‘Snotsicles’ – distinctly unattractive masses of frozen snot – are just some of the challenges of doing science in a place as extreme as the Antarctic. Scientists fear the Thwaites Glacier could be beginning a process of catastrophic collapse. There is more than three metres of potential sea level rise in the ice of West

Glaciologists have described Thwaites Glacier as the “most important” glacier in the world, the “riskiest” glacier, even the “doomsday” glacier. Scientists from the UK and US are studying the glacier’s changes as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. The BBC’s chief environment correspondent Justin Rowlatt visited the project.

Sainsbury’s has promised to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero over the next 20 years. The supermarket chain, which is the second largest in the UK, has said it will spend £1bn to reach the target. It pledged to reduce emissions from areas like refrigeration and transport. But, while the 2040 target puts Sainsbury’s

From the corners of Britain, members of the first UK “citizens’ assembly” on climate change descended on Birmingham. There was Sharron-Ann, in pink fun fur coat – a young mum with children at home in Scotland. Journalists were only allowed to speak to assembly members who had expressly volunteered to meet the media – and

The UK’s fixed-term parliaments could see politicians failing to prioritise climate change, veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough has suggested. He told the first citizens’ assembly on climate having a five-year government leads to a lack of long-term planning. The 110-strong assembly in Birmingham will meet over four weekends to examine options for how the UK

From slugs to spiders and bees to bottlenose dolphins – Wales is proving a haven for many species. Its varied landscape and mild climate make Wales among Europe’s “best wildlife-watching secrets”, according to the Wildlife Trust. Those secrets include a spider only found in Welsh caves, a fly unique to a north Wales river and

A Canadian start-up, GHGSat, is promising to release a high-resolution map of methane in Earth’s atmosphere by the year’s end. The company has one spacecraft in orbit currently to monitor the trace gas. Another two are expected to go up in the next few months. Montreal-based GHGSat tracks oil and gas operations, alerting owners to

Media playback is unsupported on your device Scientists have fulfilled a mummified Egyptian priest’s wish for life after death – by replicating his voice with artificial vocal cords. Nesyamun’s voice has been reproduced as a vowel-like sound that is reminiscent of a sheep’s bleat. The priest lived during the politically volatile reign of Pharaoh Ramses

US President Donald Trump’s position on climate change has been in the spotlight again, after he criticised “prophets of doom” at the World Economic Forum in Davos. At the event, which had sustainability as its main theme, and activist Greta Thunberg as its star guest, Mr Trump dismissed “alarmists” who wanted to “control every aspect

People should cut the amount of beef, lamb and dairy produce they eat by a fifth to combat climate change, a report says. It says public bodies should lead the way by offering plant-based options with all meals. But it says if people don’t cut consumption willingly, taxes on meat and dairy might be needed.

Scientists have identified the world’s oldest asteroid crater in Australia, adding it may explain how the planet was lifted from an ice age. The asteroid hit Yarrabubba in Western Australia about 2.2 billion years ago – making the crater about half the age of Earth, researchers say. Their conclusion was reached by testing minerals found

Finding the right product/market fit is challenging for any company, but it’s just a little harder for hardware startups. I recently visited the San Francisco offices of Nebia to chat with co-founder and CEO Philip Winter, whose eco-friendly hardware startup has received funding from Apple CEO Tim Cook, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Fitbit

Media playback is unsupported on your device US President Donald Trump has decried climate “prophets of doom” in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where sustainability is the main theme. He called for a rejection of “predictions of the apocalypse” and said America would defend its economy. Mr Trump did not directly

Planners and engineers have been rapped for allowing new housing developments to be dominated by roads. A report says too many highways engineers are still approving roads that do not fully account for pedestrians and cyclists. It follows a government survey suggesting three quarters of people want to drive less to protect our health and

China, one of the world’s biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country. Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022. The restaurant industry will also be banned from using single-use straws by the

China is a country caught in the middle of a global struggle: to develop but also be green. It currently uses about as much coal as the rest of the world put together but it’s also a world leader in wind and solar production. According to the International Energy Agency, between 2019 and 2024 China

America aims to take another step on Sunday towards being able to send its own astronauts into orbit again. California’s SpaceX company will practise what to do in the event that one of its rockets carrying a human crew fails shortly after lift-off. If the test is completed successfully, it should clear the way for

A planting scheme has begun to grow trees that it is hoped will be resistant to ash dieback disease. Scientists are growing 3,000 saplings in Hampshire and will monitor them for symptoms of the disease, which has devastated ash trees. The specimens have been propagated from the shoots of trees which have already shown signs

Media playback is unsupported on your device Was it the asteroid or colossal volcanism that initiated the demise of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago? This has been a bit of a “to and fro” argument of late, but now a group of scientists has weighed in with what they claim is the definitive answer.

Should aviation be taxed more? Should SUVs be banned? Should wind power be subsidised by taxpayers? These are some of the climate change-related questions to be pondered by a new “citizens’ jury”, to be composed of 110 members of the public. The panel has been selected to represent key sectors of society and a range