Exeter University study has origins in 1950 discovery by ornithologists who ‘chanced upon a spectacle’
It is a weird and wonderful sight: millions of migratory insects funnelling through a single narrow pass high in the Pyrenees, looking like a dark flying carpet and emitting a low, deep hum.
A team of scientists from a British university that has been studying the phenomenon for the last four years has now concluded that more than 17 million insects fly each year through the 30 metre-wide Puerto de Bujaruelo on the border of France and Spain.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/11/2024 - 18:00
06/11/2024 - 16:14
Following decades of decline, even fewer birds will darken North American skies by the end of the century, according to a new analysis. The study examines the long-term effects of climate change on the abundance and diversity of bird groups across the continent as a whole while accounting for additional factors that put birds at risk.
06/11/2024 - 13:02
Scientists say atmospheric levels of damaging gases peaked five years ahead of projections, as substances phased out
International efforts to protect the ozone layer have been a “huge global success”, scientists have said, after revealing that damaging gases in the atmosphere were declining faster than expected.
The Montreal protocol, signed in 1987, aimed to phase out ozone-depleting substances found primarily in refrigeration, air conditioning and aerosol sprays.
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06/11/2024 - 10:53
Liv Garfield’s pay included a £584,000 bonus despite firm’s £2m fine for spilling 260m litres of sewage into River Trent
The boss of Severn Trent Water has been awarded a £3.2m pay deal, including a £584,000 bonus, despite the company being fined £2m for spilling 260m litres of sewage into the River Trent.
Liv Garfield, who has been the head of the utility firm for a decade, saw her pay increase by 2.1%, bringing her total take-home pay during her time as Severn boss to more than £28m.
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06/11/2024 - 10:47
Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year
Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.
Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”.
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06/11/2024 - 09:09
Record-breaking temperatures in the last few years shatter the myth that air conditioning alone will keep people safe
Gloria Gellot, 79, takes a careful seat in a kitchen chair in front of her only air-conditioning unit, massaging her knees. She’s hung a sheet in the doorway to keep the cool air in the kitchen, and drawn shades to keep the sun – already blazing in May – out of her second-floor New Orleans apartment. Her home was badly damaged by Hurricane Ida in 2021, and heat radiates from the gutted walls.
“All the heat’s up here,” she says. “I don’t have to go out in the sun. I get a suntan inside.”
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06/11/2024 - 08:58
In the run-up to July's general election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. After swimmers and rowers fell sick from sewage discharges into the River Thames we went to the seat of Henley and Thame to see how environmental concerns rank for voters in a seat that has been Conservative for more than 100 years
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06/11/2024 - 07:00
New research reveals levels of ethylene oxide more than 1,000 times above previous measurements
The air throughout south-east Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” is probably being poisoned with a highly carcinogenic gas at levels much higher than previously thought, new research reveals.
Using cutting-edge equipment that more accurately checks for the gas, ethylene oxide, which is primarily used in plastic production, researchers found levels more than 1,000 times above previous measurements, and about 10 times higher on average than regulators’ modeling.
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06/11/2024 - 02:00
Institutions alleged to have given billions of dollars to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are harming the rainforests
Five of the world’s biggest banks are “greenwashing” their role in the destruction of the Amazon, according to a report that indicates that their environmental and social guidelines fail to cover more than 70% of the rainforest.
The institutions are alleged to have provided billions of dollars of finance to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are impacting the Amazon, destabilising the climate or impinging on the land and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples.
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06/11/2024 - 01:00
Families in Taranto, Italy, watch their kids play in polluted soil in the shadow of a steelworks, knowing that many people there have lost their lives to cancer. Lisa Sorgini captures their struggle
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