Environment

Although a hole in the ozone layer might sound like a retro environmental issue, it’s still a problem today. While it's usually over Antarctica, scientists have now spotted the biggest ozone layer hole in at least 25 years forming over the Arctic.

Antarctica wasn't always a cold lifeless landscape. An international team has recovered a 90-million-year old soil sample that paints the most detailed picture of ancient Antarctica ever found, revealing a swampy rainforest and balmy temperatures.

People living in the hottest places on Earth may be up to three times as likely to die from a heart-related cause, according to a newly published study. Heat-related stress could be made worse in the coming decades by the effects of global warming.

The Arctic permafrost is thawing, which could release huge amounts of greenhouse gases stored there. But now researchers have found that methane-munching microbes might counter some of that, resulting in far lower emissions than previously thought.

One argued silver lining of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is that plants will be better off. But a new study has found that the more extreme heat and drought brought on by climate change would cancel out most of the benefits for trees.

A powerful shot of an osprey snatching its prey from a lake has won the 2020 National Parks Photography Competition, a contest designed to celebrate the natural beauty of the United Kingdom’s 15 National Parks.

The Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019 report confirms that last year was another record-breaker, continuing a worrying trend that indicates we’re drifting further off-track from meeting the targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Earth’s rotation is changing how many hours are in a day and days in a year. Now palaeontologists have managed to precisely measure how long days and years were back in the age of the dinosaurs – and it’s all thanks to a humble mollusk fossil.

A study is offering the most comprehensive demonstration into how volatile organic compounds can spread throughout indoor environments from cigarette smokers’ clothing and bodies, however, the health risks from this kind of exposure are still unclear.

According to the latest report from IEA, in 2019 global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions stayed steady from the previous year. That’s cause for some cautious optimism, but may not signal the start of the long-term downward trend that we need.

Honeybee numbers are falling to colony collapse disorder (CCD), which has devastating implications for global ecosystems and agriculture. But now, researchers have engineered bacteria that can help bees fend off two of the main causes of CCD.

Underwater glacier melting can be hard to study. But now, researchers have used robotic kayaks to monitor plumes of freshwater coming from beneath glaciers, and found that they’re melting much faster than we thought.