Scientists say frog’s journey shows difficulty of spotting insects or fungi spread by global plant trade
A tiny tree frog hitchhiking in a bunch of roses to Sheffield from Colombia has inspired a study into invasive species reaching the UK’s shores.
Dr Silviu Petrovan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s zoology department and a senior author of a paper published today in the journal BioScience, had his interest piqued when he was asked to identify a live frog found in roses in a florist’s shop in Sheffield.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
01/17/2025 - 00:00
01/17/2025 - 00:00
Report criticises ‘slow progress’ on industry regulation, amid record fish mortality and concerns over welfare and environmental pollution
The Scottish government has been criticised for its “slow progress” on regulating the salmon farming industry by a parliamentary inquiry that took evidence for five months before reaching its conclusion.
The report reveals that MSPs “seriously considered” calling for a moratorium on new farms and expansion of existing sites due to concerns over persistently high salmon mortality rates but did not do so due to uncertainties over the impact on jobs and communities.
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01/17/2025 - 00:00
Data for 2024 shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather
Wildfires that blazed around the world in 2024 helped to drive a record annual leap in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, surprising scientists. The data shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather.
The CO2 level at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii jumped by 3.6 parts per million (ppm) to 427ppm, far above the 280ppm level before the large-scale burning of fossil fuels sparked the climate crisis. The Mauna Loa observations, known as the Keeling curve, began in 1958 and are the longest running direct measurements of CO2.
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01/16/2025 - 21:01
Our society emphasises the value of conquering and overcoming your fears – but I can live with the idea of not climbing every mountain
Earlier this year, I finally climbed Mount Anne. This has taken an unlikely amount of time – I’ve been climbing Tasmanian mountains for years, but had never been up one of the island’s signature summits.
A “peak bagging” hobby is great fun, and takes you out to all sorts of interesting places. Some Tasmanians set themselves to climb the Abels, a list of 158 mountains that are at least 1100m high, but the list compiled by the Hobart Walking Club, the one I follow, is far more ridiculous – a total of 481 summits to find your way up. A list that huge seems bigger than most of them.
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01/16/2025 - 17:24
With the outlook for risk of fire, flood and other disasters increasing, this is not a problem that will go away
As we watch the horror of the Los Angeles fires, Australians are painfully reminded of our own vulnerability to climate change, which continues to exacerbate the impact and frequency of these unnatural disasters.
The images of loss and destruction in LA are particularly painful to those who have experienced such losses first-hand in Australia.
Nicki Hutley is an independent economist and councillor with the Climate Council
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01/16/2025 - 11:00
The fires have been devastating for humans and taken a toll on nature, but many of California’s ecosystems will be able to regenerate
Beth Pratt has spent her career protecting Los Angeles’ mountain lions, which roam an area currently engulfed by wildfires. These apex predators, also known as cougars or pumas, share a scrubby landscape with lavish private homes and a dense network of roads. When major fires take out huge areas of open space, their options are limited.
“This is the LA area – these mountain lions can’t move into the Kardashians’ back yard,” says Pratt, California executive director for the National Wildlife Federation. “My heart is very heavy right now,” she says.
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01/16/2025 - 10:00
After insurers like State Farm dropped policies, to switch to the state’s Fair plan was prohibitively pricey for many
When James Borow realized last Tuesday that his Palisades house was on fire, he was 300 miles away in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. The power was out at his house but a friend suggested he remotely turn on his Tesla and see if the cameras showed anything.
From the car camera, he watched in a panic as his house burned. As he drove home from Vegas to LA, he called his parents and told them: “You’ll see it on the news tomorrow, but the house is totally gone. I just watched it.”
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01/16/2025 - 09:00
British director of Human Rights Watch attacks ‘dangerous hypocrisy’ of government
Britain’s crackdown on climate protest is setting “a dangerous precedent” around the world and undermining democratic rights, the UK director of Human Rights Watch has said.
Yasmine Ahmed accused the Labour government of hypocrisy over its claims to be committed to human rights and international law.
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01/16/2025 - 08:00
Eaton fire tore through Altadena, burning buildings and killing many. Its residents are only now taking in the scale of devastation
A week after wildfires tore through the community of Altadena, the smell of destruction still hangs in the air. The acrid smoke seeped into the walls of homes that survived the Eaton fire, which burned 7,000 buildings and killed at least 15 people.
On Woodbury Road, where unblemished homes stand in between blackened lots of charred rubble, the devastation overwhelms the senses. The houses that haven’t completely collapsed offer glimpses of life before disaster arrived – pitchers and mugs in a cabinet, all a deep black, a bed still standing, a scorched bicycle and children’s toys.
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01/16/2025 - 08:00
Exclusive: Water industry calls for PFAS ban after analysis of sampling data shows contamination across country
What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?
The Guardian view on chemical pollution: the UK can’t ignore the risks from PFAS
Raw drinking water sources across England are polluted with toxic forever chemicals, new analysis has revealed, prompting the water sector to demand that ministers ban the substances and polluters pay for the astronomical cleanup costs.
The areas covered by Affinity Water and Anglian Water were found to be particularly badly affected, and experts have said they fear “we are drastically underestimating the size of the problem”.
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