Environment news feed

The fruit of the bramble is a delicious, guilt-free and ephemeral pleasureNot that one. The handheld gizmo with all the addictiveness, and few of the upsides, of a class A substance has just ruined your holiday. You're now going to have to reconnect with nature in between long hours at a desk. But h

In Norfolk I have long grown accustomed to a very patchy distribution in our local swallows. Much of the vernacular architecture has been converted into residences or otherwise made unsuitable for these barn-dwelling creatures. The more pervasive use of insecticides in our arable county has also cut

What happens when fierce scientific rivals go head to head? Joel Levy discusses some of history's most epic battles to discredit the work of colleagues. Do these often petty quarrels help or hinder the progress of science?Joel's book Scientific Feuds: From Galileo to the Human Genome Project is out

Unions argue that abusive behaviour and racism are widespread and wants shake-up of system in light of worsening safety recordTransocean, the American rig owner at the centre of BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has been accused of compromising safety in the North Sea by "bullying, harassment and intim

Fur stoles are being snapped up by lovers of vintage fashionBasil Brush beware - fox stoles, once disdained as gruesome artefacts of a crueller era, are back. Trendspotters report seeing increasing numbers on vintage lovers. And it's not just the pelts ? these are old-fashioned stoles, with little f

The violence in Maputo is just the latest manifestation of the crippling shortcomings of the global economyIt has been a summer of record temperatures - Japan had its hottest summer on record, as did South Florida and New York. Meanwhile, Pakistan and Niger are flooded and the eastern US is mopping

Trapped for a month in the San Jose mine, Chile, shift leader Luis Urzua has worked heroically to protect his menAbout 700 metres underground, in the most traumatic of circumstances, Luis Urzua has no intention of relinquishing command of the 33 men in his care. Urzua, 54, went to work as usual on 5

Climate scientists meeting in Britain this week hope to build a database to predict natural disasters precisely. And records of the voyages of the Bounty and Beagle will assist them in their taskLeading climate scientists will gather in the UK this week to finalise plans for a revolutionary project

Converting up to a fifth of UK wheat into biofuel will force prices even higher at a time of food shortages, warn criticsThe soaring price of wheat has raised questions about the UK's commitment to biofuels as it attempts to wean itself from its dependence on oil.A network of biorefineries that conv

The dispersal of tiny sea creatures in Antarctica has alerted scientists to the vulnerability of Earth's ice sheetsBryozoans make unlikely prophets of doom. Nevertheless, scientists believe these tiny marine creatures, which live glued to the side of boulders, rocks and other surfaces, reveal a dist

Industrial farming causing food prices to rise

Prof. Bob Watson comments on embedded emissions.

Mink set free by animal activists and salmon on their arduous journey upstream - the pick of this week's images from the natural world

Photography adds another dimension to wild food foraging - not just for identification purposes but as an art form? Send your photos of nature's harvest to our Green shoots Flickr groupThere are as many reason for the current resurgent rise in enthusiasm for all things wild food and foraging-related

The annual wildlife spectacle is under a cloud thanks to plans to construct a road across the Serengeti

Why is human well-being improving globally when our environmental woes appear to be worsening all the time?We hear lots of concerned chatter these days - not least, here on this site - about peak oil, peak water, deforestation, resource depletion and the like, but a popular riposte offered by those

Clive Chatters, chairman of the New Forest national park authority, pays tribute to the work of amateur naturalists in the recently published symposium Biodiversity in the New Forest.Their observations and recording underpin the work of the professionals whose research helps to shape conservation po