Category Archives: Environment

Discovery of ‘cryptic species’ shows Earth is even more biologically diverse

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Excitement as DNA barcoding technique leads to unmasking of new species tempered with fear that some are already at risk of extinction

A growing number of “cryptic species” hiding in plain sight have been unmasked in the past year, driven in part by the rise of DNA barcoding, a technique that can identify and differentiate between animal and plant species using their genetic divergence.

The discovery of new species of aloe, African leaf-nosed bats and chameleons that appear similar to the human eye but are in fact many and separate have thrilled and worried conservationists. Scientists say our planet might be more biologically diverse than previously thought, and estimates for the total number of species could be far higher than the current best guess of 8.7 million. But cryptic discoveries often mean that species once considered common and widespread are actually several, some of which may be endangered and require immediate protection.

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Florida braced for unusually cold Christmas – and falling iguanas

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Reptiles often become immobile in chilly weather and can plummet from trees though they are still alive

With unexpectedly cold weather forecast and pandemic-related curfews in some places, Florida is about to have a Christmas unlike any other – and it may involve falling iguanas.

Related: 'I took a trip to the North Pole': Anthony Fauci tells children he vaccinated Santa

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Wild ways: how readers have been helping wildlife in their gardens

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From digging ponds to planting pollinators, Guardian readers have been bringing out the best in nature

Inspired by the story of the hedgehog highways in an English village and impressed by the contributions to our urban wildlife gallery, we asked Guardian readers to tell us what they have been doing to help wildlife in their gardens in 2020. Gardens are important habitats for small mammals, songbirds and insects and gardening in a wildlife-friendly way can make a massive difference in counteracting biodiversity loss. As always, the response was amazing, with readers from the UK, Australia, the US and Mexico sharing their innovations. Here are the best of them.

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Storm Bella to bring more heavy rain to UK on Boxing Day

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Forecast comes as homes and businesses in England and Wales are flooded after downpours hit parts of UK overnight

Storm Bella is due to hit parts of the UK on Boxing Day after dozens of homes and businesses were flooded following heavy rain.

An amber national severe weather warning has been issued in parts of south Wales and across southern England, as the Met Office said conditions across the UK would turn increasingly unsettled through to 27 December, with strengthening winds and heavy rain moving in from the north.

A yellow warning for wind for the whole of England and Wales as well as the far south of Scotland has also been issued and will be in force from 3pm on Boxing Day.

It came as homes and businesses were flooded and dozens of people were rescued from vehicles after heavy rain fell on Wednesday.

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Even slow-moving boats likely to kill endangered right whales in a collision, study finds

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Canadian government’s speed restrictions are not enough to prevent deaths of endangered animals, researchers say

For North Atlantic right whales, collisions with large cargo vessels are one of the deadliest threats to an endangered population. But new research from Canada has found even under the government’s current maritime speed restrictions, strikes are likely to be fatal.

In a new paper published in Marine Mammal Science, biologists found that collisions between large vessels and whales at a speed of just 10 knots had an 80% chance of producing a fatality.

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Tunisia minister sacked and arrested in scandal over illegal waste from Italy

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Mustapha Aroui held along with 22 others after 200 containers of decaying household and medical waste discovered in July

Tunisia’s environment minister has been arrested following the attempted importation of household and hospital waste from Italy.

Mustapha Aroui was dismissed from his post and subsequently arrested on Sunday, along with several other people, including senior customs officials, members of its waste management agency, Agence Nationale de Gestion des Déchets (ANGed) and a Tunisian diplomat based in Naples.

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Alaskan tribes, activists and businesses sue to save America’s biggest national forest

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Tongass national forest, which plays a key role in fighting climate crisis, poised for logging after US ruling


A coalition of Alaskan native tribes, conservation groups and small businesses have filed a lawsuit in an effort to save America’s largest national forest by overturning one of the Trump administration’s most contentious environmental rollbacks.

Protection for the Tongass national forest in Alaska, one of the world’s last intact temperate rainforests, which plays a crucial role in fighting climate change, has been gutted by a recent US government decision to overturn a two-decade ban on logging and road building.

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Two-way street: how Barcelona is democratising public space

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Citizens are finally getting the urban patios and parks promised when the cramped medieval city was extended in the 1900s

At the turn of the 20th century, the Catalan engineer Ildefons Cerdà had a revolutionary idea for extending Barcelona beyond the cramped confines of its medieval walls. In the grid system of the extension he planned, each city block would be built around a large open space or patio, designed to be a park for residents.

When he began his work, the old city was hemmed in physically and psychologically, desperately overcrowded and disease-ridden, with frequent outbreaks of cholera and a lower life expectancy than London or Paris.

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Flood alerts issued for England and Wales as heavy rain forecast

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Disruption expected, with 24-hour yellow weather warning in place from 6am on Wednesday

Flood alerts have been issued across England and Wales ahead of heavy rain forecast for the run-up to Christmas, as the Met Office issued a weather warning after downpours over the weekend.

A yellow weather warning for rain in mid and south Wales, as well as southern England, is in place from 6am on Wednesday until 6am Thursday, with 50mm to 70mm of rain expected to fall in south Wales. Disruption to travel and power lines is expected, and officials have warned people to stay alert for potential flooding.

