Latest science

Sleeping giant' Arctic methane deposits starting to release

Wednesday - Scientists have found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean – known as the “sleeping giants of the carbon cycle” – have started to be released over a large area of the continental slope off the East Siberian coast, the Guardian reveals.

India's cities look to become climate-smarter

Wednesday - India's southern city of Hyderabad is known as a high-tech hub - but its infrastructure is looking increasingly dated in an era of strengthening climate change impacts.

2020 on course to be warmest year on record

Wednesday - While this year will be memorable for many reasons, it is now more likely than not that 2020 will also be the warmest year for the Earth’s surface since reliable records began in the mid-1800s.

Dust threatens Western US and Southeast Asia

Wednesday - Half a planet apart, one low-lying and the other on the roof of the world, two huge regions confront an increasing dust risk − a menace to jobs, to food and to lives.

Geology’s human footprint is enough to spur rage

22 Oct 20 - Once again science has presented evidence that a new geological epoch is here. This human footprint is all our own work.

Rising heat means more heat and more methane

21 Oct 20 - Nights are warmer. So are northern lakes. And farm livestock are at greater risk of disease, thanks to rising heat.

Let's cool the ground and keep drilling, says Big Oil

21 Oct 20 - Oil company ConocoPhillips has a problem; it wants to pump 160,000 more barrels of oil each day from a new project on Alaska’s North Slope, but the fossil fuels it and others produce are leading to global heating, and the Arctic is melting.

How China can be carbon-neutral by 2060

20 Oct 20 - Three weeks after China told the world it is aiming for carbon neutrality, an important study outlines a roadmap to that goal, and challenges along the way.

Amy Coney Barrett equivocates over climate change

16 Oct 20 - United States supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett refused to say whether she accepts the science of climate change, under questioning from Kamala Harris, saying she lacked the expertise to know...

Sharp rise is extreme weather, says UN

13 Oct 20 - Extreme weather events have increased dramatically in the past 20 years, taking a heavy human and economic toll worldwide, and are likely to wreak further havoc, the UN has said.

Ending hunger: science must stop neglecting smallholder farmers

13 Oct 20 - Policymakers urgently need ideas on ways to end hunger. But a global review of the literature finds that most researchers have had the wrong priorities.

Want some eco-friendly tips? A new study says no, you don’t

13 Oct 20 - Hearing eco-friendly tips such as riding bikes instead of driving and going vegan to save the planet actually makes people less likely to do anything about climate change, new research shows.

Carbon capture 'moonshot' moves closer, as billions of dollars pour in

8 Oct 20 - As the world dices with the climate emergency, businesses and governments are starting to push funding towards technology that aims to trap planet-heating gases rather than let them saturate the...

Scientists didn’t expect wildfires this terrible for another 30 years

7 Oct 20 - This year has been hell on earth, in more ways than one. Catastrophic blazes have spanned the planet from Australia to the Arctic, and wildfires have torched large swaths of the western United...

Greenland’s ice loss likely to hit 12,000-year high

6 Oct 20 - By the end of this century Greenland’s ice loss will probably be higher than in any century during the last 12,000 years.

Super-enzyme eats plastic super-fast

1 Oct 20 - A super-enzyme that degrades plastic bottles six times faster than before has been created by scientists and could be used for recycling within a year or two.

Lentils can feed the world – and save wildlife too

29 Sep 20 - UNITED STATES scientists have worked out how to feed nine billion people and save wild life from extinction, both at the same time – thanks to healthy lentils.

Melting Arctic needs new name to match reality

17 Sep 20 - Change in the far north is happening so fast that soon the Arctic won’t be arctic any more.

Sir David Attenborough makes stark warning about species extinction

15 Sep 20 - SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH returns to television screens this with a landmark new production - but the tone is very different from his usual work.