Move will hit Michigan, Illinois, New York and other states with highest levels of lead drinking water pipes the hardest
There is outrage among some politicians and activists after the US Congress voted to slash $125m for replacing toxic lead drinking water pipes that are particularly a threat to children.
The move will hit Michigan, Illinois, Texas, New York and other states with the highest levels of lead pipes the hardest. The cut was part of a broader government funding bill and particularly controversial in the context of the fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/07/2026 - 08:00
02/07/2026 - 07:00
Mergers and acquisitions will shrink number of operators from more than 100 to five or six, says Be.EV co-founder
British electric charger companies are asking rivals to buy them as they run out of cash amid rising costs and intense competition, according to industry bosses.
A wave of mergers and acquisitions is likely to shrink the number of charge point operators from as many as 150 to a market dominated by five or six players, said Asif Ghafoor, a co-founder of Be.EV, a charging company backed by Octopus Energy.
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02/07/2026 - 02:00
Prices paid for large estates not being disclosed on official register, land reform advocates say
Land reform campaigners are alarmed at the increasing use of a legal loophole that allows landowners to conceal the price paid for Highland estates from the public register.
Andy Wightman, a land reform analyst, said the loophole meant the prices paid in more than £300m-worth of Highland property transactions were not disclosed on the register.
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02/07/2026 - 01:00
Special pods at Chester zoo helped conservationists breed and release more than 100,000 greater Bermuda snails
A button-sized snail once feared extinct in its Bermudian home is thriving again after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs.
The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, the island capital, in 2014.
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02/07/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 07 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00185-2
The science enterprise faces growing challenges in the United States that require stronger connections between research and decision-making. Yet training at the science–policy interface remains concentrated in graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, limiting broader participation. As early-career professors with expertise in marine policy, we offer ten practical strategies for faculty members, departments, and institutions to support students’ interest in ocean policy and build broader policy literacy across campus.
02/06/2026 - 08:30
Storm has ravaged southern regions of Spain and Portugal this week, leaving one man dead in Portugal and one woman missing in Spain
Calls to postpone presidential election as Storm Leonardo lashes Portugal and Spain
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02/06/2026 - 06:54
Portugal’s far-right Chega party has said vote should be delayed as state of calamity declared in 69 areas
Heavy rains and strong winds have continued to batter parts of Spain and Portugal, causing at least two deaths, forcing the evacuation of more than 7,000 people and prompting calls to postpone the second-round of Portugal’s presidential election.
Storm Leonardo, which has lashed the Iberian peninsula this week, has led the Portuguese government to extend the current state of calamity in 69 municipalities until the middle of February.
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02/06/2026 - 05:20
Data shows 29 hybrid and 98 diesel cars also sold, while the figure for battery electric vehicles was more than 2,000
Just seven new petrol cars were sold in Norway last month, data shows.
The country, which is the frontrunner in the uptake of electric vehicles, shifted a record low number of new fossil-fuel cars in January, information from the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) reveals.
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02/06/2026 - 03:00
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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02/05/2026 - 21:50
When marine biologist Océane Attlan saw the tiny Braun’s wrasse, it was like ‘recognising a familiar face, but you can’t put a name on it’
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The chances of encountering the rare reef fish were so far-fetched, it took marine biologist Océane Attlan a few seconds to clock what she was seeing.
“All of a sudden I saw this fish. You know when you recognise a familiar face, but you can’t put a name on it. That’s the feeling I had,” she said.
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