Technology

Image copyright Dan Crowley Image caption Maples are known by the scientific name, Acer One in five maple species are threatened in the wild, according to the first full assessment of extinction risks. Known for the vivid colour of their autumn leaves, the trees are popular in parks and gardens. But in their natural habitats, […]

Image caption In the UK, wheat is the largest arable crop A budget designed to fund improvements to Britain’s countryside is set to be raided, the BBC has learned. Cash will be diverted away from ambitious conservation projects and towards protecting farm businesses. The government previously promised that the £3bn currently paid to farms under […]

Image copyright MOSAIC/AWI/Steffen Graupner This summer’s Arctic sea-ice shrank to its second lowest ever extent in the era of satellite observation. The floes withdrew to just under 3.74 million sq km (1.44 million sq miles) last week, preliminary data indicates. The only time this minimum has been beaten in the 42-year spacecraft record was 2012 […]

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There is a powerful new satellite in the sky to monitor emissions of methane (CH4), one of the key gases driving human-induced climate change. Known as Iris, the spacecraft can map plumes of CH4 in the atmosphere down to a resolution of just 25m. This makes it possible to identify individual sources, such as specific […]

Image copyright Getty Images There’s growing concern among citizens all over the world about climate change, according to a new global poll. But respondents had very different attitudes to the level of urgency required to tackle the problem. Big majorities in poorer countries strongly agreed with tackling climate change with the same vigour as Covid-19. […]

By Phoebe KeaneBBC News Related Topics As climate change becomes a focus of the US election, energy companies stand accused of trying to downplay their contribution to global warming. In June, Minnesota’s Attorney General sued ExxonMobil, among others, for launching a “campaign of deception” which deliberately tried to undermine the science supporting global warming. So […]

By The Visual and Data Journalism Team BBC News Image copyright Getty Images Dozens of wildfires have been burning their way through swathes of the US West Coast over the last month, killing more than 30 people and forcing tens of thousands from their homes. Lightning strikes in August sparked a number of the blazes, […]

A man who has thought a lot about the maths behind stirring cups of tea has won one of the world’s most lucrative academic prizes. Professor Sir Martin Hairer from Imperial College in London won the 2021 Breakthrough Prize for Mathematics by applying complex maths to simple situations – like stirring a cup of tea. […]

Image copyright Getty Images All of the rivers, lakes and streams in England are polluted, says the Environment Agency. The figures reveal a complete lack of progress towards the target of 100% healthy waters by 2027. The most problematic pollutants are chemical sewage discharge, farming, and industrial chemicals. In 2016, when figures were last published, […]

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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionAlligator bellows: The first pair of sounds are in ambient air; the second pair are in heliox Have you heard the one about the alligator that performed the party trick of breathing in helium so it could talk in a funny voice? It’s not that hilarious but […]