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The answer to life, the universe and everything was, according to Deep Thought, the supercomputer in Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42. The answers to mitigating and […]

Nothing on the Isle of Wight is quite as it seems. It's early morning and I'm standing on the water's edge at Newtown Creek, but this isn't the coastal view [...]

Last autumn, Scotland's biggest offshore wind farm, off the Angus coast, began operating at full capacity, generating sufficient electricity to power two-thirds of Scotland's households. Seagreen's 114 giant turbines will [...]

THE RIVER WINDRUSH * In 2020, Thames Water dumped untreated sewage for 3,644 hours on 228 different occasions from four different sewage works along the 5-kilometre length of this bucolic [...]

TRACKS ON THE OCEAN A History of Trailblazing Maps and Maritime Travel By Sara Caputo Profile Books * What does a track tell us? On land, routes get modernised, expanded, […]

GOODBYE TO RUSSIA A Personal Reckoning from the Ruins of War By Sarah Rainsford Bloomsbury * The best foreign correspondents don't care for declaiming volubly to camera. Instead they sit [...]

Brazil is back' proclaimed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after his victory in last year's general election. Lula ousted the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, who had all but taken his personal [...]

There are more than 200 salmon farms in Scotland, with sales of more than [pounds sterling]1.2 billion a year. It the UK's biggest food export and supports 12,500 jobs. However, [...]

Permafrost is permanent no longer. That much has long been true, ensuring many a sleepless night for climate scientists. Only now, however, are the repercussions of thawing soils for our [...]

There's a wry joke among coastal geologists and surveyors that goes like this: 'How far is that house from the sea?' The reply: 'About five years.' Natural erosion has affected [...]

Pastoralism is a system that supports livelihoods on areas known as drylands or rangelands, which account for more than half of the world's land. The image that comes to mind [...]

Invasive species are the fifth greatest threat to global biodiversity, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). While this places them some way behind the gravest threat, climate change, many [...]

The article explores the issue of overtourism, highlighting the negative impacts on local communities and environments due to excessive tourism. It discusses protests, hunger strikes, and pushback against tourism in various popular destinations, as well as the challenges faced by local residents in accessing affordable housing. The text also suggests potential solutions, such as regulating home-sharing, limiting construction in pressured areas, and discouraging flying to reduce overtourism and its environmental impact. [Extracted from the article]

Most 'solutions' to climate change tend to polarise opinion, but few are as profoundly divisive as hydropower. To its advocates, it's a reliable, versatile and low-cost source of clean electricity [...]

EAT, POOP, DIE How Animals Make Our World By Joe Roman Profile Books Do bears poop in the woods? It's the ultimate rhetorical question. Read this entertaining, quirky book and [...]

ALEXANDRIA The City that Changed the World By Islam Issa Hodder & Stoughton One night in around 331 BCE, Alexander the Great had a startling dream: a wise old man [...]

THE DEEPEST MAP The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World's Oceans By Laura Trethewey Harper Wave * We know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about [...]

EXTINCTIONS How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves By Michael J Benton Thames St Hudson * What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, argued the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The message [...]

The Arctic is one of the last frontiers still free from full-on exploitation of its resources by humans. For now, everything north of the Arctic Circle, or 66[degrees]N, remains, for [...]

As a child, walking underneath an elm tree was like swimming under water,' recalls Robert Somerville. 'An elm is a vast cavernous space, very cool, the branches drooping down.' Thanks [...]

A hungry man, goes the adage is an angry man. Perhaps it was with this in mind that the Norwegian Nobel Committee handed its 2020 Peace Prize not to a [...]

The article explores the emerging trend of fine dining in the Outer Hebrides, specifically on the islands of Lewis and Harris. Local chefs like Allan MacRitchie and Chris Loye are incorporating the culture, landscape, and ingredients of the islands into their menus, creating dishes that tell a story. The article highlights the use of local seafood, venison, and foraged ingredients like seaweed and flowers. It also mentions small, independent food producers on the islands, such as Hebridean Charcuterie. The article emphasizes the resilience and creativity of the islanders, as well as the need to promote the culinary innovation of the Outer Hebrides to the wider world. [Extracted from the article]

A review of conservation projects worldwide has found that conservation efforts have had a positive and significant impact. The study analyzed 665 trials dating back to the 19th century and found that in two-thirds of cases, conservation either improved biodiversity or halted declines. Successful approaches included farmland schemes, invasive species control, and the establishment of protected areas and indigenous lands. However, some measures had unintended consequences, emphasizing the need for caution and consideration of secondary species. The study also highlighted the importance of measuring impact and learning from failures. A recent report calls for increased funding and action in conservation efforts, particularly in the Global South. The study shows that conservation actions are successful but need to be scaled up to meet global targets. Combining multiple approaches, such as protected areas, payments for environmental services, and invasive species eradication, has proven to be effective. However, current funding for conservation is insufficient, representing only 0.25% of global GDP. Addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, such as unsustainable production and fossil fuel subsidies, is crucial. National leaders must demonstrate political will and prioritize conservation efforts to reverse biodiversity loss. The report provides hope that it is not too late to act, but urgent action is needed. [Extracted from the article]

Had John F Kennedy been in the White House over the past four years, rather than Donald Trump, he might have updated his most famous call to arms and declared: [...]

We've never seen anything like it. Covid-19 only emerged in December 2019, but within months, the race for a vaccine already involved 150 candidates and by November 2020, two vaccines [...]

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 WAYS Exploring Our Planet Through Maps and Data By Stephen Webb Springer Nature * 'All maps lie' is a bold premise upon which to base [...]

* Geographic location: Part of the island of Borneo, between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea, 1,500km east of peninsular Malaysia * Latitude/Longitude: 5[degrees]9'N 116[degrees]E * Land area: [...]

During the Covid-19 lockdown, people engaged with nature in the UK and elsewhere in an unprecedented way. The dawn chorus became a regular feature of everyday life for thousands of [...]

Thirty-six men, women and children were on board HMS Harebell as it manoeuvred out of the crescent-shaped harbour of Village Bay on the island of Hirta on the 29 August [...]

If you can't do something, pay others to do it for you.' To the cynical, that seems to be the message behind the concept of offsetting carbon emissions. For all [...]

Mention 'hunting' and most of us think of poaching--primarily for ivory and the demands of Chinese medicine--or trophy hunting (see maps overleaf); and the unpalatable image of a triumphant (usually) [...]

Britain's national parks were born in a heady, post-war atmosphere, offering physical and spiritual refreshment for a country that had endured six long years of conflict. Our most precious landscapes [...]

First came the Green Fence in 2013. National Sword followed in 2017. In 2018 it was Blue Sky. With their Gommand Economy' echoes, each of China's three national policies on [...]

THE LAST DROP Solving the World's Water Crisis By Tim Smedley Picador * When will we finally start caring about water and the rather important role it plays in our [...]