagers had left their homes around the volcano, officials said. It was the third time in little more than a week that the alert level had been raised.

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A rare rhinoceros under constant protection, an albino orangutan, and protected pandas are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Damning assessment by one of the UK’s chief scientific advisers says global regulations have ignored the impacts of ‘dosing whole landscapes’ and must change

The assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false, according to a chief scientific adviser to the UK government.

The lack of any limit on the total amount of pesticides used and the virtual absence of monitoring of their effects in the environment means it can take years for the impacts to become apparent, say Prof Ian Boyd and his colleague Alice Milner in a new article.

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Pumpkin toadlet frogs are only known case of an animal that continues to make a communication signal even after the target audience has lost the ability to hear it

Humans trying to chat each other up in a noisy nightclub may find verbal communication futile. But it appears even more pointless for pumpkin toadlets after scientists discovered that females have lost the ability to hear the sound of male mating calls.

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Decaying notebooks discovered in an abandoned research station contain a treasure trove of tree growth data dating from 1930s

A cache of decaying notebooks found in a crumbling Congo research station has provided unexpected evidence with which to help solve a crucial puzzle – predicting how vegetation will respond to climate change.

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Researchers have won a prize for discovering that a cow's genetics determine which microbes populate its gut. Some of those microbes produce the greenhouse gas methane that ends up in the atmosphere.

(Image credit: Charlie Litchfield/AP)

Arkansas regulators are on a collision course with Monsanto, voting to ban use during the growing season of a drift-prone herbicide that Monsanto says is farmers' best hope for weed-free fields.

(Image credit: Dan Charles/NPR)

Authorities in Australian coastal town will exhume the body of the 20-tonne humpback over fears it is attracting sharks

Authorities in the Australian coastal town of Port Macquarie will dig up the carcass of a 12-metre, 20-tonne humpback whale from a local beach and dump it in landfill because of fears the animal is attracting sharks.

On Friday, officials at the Port Macquarie Hastings Council announced that the body of the whale, which was buried as an “option of last resort” after it washed up on Nobbys Beach in the beach town in New South Wales on Sunday, would be removed following an outcry from local residents.

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Sceptics prefer to reject regulations to combat global warming and remain indifferent to the havoc it will wreak on future generations

From my vantage point outside the glass doors, the sea of grey hair and balding pates had the appearance of a golf society event or an active retirement group. Instead, it was the inaugural meeting of Ireland’s first climate denial group, the self-styled Irish Climate Science Forum (ICSF) in Dublin in May. All media were barred from attending.

Its guest speaker was the retired physicist and noted US climate contrarian, Richard Lindzen. His jeremiad against the “narrative of hysteria” on climate change was lapped up by an audience largely composed of male engineers and meteorologists – mostly retired. This demographic profile of attendees at climate denier meetings has been replicated in London, Washington and elsewhere.

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When Amsterdam removed signals from a busy junction, it made journeys faster and interactions more pleasant. Now the approach is being copied across the city

On a foggy Monday morning in May 2016, 14 Amsterdam officials, engineers and civil servants gathered nervously at Alexanderplein – a busy intersection near the city centre with three tramlines – where many people were walking, driving, and, as in any Dutch city, riding bicycles. With a flip of a switch, the traffic controls were shut off for all transport modes, in all directions.

This live pilot project came about as a result of the rapid growth in cycling in some Amsterdam neighbourhoods. Nearly 70% of all city centre trips are by bicycle, and more space is needed on the bike networks. Traffic designers are deviating from standard design manuals to accommodate this need. Among the tactics being used are the removal of protective barriers, altering light phases, reducing vehicular speed limits and designating entire corridors as “bicycle streets”. Designers have created their own toolbox of solutions for other Dutch cities to use.

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Killing of the 5.2-metre male reptile, one of the biggest ever seen in the state, could spark a dangerous battle for dominance between remaining crocodiles

A massive saltwater crocodile – said to be one of the biggest ever seen in Queensland – has been found shot dead and experts fear its demise could lead to other crocodiles becoming more aggressive as young males fight for supremacy.

Police and state environmental officers are investigating after the 5.2-metre male reptile was found with a bullet in its head in the Fitzroy river in Rockhampton on Thursday.

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As the situation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria continues, we hear from Patricia Mazzei, a writer for The Miami Herald.