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Trump loyalists aim to block Biden’s goal to rejoin Iran and Paris agreements

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Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham urge Trump to submit Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate agreement to Senate to undercut future attempts to revive them

Two prominent Trump loyalists in the US Senate, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, are reportedly pressing the president to submit the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement to the chamber for ratification, in a last-minute attempt to scupper Democratic plans to take America back into the accords.

Related: Senior Republican says party’s final election challenge will ‘go down like a shot dog’

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Listen up: making music from the northern lights

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A biologist and composer have turned the aurora borealis into sound to create a magic melding of art and nature

There’s a hypnotic crackle before a whoosh of sound flies from ear to ear. It’s followed by a heavenly chorus that might be whales whistling, frogs calling or the chirping of an alien bird. It sounds celestial because that’s what it is. The noise is the aurora borealis: the northern lights.

The vivid green lights that trace across the Arctic sky emit electromagnetic waves when the solar shower meets the Earth’s magnetic field, and these can be translated into sounds that are made audible to human ears by a small machine.

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Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies

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Health impact is unknown but scientists say particles may cause long-term damage to foetuses

Microplastic particles have been revealed in the placentas of unborn babies for the first time, which the researchers said was “a matter of great concern”.

The health impact of microplastics in the body is as yet unknown. But the scientists said they could carry chemicals that could cause long-term damage or upset the foetus’s developing immune system. The particles are likely to have been consumed or breathed in by the mothers.

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Global food industry on course to drive rapid habitat loss – research

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World faces huge wildlife losses by 2050 unless what and how food is produced changes

The global food system is on course to drive rapid and widespread ecological damage with almost 90% of land animals likely to lose some of their habitat by 2050, research has found.

A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows that unless the food industry is rapidly transformed, changing what people eat and how it is produced, the world faces widespread biodiversity loss in the coming decades.

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How the Guardian covered 2020 – the year that changed the world

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This year was the most challenging and extraordinary year for news. Our journalists worked tirelessly throughout 2020, from the very start of the year with the Australian bushfires, through the struggle for Hong Kong, the Harvey Weinstein verdict to the death of George Floyd, and the dramatic and divisive US presidential election. But of course, the Covid-19 pandemic was the dominant global story of the year. The Guardian's coverage sought to foreground the science and the latest data, hold the government and the scientific establishment to account and expose incompetence, and bring empathy and humanity to the stories of the victims. Here are some of the highlights of our journalism over that time.


• Show your support for the Guardian’s powerful, open, independent journalism in 2020 and the years ahead

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The most exciting scientific breakthroughs of 2020, chosen by scientists

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The response to Covid-19 has been momentous but discoveries in AI, diet, conservation, space and beyond, show the power of science to improve the world post-pandemic

In 2020 the race to space changed gear. The May launch of the SpaceX vehicle Crew Dragon was the first time a private vehicle had delivered astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). It was deeply impressive, but also featureless… sleek, white inner walls replaced the complex instrument panels of old, and it was clear that the two test pilots on board were mostly passengers, with no direct control over the flight. In November, Crew Dragon became the first private spacecraft fully certified by Nasa to transport humans to the ISS and later that month delivered four astronauts to the orbiting station. This taxi may not be cheap, but it’s here to stay and it’s a game-changer.

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‘Folks, we’re in crisis’: Joe Biden introduces environmental advisers

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President-elect announces racially diverse team to face ‘existential threat of our time’

President-elect Joe Biden announced a racially diverse slate of environmental advisers on Saturday, to help his administration confront what he called “the existential threat of our time, climate change”.

Related: US to hold world climate summit early next year and seek to rejoin Paris accord

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Ministers face fresh legal challenge over Heathrow airport plans

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Critics say plan for third runway runs counter to UK’s legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050

The government faces a legal challenge over its plan to expand Heathrow airport, with lawyers and environmentalists demanding it review its policy in line with its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.

The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation with a focus on public interest cases including environmentalism and tackling poverty, argues that the government must update its plan for a third runway to take into account the emissions pledge it made following the approval for the airport expansion in June 2018.

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Huge Antarctic iceberg headed towards South Georgia breaks in two

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Researchers fear iceberg may disrupt underwater ecosystems and block penguins looking for food

Strong currents have taken hold of a massive Antarctic iceberg that is on a collision course with South Georgia island, causing it to shift direction and lose a major chunk of mass, a scientist tracking its journey said on Friday.

As the iceberg, dubbed A68A, approached the western shelf edge of the south Atlantic island this week, it encountered strong currents, causing it to pivot nearly 180 degrees, according to Geraint Tarling, a biological oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey.

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‘The platypuses were glowing’: the secret light of Australia’s marsupials

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The discovery that bilbies, bandicoots, Tasmanian devils and echidnas emit bio-fluorescence under UV light has sparked the burning question. Why?

Dr Kenny Travouillon turned off the lights and headed straight for the shelf holding the stuffed platypus, armed with an ultraviolet torch to test something out. Would the monotreme glow?

“All the platypuses were glowing,” says Travouillon, the mammals curator at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. “We went through with other mammals and we found they were glowing too.”

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