World News

Species’ name comes from stubby shape and ability to secrete an oily substance from its knee joints when alarmed A rare beetle has been rediscovered in Wales after nearly 60 years, conservationists have said. The short-necked oil beetle, driven to the brink of extinction in Britain due to habitat loss over the course of the 20th century, has been found at Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire, according to Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Continue reading...

Cop17, focused on protecting nature and restoring ecosystems, concludes on Saturday with critics saying system allows ‘one idiot’ to stall progress Calls are growing for major reforms to UN biodiversity summits as countries fail to deliver on their promises to halt the destruction of the natural world, with governments likely on track to continue their record of never having met a target in the 34-year history of the convention. Two weeks of negotiations at biodiversity Cop17 in Yerevan, Armenia

Dolly Parton, tulips and outback life all feature in the best images captured across the country in October Apartments, community centres and a pink outdoor toilet: Australia’s 2026 National Architecture award winners – in pictures Continue reading...

More than 100,000 species are traded globally, whether illegally smuggled, sold as ornaments or in fisheries, timber and fashion industries, study finds The number of plant and animal species in use or sold in the wildlife trade is more than twice as high as previously thought, researchers have discovered. A study, published in Science Advances, warns that there are huge gaps in global assessments of how wildlife is traded, and that past estimates have failed to keep up with changes such as the

Congress must act to ensure that families are able to heat their homes before the start of the season Heating oil may be the clearest warning yet of how the war in Iran is deepening the US’s energy affordability crisis. Families who heat their homes with oil are facing bills that could be 50% higher this winter, adding nearly $900 to the cost of keeping their homes warm. These families were already struggling before the war began. As the Guardian recently reported, research by my organization fo

A cartoon that celebrates small acts of grace Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

The invasive species has increased in spread and numbers and is costing farmers millions of dollars Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An unpublished government report on feral deer shows Australia is failing in its efforts to stop the spread of what one advocate warns could become “Australia’s next feral pig”. The five years from 2020-2025 over which the national feral deer action plan was assessed covers a period in which the famously elusive species has increasingly e

A striking transformation takes place along the coast of Qinqdao in autumn, when a native seepweed turns a brilliant shade of red. The ‘red beach’ phenemon can be seen in the salt marshes and wetlands on the coast of China’s Shandong province, where the Suaeda glauca plant matures and absorbs water, changing it from green to crimson between September and November Continue reading...

Scientists uncover ancient hills and swamps that disappeared as sea levels rose across northern Adriatic Venice is famed for being a floating city, but research shows the land it sits on once lay many miles inland. Dramatic changes in sea level over 10,000 years have reshaped the northern Adriatic coastline, with much of the land that our ancestors roamed now lying beneath the waves. Samuele Ongaro, at the University of Southampton, and colleagues combined seismic data with sedimentary cores fro

Wharram and York, North Yorkshire: It’s the nervy few days before a ceremony that will honour our local waterways, and I have work to do I visit the source of the tiny stream called the Gypsey Race now and then, drawn by the everyday miracle of its water welling to catch sunlight like a plaything and alchemise it into colours and sparks. Today, though, is different, because I’ve come to ask for something. Something like permission, or approval maybe. I’ve been helping to organise a gathering of

Coastal communities across California were preparing for days of flooding amid potentially 'record-breaking tides' this week, as water levels began rising on Monday. Coastal California braces for flooding amid forecast of ‘record-breaking tides’ Continue reading...

Both private and public schools in tech regions are limiting the use of tech in classrooms. But will low-income districts be able to follow suit? German Gil spends most of his waking hours looking at screens. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015, the software engineer has bounced between start-ups and giants including Netflix, Facebook and GitHub. But when it came to the education of his daughter, Victoria, he wanted her to have a different experience, one in which his “kid could b

President has taken an axe to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stalling climate research on and response to extreme weather events Sweeping cuts to the premier US climate agency under Donald Trump have severely hampered the country’s capacity to forecast, research and respond to extreme weather events, former government officials and scientists have warned, as the US faces a cascade of hazards fueled by a potentially historic El Niño this winter. From the start of his second term

My mother was a keen swimmer, and she lived with depression. I wonder if she found the same respite in the water that has helped heal me since she passed away It was early morning in late September, off the coast of Kaş in Turkey. Watching the slightly choppy sea from a boat, the last thing I felt like doing was embarking on another 5km (3-mile) swim. Mind fog had sapped my energy, and my mood was decidedly Eeyore-like. But as I pulled on my cap and flippers, adjusted my goggles and took the plu

All it took was one or two careless teenage girls giving the vermin a taste of their snacks and they became the most well-fed animals imaginable I’ve written a fair amount about my boarding school years in Nigeria in the 90s, but never about the rats that accompanied my school experience. Picture it: thousands of girls from across the country, each bearing a suitcase or two of a term’s worth of “provisions” – cornflakes, sugar cubes, powdered milk, hot chocolate powder, and so on. All it took wa

Oxfam says investing by rich in disaster recovery widens inequality and gives incentive to delay climate action The world’s wealthiest people are not just profiting from the polluting causes of climate breakdown, they are also increasingly cashing in on the catastrophic consequences, according to a study by Oxfam. The global equality organisation has found that the richest 0.1% of the world’s population are heavily invested in disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction – a market that is