A study of Yorkshire’s rivers is helping scientists understand the impact everyday pollutants are having on waterways – and the results are sobering
Photographs by Christopher Thomond
Rivers carry more than just water through Britain’s landscapes. A hidden cocktail of chemicals seeps out of farmland, passes undetected through sewage treatment works, and drains off the roads into the country’s rivers. Normally these chemicals flow through unreported, silently restructuring ecosystems as they go, but now, UK scientists are building a map of what lies within – and the damage it may be causing.
Trailing down the centre of Britain is one river whose chemical makeup scientists know better than any other. The Foss threads its way through North Yorkshire’s forestry plantations, patchworked arable land and small hamlets, before descending into the city of York, passing roads and car parks, gardens replacing farmland. Along the course of its 20-mile (32km) length, the chemical fingerprints of modern life accumulate.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/29/2025 - 01:00
05/29/2025 - 00:35
Fortescue CEO also says suggestion Australia can lock in fossil fuel projects and claim progress on net zero is ‘concerning’
Australia news live: latest politics updates
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Crossbenchers and environmental advocates are furious at the government’s decision to extend the life of one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects from 2030 to 2070.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, gave the green light to Woodside Energy’s application to extend the life of the North West Shelf project from 2030 to 2070.
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
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05/29/2025 - 00:00
Campaign has raised more than £114m since 1965 to protect sites such as Wembury Point in Devon
Wembury Point has a colourful history. During the 20th century it was transformed from a farm into a bustling holiday camp and then converted into a military radar station and Royal Navy gunnery.
But the last 20 years have been a little gentler as it has returned to nature, a haven for rare flora and fauna and a hugely popular spot for walkers, wild swimmers and rock-poolers.
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05/28/2025 - 22:18
There are more than 130 active wildfires across the country, half of which are considered out of control
More than 17,000 people in Canada’s western Manitoba province were being evacuated on Wednesday as the region experienced its worst start to the wildfire season in years.
“The Manitoba government has declared a province-wide state of emergency due to the wildfire situation,” Manitoba’s premier, Wab Kinew, told a news conference. “This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory.”
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05/28/2025 - 18:01
New ecocide bill in Scottish parliament aims to criminalise environmental destruction in line with EU directive
Company directors who cause severe or reckless damage to nature could face jail terms or hefty fines under a bill that aims to criminalise environmental destruction in Scotland.
The proposed law, which would be the first of its kind in the UK, is designed to put a class of environment offences known as ecocide on a similar legal footing to other grave crimes such as murder.
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05/28/2025 - 12:22
A new species of velvet worm, Peripatopsis barnardi, represents the first ever species from the arid Karoo, which indicates that the area was likely historically more forested than at present. In the Cape Fold Mountains, we now know that every mountain peak has an endemic species. This suggests that in unsampled areas there are likely to be additional novel diversity, waiting to be found.
05/28/2025 - 12:15
Many bat species native to Germany, such as the Leisler's bat, are forest specialists. However, as it is becoming increasingly hard for them to find tree hollows in forest plantations, so they are moving to settlements instead. Using high-resolution GPS data from bats, a team led by scientists has analyzed in greater detail than ever before how Leisler's bats use their habitats, which tree species they look for when searching a roost, and which forest types they avoid. They found that these bats increasingly seek refuge in old trees in urban areas and in old buildings such as churches.
05/28/2025 - 12:15
Involving communities in nature-based solutions to tackle urban climate and environmental challenges leads to innovation and multiple benefits, a study shows.
05/28/2025 - 12:15
As rising global temperatures alter ecosystems worldwide, animal species usually have two choices: adapt to changing local conditions or flee to a cooler clime. Ecologists have long assumed that the world's bird species were best equipped to respond to the pressures of climate change simply because they have the option of flying to higher altitudes or towards global poles. But a new study finds that few bird species are able to escape the realities of a warming world.
05/28/2025 - 11:16
One person missing and Blatten devastated after huge cloud of ice and rubble inundates evacuated town
A huge section of a glacier in the Swiss Alps has broken off, causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock to bury most of a village evacuated earlier this month due to the risk of a rockslide.
Drone footage broadcast by Swiss national broadcaster SRF showed a vast plain of mud and soil completely covering part of the village of Blatten, the river running through it and the wooded sides of the surrounding valley.
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