An extra 400,000 hectares of English countryside will be protected to support the recovery of nature under plans to be announced by Boris Johnson. The prime minister will make the commitment at a virtual United Nations event later. He is joining a global pledge from 65 leaders to reverse losses in the natural world by

A total of 108 surviving pilot whales have been released back into the sea after a mass stranding in Australia, marine experts say. They believe Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast is now clear of live whales. But about 350 whales died in what is Australia’s worst stranding on record. Now attention has turned to

After dangling the possibility of a mini-lockdown to break coronavirus’s chain of transmission, Boris Johnson has opted for a much softer strategy. The new Covid restrictions for England – which allow pubs and restaurants to remain open and households to continue mixing – have been met by scientists with responses ranging from praise to despair.

Climate change is driving the scale and impact of recent wildfires that have raged in California, say scientists. Their analysis finds an “unequivocal and pervasive” role for global heating in boosting the conditions for fire. California now has greater exposure to fire risks than before humans started altering the climate, the authors say. Land management

By Kenneth MacdonaldBBC Scotland Science Correspondent image copyrightORCA hub A team of researchers led from Edinburgh have unveiled a new system that allows humans and robots to speak the same language. The system is called MIRIAM – Multimodal Intelligent inteRactIon for Autonomous systeMs. It allows users to ask robots questions and understand their actions in

Sir David Attenborough has signed up to Instagram for the first time to help spread his environmental message. “I am making this move… because, as we all know, the world is in trouble,” he said in his first video message on the social media platform. “Continents are on fire. Glaciers are melting. Coral reefs are

When scientists presented the first ever picture of a black hole last year, it was hailed as an extraordinary breakthrough. Well, now they’ve reassessed some of the image data that was acquired in the years running up to that historic snapshot. And it gives us some fresh perspectives on the object known as M87*, which

As the UK introduces fresh restrictions on social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus, controversy continues to rage about whether the government had initially considered trying a very different approach. At the start of the pandemic, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, spoke about “herd immunity” – the idea that once enough

One in five maple species is threatened in the wild, according to the first full assessment of extinction risks. Known for the vivid colour of their autumn leaves, the trees are popular in parks and gardens. But in their natural habitats, they face a myriad of threats, including unsustainable logging, climate change, deforestation and forest

This summer’s Arctic sea-ice shrank to its second lowest ever extent in the era of satellite observation. The floes withdrew to just under 3.74 million sq km (1.44 million sq miles) last week, preliminary data indicates. The only time this minimum has been beaten in the 42-year spacecraft record was 2012 when the pack ice

There’s growing concern among citizens all over the world about climate change, according to a new global poll. But respondents had very different attitudes to the level of urgency required to tackle the problem. Big majorities in poorer countries strongly agreed with tackling climate change with the same vigour as Covid-19. However in richer nations,

Scientists are warning that, across Siberia, vast swathes of ground – normally frozen all year round – are thawing – with potentially devastating consequences for the climate. As it thaws, the earth is believed to be releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases, accentuating the problem of global warming. BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg has been

Dozens of wildfires have been burning their way through swathes of the US West Coast over the last month, killing more than 30 people and forcing tens of thousands from their homes. Lightning strikes in August sparked a number of the blazes, while warm temperatures and dry conditions have fuelled additional fires. Here’s a visual

A man who has thought a lot about the maths behind stirring cups of tea has won one of the world’s most lucrative academic prizes. Professor Sir Martin Hairer from Imperial College in London won the 2021 Breakthrough Prize for Mathematics by applying complex maths to simple situations – like stirring a cup of tea.

All of the rivers, lakes and streams in England are polluted, says the Environment Agency. The figures reveal a complete lack of progress towards the target of 100% healthy waters by 2027. The most problematic pollutants are chemical sewage discharge, farming, and industrial chemicals. In 2016, when figures were last published, 16% of waters were

Scientists have found a clever new way of measuring ocean warming, using sound waves from undersea earthquakes. The researchers say the “hack” works because sound travels faster in warmer water. The team looked at sonic data from the Indian Ocean emitted by tremors over a 10-year period. As the seas have warmed due to global

When you add it up, the total amount of synthetic microfibres going into the wider environment as we wash our clothes is an astonishing number. US scientists estimate it to be 5.6 million tonnes since we first started wearing those polyester and nylon garments in a big way in the 1950s. Just over half this

Carbon dioxide emissions from plug-in hybrid cars are as much as two-and-a-half times higher than official tests suggest, according to new research. Plug-in hybrid vehicles are powered by an electric motor using a battery that is recharged by being plugged in or via an on-board petrol or diesel engine. They account for 3% of new

Humanity is at a crossroads and we have to take action now to make space for nature to recover and slow its “accelerating decline”. This is according to a report by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. It sets out a bullet point list of eight major transitions that could help stop the ongoing decline

Scientists have produced gene-edited animals they say could serve as “super dads” or “surrogate sires”. The pigs, goats, cattle and mice make sperm carrying the genetic material of donor animals. The researchers used a hi-tech gene editing tool to knock out a male fertility gene in animal embryos. The animals were born sterile, but began