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The particles are in our blood, brains and guts – and scientists are only beginning to learn what they do
Microplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs – even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon. If true, plastic isn’t just wrapped around our food or woven into our clothes: it is lodged deep inside us.
Now, researchers suspect these particles may also be meddling with our gut microbes. When Dr Christian Pacher-Deutsch at the University of Graz in Austria exposed gut bacteria from five healthy volunteers to five common microplastics, the bacterial populations shifted – along with the chemicals they produced. Some of these changes mirrored patterns linked to depression and colorectal cancer.
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Number of endangered butterfly species also surging amid habitat destruction and global heating, finds study
The number of wild bee species in Europe at risk of extinction has more than doubled over the past decade, while the number of endangered butterfly species has almost doubled.
The jeopardy facing crucial pollinators was revealed by scientific studies for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species, which found that at least 172 bee species out of 1,928 were at risk of extinction in Europe.
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At its heart, birdwatching is an act of quiet rebellion, says Natalie Kyriacou. It is the gentle act of noticing – the willingness to see the world around you
They are the most curious creature of all. Hyper-focused. Single-minded. Intense. Devoted. Often single. They speak in reverent tones and hushed whispers and can walk with preternatural silence across a bed of leaves. They wield binoculars with the nonchalance of a sommelier sampling a Dom Pérignon. They can crouch in shrubbery for endless hours. They speak in code and use hand signals. They have lists and notebooks and write with lead pencils. They dress with military precision: khaki pants, fitted belt, cedar-brown shirt, wide-brimmed hat, waterproof boots. Their social calendars are governed by migration patterns and their conversations are peppered with whispered phrases like “Was that the trill of a reed warbler?”
They are bearers of universal mysteries. Holders of ancient wisdom. They are birdwatchers.
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Exclusive: Trial that has produced 13 hatchlings could help other threatened species avoid extinction
The slow-motion pitter-patter of tiny giant tortoise feet has been worryingly rare in recent years, but that looks set to change thanks to the first successful hatching of the species with artificial incubation.
One week after the intervention, the 13 babies are building up their strength on a diet of banana slices and leafy greens in Seychelles, which is home to one of the last remaining populations of the tortoise.
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Video shows some of the juveniles exploring outside their den at Mallee Cliffs national park in south-western NSW
Baby numbats have been spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in south-western New South Wales, sparking hope for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials.
Video captured by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) shows some of the juveniles exploring outside their den at Mallee Cliffs national park.
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Carmakers accused of cheating air pollution rules have faced little punishment in UK but trial brought by 1.6m motorists is about to begin
“Little lungs are still paying for Dieselgate every day,” says Jemima Hartshorn, the founder of the Mums for Lungs campaign group. Her own young daughter has suffered serious breathing problems, which at their worst involved the harrowing experience of having to pin her to the floor to administer an inhaler.
It is 10 years since the scandal erupted, exposing cars that pumped out far more toxic fumes on the road than when passing regulatory tests in the lab. But Dieselgate is far from over.
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Black Cuillin, Skye: The rough rock tears the skin and is slippery when wet. But the only way is up
Towers of shattered rock rise around us, wreathed in mist. We’ve been trudging for hours to gain this ridge, only to be buffeted by cold drafts and dampened by the swirling smirr of rain. This is the Black Cuillin of Skye, a ring of mountains forming the crater of an ancient volcano. It’s also the route of the legendary Skye Ridge Traverse, a 12km walk that takes in 11 Munros, the hills in Scotland above 3,000 feet, as originally measured by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891.
The hardest here is the Inaccessible Pinnacle. A sharp fin of rock rising 50 metres above Sgùrr Dearg, it looked impossible to Munro, who contented himself with the rounded hump below. No such luck for today’s “Munro baggers” who must climb the In Pinn to claim completion.
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Experts warn approving a windfarm in the habitat of one of Australia’s most critically endangered birds could be ‘rolling the dice’ on their survival
One of Australia’s most critically endangered bird species has started arriving at Melaleuca, in Tasmania’s south-western world heritage area. By late this week, six orange-bellied parrots had turned up at the remote outpost to breed, having made the weeks-long flight from the mainland, across Bass Strait and down the state’s wild west coast.
Relatively little is known about where the birds go during the winter, other than that it is a hazardous journey for a bird that weighs about 40 grams. In recent years, only about half the parrots that leave Melaleuca, the species’ sole wild breeding site, have returned in spring.
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Tariffs have caused a Chinese exit from the soybean market – and midwestern farmers are waiting on a solution
At the Purfeerst farm in southern Minnesota, the soybean harvest just wrapped up for the season. The silver grain bins are full of about 100,000 bushels of soybeans, which grab about $10 a piece.
This year, though, the fate of the soybeans, and the people whose livelihoods depend on selling them, is up in the air: America’s soybean farmers are stuck in the middle of a trade war between the US and China, the biggest purchaser of soybean exports, used to feed China’s pigs.
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Only 15 of 100 MPs surveyed knew of IPCC report that CO2 needs to peak this year to keep global heating to 1.5C
The people you hope would be best informed about the imminent threat of climate breakdown would be members of parliament. After all, droughts and storms affecting their constituents have been a recurring news item. The need to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 requires an informed debate among parties.
The key question on which the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, in 2022, reached hard-won scientific consensus was when CO2 emissions need to peak for a realistic chance of keeping global temperature increases below 1.5C, the target set by the 2015 Paris agreement as too dangerous to exceed. The answer, given great prominence in the report and the media coverage of it, was this year, 2025.
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