Huge locust swarms are threatening food security, but drones could help stop them
Jun 21, 2020 11:24 am UTC| Nature
In recent months, food security concerns have emerged for nations across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as swarms of desert locusts wreak havoc on crops. While the same level of damage isnt currently being felt in...
Jun 14, 2020 12:29 pm UTC| Nature Technology
Almost a decade ago, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls Fish Fight campaign galvanised public opinion against the senseless waste of discarding fish. At the time this was the common practice of returning unwanted catches to the...
Jun 04, 2020 11:30 am UTC| Nature Science
This summer, for the first time, genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the U.S. On May 1, 2020, the company Oxitec received an experimental use permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to...
How the man-made chemical, nonylphenol, hampers the growth of fresh produce
Jun 03, 2020 13:29 pm UTC| Nature
Nonylphenol is a man-made chemical used in a wide variety of agricultural, food, industry and household products. A detergent-like substance, its main purpose is to make plastics more pliable and liquids more spreadable,...
Billions of years ago, the rise of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere caused a worldwide deep freeze
Jun 03, 2020 13:27 pm UTC| Nature
Around two and a half billion years ago the Earth was an alien world that would have been hostile to most of the complex life that surrounds us today. This was a planet where bacteria reigned, and one kind of bacteria in...
If all cars were electric, UK carbon emissions would drop by 12%
May 29, 2020 13:33 pm UTC| Nature
The COVID-19 lockdown has led to reduced pollution and emissions in the UK and around the world, providing a clear indication of how cars affect air quality and carbon emissions. But such a change is only temporary ...
Wuhan's lockdown cut air pollution by up to 63% – new research
May 14, 2020 10:30 am UTC| Nature
The COVID-19 lockdown in Wuhan, China, resulted in a 63% reduction in nitrogen dioxide concentrations, according to our new research. We have calculated that this drop in air pollution may have prevented up to 496 deaths...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Why Germany ditched nuclear before coal – and why it won’t go back
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight