environment news
Thomas Becket: Alpine ice sheds light on medieval murder
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 Ancient air pollution, trapped in ice, reveals new details about life and death in 12th Century Britain. In a study, scientists have found traces of lead, transported on the winds from British mines that operated in the late 1100s. Air pollution from …
Machine translates brainwaves into sentences
Image copyright SPL Image caption Brain activity was fed into a computer system, which recognised recurring features in the data Scientists have taken a step forward in their ability to decode what a person is saying just by looking at their brainwaves when they speak. They trained algorithms to transfer the brain patterns into sentences …
US Space Force launches satellite after short delay
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionUS Space Force launches first national security mission The US military’s newest branch has launched its first satellite, despite a short delay in the countdown. A rocket carrying a US Space Force communications satellite lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday. An inaccurate …
Climate change: ‘Gob-smacking’ vision for future UK transport
Image copyright Getty Images People in the UK need to shift from cars to public transport to address the challenge of climate change, the government says. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities. “We will use our cars less and be able …
Heirloom plants: Saving the nation’s seeds from extinction
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A young girl holds mangolds grown in Cornwall in the 1930s The battle of the Somme in 1916. A British soldier fighting in France is given seeds as a memento of happier times. When he returns home, he plants them in the soil. His family and friends carry on …
Coronavirus: OneWeb blames pandemic for collapse
Image copyright ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE Image caption OneWeb has contracts for multiple rocket launches to get all its satellites in the sky OneWeb, the high-profile London-based satellite start-up, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. The firm, which has been building a network to deliver broadband across the globe, blamed the Covid-19 crisis for its inability …
Coronavirus: Lockdowns continue to suppress European pollution
Image copyright Copernicus/KNMI/ESA Image caption There is enough data to be confident in the observed changes New data confirms the improvement in air quality over Europe – a byproduct of the coronavirus crisis. The maps on this page track changes in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a pollutant that comes principally from the use of fossil …
Plastic: How to predict threats to animals in oceans and rivers
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A model of a whale shark made of plastic bottles in Rizhao Ocean Park in China Hosepipes inside a sperm whale, plastic banana bags eaten by green turtles and a shotgun cartridge inside a True’s beaked whale. Just some of the examples of plastic found inside wildlife that have …
Neanderthals ate sharks and dolphins
Image copyright Joao Zilhão Image caption There is evidence of the intensive and long-term exploitation of marine food resources at Figueira Brava Neanderthals were eating fish, mussels and seals at a site in present-day Portugal, according to a new study. The research adds to mounting evidence that our evolutionary relatives may have relied on the …
Coronavirus: Pangolins found to carry viruses related to Covid-19
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A trafficked pangolin in Kuala Lumpur: The animal is a suspect in the outbreak Pangolins smuggled into China have been confirmed to contain viruses closely related to the one sweeping the world. Sale of the animals in wildlife markets should be strictly prohibited to minimise the risk of future …
