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Pan Europe found several pesticide residues in 85% of apples, with some showing traces of up to seven chemicals
Environmental groups have raised the alarm after finding toxic “pesticide cocktails” in apples sold across Europe.
Pan Europe, a coalition of NGOs campaigning against pesticide use, had about 60 apples bought in 13 European countries – including France, Spain, Italy and Poland – analysed for chemical residues.
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Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: No finches yet and only a single thrush, but tuning into January’s sounds has revealed that nature is beginning to stir
If my teenage son hadn’t mentioned it one grey morning this week, I’m not sure I’d have noticed, having been too caught up in the January doldrums. But he was right: there’s a new fullness to the soundscape here on our urban housing estate. “The birds just sound louder,” he said, scanning the rooftops, “more enthusiastic.”
“Go on then, what are they?” he grinned, giving me permission to perform my party trick. I closed my eyes and listened. Sparrow. Robin. Wood pigeon. Wren. Blue tits – a bickering winter flock of them – and, there, the see-see-see of long-tailed tits.“Which one makes this sound?” he asked, and whistled a long, descending note like something falling from the sky. “They’re my favourite.” “Starling!” I said. Right on cue, one made that exact sound somewhere above us, confirming his perfect impression.
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More than 300 brown hairstreak butterfly eggs discovered near Llandeilo this winter after decade of decline
Record numbers of eggs of the rare brown hairstreak butterfly have been found in south-west Wales after landowners stopped flailing hedges every year.
The butterfly lays its eggs on blackthorn every summer. But when land managers and farmers mechanically cut hedges every autumn, thousands of the eggs are unknowingly destroyed.
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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Projects in development expected to grow global capacity by nearly 50% amid growing concern over impact on planet
The US is leading a huge global surge in new gas-fired power generation that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions, with this record boom driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to service artificial intelligence, according to a new forecast.
This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with projects in development expected to grow existing global gas capacity by nearly 50%, a report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found.
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Emergency pumps are deployed in attempt to stop water inundating homes around River Parrett
Since medieval monks started draining and managing the Somerset Levels, humans have struggled to live and work alongside water.
“At the moment it feels like a losing battle,” said Mike Stanton, the chair of the Somerset Rivers Authority.“Intense rainfall is hitting us more often because of climate change. It may be that in the next 50 years, perhaps in the next 20, some homes around here will have to be abandoned.”
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Despite no criminal charges being brought against them, four officers have been detained since the MV Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, killing six workers
Several crew members of a ship that collided with a bridge in Baltimore almost two years ago are still being held in the US by federal authorities despite the fact that no criminal charges have been brought against them.
In the early hours of 26 March 2024, the MV Dali departed the port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka. While navigating the Fort McHenry channel, the 1,000ft-long Singapore-flagged cargo vessel lost power before striking the bridge. The impact resulted in the deaths of six people who were working on the bridge at the time.
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Plastics make up the majority of litter across the country. In the absence of regulation, the public are taking matters into their own hands
Neil Blake weighs a paper bag of fake grass fragments he has collected from a stormwater gutter near Darebin Creek in Melbourne’s north.
Over the past three years Blake has conducted 56 collections of synthetic turf in the waterway alongside the KP Hardiman Reserve hockey pitch.
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Experts say administration has launched ‘war on all fronts’ to undo environmental rules – here are the key areas at risk
In his first year back in office, Donald Trump has fundamentally reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency, initiating nearly 70 actions to undo rules protecting ecosystems and the climate.
The agency’s wide-ranging assault on the environment will put people at risk, threatening air and water quality, increasing harmful chemical exposure, and worsening global warming, experts told the Guardian. The changes amount to “a war on all fronts that this administration has launched against our health and the safety of our communities and the quality of our environment,” said Matthew Tejada, the former director of the EPA’s environmental justice program.
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When temperatures drop suddenly, trapped water can freeze and expand, splitting trunks with a gunshot-like sound
During the recent cold spell in the northern US, meteorologists issued warnings about exploding trees.
A tree’s first line of defence against freezing is its bark, which provides efficient insulation. In cold conditions, trees also enter a form of hibernation, with changes at a cellular level: cells dehydrate, harden and shrink, increasing their sugar concentration. This is the botanical equivalent of adding antifreeze, helping to prevent the formation of ice crystals.
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