Peter Birtwhistle A discarded part of a rocket is hours away from crashing into the Moon, say scientists who first predicted the collision in January. The three-tonne rocket part, which is hurtling through space at 5,800mph, is expected to hit at 12:25 on Friday. Astronomers first thought the rocket part had been launched by Elon […]
Getty Images The world is set to get a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. Nearly 200 countries have agreed to start negotiations on an international agreement to take action on the “plastic crisis”. UN members are tasked with developing an over-arching framework for reducing plastic waste across the world. There is growing concern that […]
Getty Images Many of the impacts of global warming are now simply “irreversible” according to the UN’s latest assessment. But the authors of a new report say that there is still a brief window of time to avoid the very worst. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that humans and nature are being pushed […]
A radiation spike has been recorded near Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant which has been seized by Russian forces, monitoring data shows. Invading Russian troops took control of the plant – the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 – on Thursday, Ukraine said. Radiation levels increased about 20-fold on Thursday, monitoring stations there […]
Getty Images The best way to ease consumers’ pain from high energy prices is to stop using fossil fuels rather than drill for more of them, the government’s climate advisers say. Some Tory MPs want the government to expand production of shale and North Sea gas, saying it would lower bills. But advisers said UK-produced […]
DANIEL MUNOZ Extreme wildfires are set to become more frequent, increasing by around 50% by the end of this century, according to a new UN report. The report finds there’s an elevated risk in the Arctic and other regions previously unaffected by fires. The scientists define extreme fires as extraordinary conflagrations that occur roughly once […]
Samuel Brockington Cambridge University Botanic Garden has lost its “Newton’s apple tree” to Storm Eunice. Garden curator Dr Samuel Brockington said the tree was planted in 1954 and had stood at the Brookside entrance of the botanic garden for 68 years. He said the tree was cloned from the one that led Sir Isaac Newton […]
AFP Scientists say that a rapid drop in emissions because of Covid played a key role in record rainfall in China in 2020. The decline in greenhouse gases and small particles called aerosols caused atmospheric changes that intensified the downpours. Hundreds of people died and millions more were evacuated during a summer of record rainfall. […]