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Deal expected to pave way for further scientific study, boost conservation and open up access to Dorset chalk figure
The mystery of when, how and – perhaps most importantly – why a giant naked figure was carved into a dizzyingly steep hillside in the English West Country has been a source of wonder and intrigue for centuries.
Future generations may come closer to solving the puzzle of the Cerne Giant after the National Trust stepped in to buy 340 acres of land around the 55-metre (180ft) figure.
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Pew Charitable Trusts finds plastic pollution will more than double globally by 2040 unless action taken
The 66m tonnes of pollution from plastic packaging that enters the global environment each year could be almost eliminated by 2040 primarily by reuse and return schemes, significant new research reveals.
In the most wide-ranging analysis of the global plastic system, the Pew Charitable Trusts, in collaboration with academics including at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, said plastic, a material once called revolutionary and modern, was now putting public health, world economies and the future of the planet at risk.
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These delicate cloud systems appear to be seeded by massive atmospheric waves thousands of miles away
Cirrus clouds are our highest clouds; their delicate wispy strands are like an artist’s brushstrokes through the sky. During the day they are bright white and at dawn and dusk they can take on the hues of sunrise and sunset. But how are they made? New research reveals that some cirrus clouds are seeded by storms on the other side of the world, many thousands of miles away. This has implications for global heating as storm patterns shift.
Meteorologists have long recognised two types of cirrus cloud: “anvil” cirrus, which spread out from large storm systems, and “in-situ” cirrus, which seem to form on their own. Telling them apart is tricky, but by applying a new computer analysis to cloud satellite data, researchers spotted that in-situ cirrus emerged in response to major storm systems on the other side of the Earth.
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Inkpen, Berkshire: Drifting in and out of sleep on the woodland floor, I’m in searing pain, but far from alone
It was nobody’s fault, but here I am, lying on the damp floor of a wood, half a mile from the road. Drifting down with the falling leaves are the voices of two women, too easily accepting of blame. I reassure them and try to sit up, but the high singing in my ears turns to static, the edges of the wood begin to pixelate, and I lie down again before I faint.
Moments earlier, deep into Long Copse, Mum’s one-year-old labrador and my two-year-old collie crossbreed had met a young whippet. A case of the zoomies ensued, and as I turned to warn Mum, there was a sledgehammer blow to my lower leg as one, two or maybe all three dogs cannoned into me. Though I didn’t realise for two more days, my leg was broken before I hit the ground.
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From the threat of superintelligent AI to the secrets of a longer life; plus the evolution of language and the restless genius of Francis Crick
This felt like the year that AI really arrived. It is on our phones and laptops; it is creeping into digital and corporate infrastructure; it is changing the way we learn, work and create; and the global economy rests on the stratospheric valuations of the corporate giants vying to control it.
But the unchecked rush to go faster and further could extinguish humanity, according to the surprisingly readable and chillingly plausible If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies (Bodley Head), by computer scientists Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, which argues against creating superintelligent AI able to cognitively outpace Homo sapiens in all departments. “Even an AI that cares about understanding the universe is likely to annihilate humans as a side-effect,” they write, “because humans are not the most efficient method for producing truths … out of all possible ways to arrange matter.” Not exactly cheery Christmas reading but, as the machines literally calculate our demise, you’ll finally grasp all that tech bro lingo about tokens, weights and maximising preferences.
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Exclusive: Rising flood risks driven by climate change could release chemicals from ageing sites – posing threats to ecosystems
Thousands of landfills across the UK and Europe sit in floodplains, posing a potential threat to drinking water and conservation areas if toxic waste is released into rivers, soils and ecosystems, it can be revealed.
The findings are the result of the first continent-wide mapping of landfills, conducted by the Guardian, Watershed Investigations and Investigate Europe.
Disclaimer: This dataset may contain duplicate records. Duplicates can arise from multiple data sources, repeated entries, or variations in data collection processes. While efforts have been made to identify and reduce duplication, some records may remain.
Journalismfund.eu provided funding support for the investigation.
This article was corrected on 2 December 2025; the original version said the analysis had found 335 landfills in coastal erosion zones in England, Wales and France; in fact it had found 346.
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About 3.2 million people on Sumatra island have been affected, 2,600 have been injured and 504 are missing
The number of people killed by floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island rose to 708 on Tuesday, the country’s disaster agency said, with 504 people missing.
The toll was a sharp increase from the 604 dead reported by the agency on Monday.
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The country is the world’s second-largest producer of the popular fish, and the biggest supplier to the US, but its farms are beset by accusations of dangerous labour conditions, antibiotic overuse and ecological harm
Julia Cárcamo López’s house faces the sea, near enough to hear the gulls calling through the salt-encrusted windows. She lives in the small town of Maullín, on the edge of Chile’s Patagonia, an area where almost everyone works in the fishing industry.
Outside, it is drizzling and the sky is darkening as she recalls 1 May 2019, one of the worst days of her life. “Two men knocked on my door and told me they had bad news: my husband had had an accident while working at sea,” she says. Since then, she has discovered that the accident seems to have been caused by negligence.
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Banks of servers operating 24/7 generate massive amounts of heat, requiring power to run and cool them
Datacentre power demand in Australia could triple in five years and is forecast to exceed by 2030 the energy used by electric vehicles.
Datacentres now draw about 2% of electricity from the National Grid, about 4 terawatt hours of power. The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) expects that share to rise rapidly – growing 25% year-on-year – to reach 12TWh, or 6% of grid demand, by 2030, and 12% by 2050.
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Exclusive: Swedish carmakers push to retain target as Germany lobbies to help its own industry by softening cutoff date
As the battle lines harden amid Germany’s intensifying pressure on the European Commission to scrap the 2035 ban on production of new petrol and diesel cars, two Swedish car companies, Volvo and Polestar, are leading the campaign to persuade Brussels to stick to the date.
They argue such a move is a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks in the German car industry, adding that it will not just prolong take up of electric vehicles but inadvertently hand the advantage to China.
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