Environment news

• A naked mole rat: the world’s only ‘eusocial’ mammal has an endlessly pregnant queen | Helen Sullivan

  05-08-2024 17:00
  Each piece of information about this xenophobic rodent is worse than the last, but you cannot stop readingGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailTo read about the naked mole rat is to come across information that you wish you never knew – and then to look for more.The first thing to know about this tunnelling creature is that some people call them sand puppies. The next is that they are the world’s only “eusocial” mammal. What could that mean, you wonder, and you look
  
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• A naked mole rat: like termites, they have one almost endlessly pregnant queen

  05-08-2024 17:00
  Each piece of information about this xenophobic rodent is worse than the last, but you cannot stop readingGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailTo read about the naked mole rat is to come across information that you wish you never knew – and then to look for more.The first thing to know about this tunnelling creature is that some people call them sand puppies. The next is that they are “eusocial” mammals. What could that mean, you wonder, and you look it up: as it is with
  
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• Kamala Harris played a crucial role in passing one of the strongest climate laws in the world | Leah C Stokes

  05-08-2024 12:15
  
  America’s landmark climate law, which turns two years old this month, has Harris’s signature all over itTwo years ago today, I watched as Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the largest climate investment in American history. It was an emotional moment. After decades of inaction, America had finally passed a climate law – one of the strongest climate laws in the world.I didn’t know it then, but a month later I would get a call asking if I would like to interview
  
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• Harris helped pass one of the strongest climate laws. Her policies don’t stop there | Leah C Stokes

  05-08-2024 12:15
  America’s landmark climate law, which turns two years old this month, has Harris’s signature all over itTwo years ago this week, I watched as Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the largest climate investment in American history. It was an emotional moment. After decades of inaction, the US had finally passed a climate law – one of the strongest climate laws in the world.I didn’t know it then, but a month later I would get a call asking if I would like to intervi
  
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• Climate change deniers make up nearly a quarter of US Congress

  05-08-2024 12:00
  
  Climate denialists – 23 in Senate and 100 in House – are all Republicans and make US an outlier internationallyUS politics is an outlier bastion of climate denial with nearly one in four members of Congress dismissing the reality of climate change, even as alarm has grown among the American public over dangerous global heating, an analysis has found.A total of 123 elected federal representatives – 100 in the House of Representatives and 23 US senators – deny the existence
  
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• Weather tracker: Flooding may hit Florida and Georgia as Storm Debby intensifies

  05-08-2024 09:54
  
  Japan suffers under extreme heat but cooler conditions in Europe provide welcome reprieve at OlympicsSignificant flooding may be about to hit parts of Florida and Georgia. Over the weekend, Tropical Storm Debby developed and intensified in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, moving slowly northwards off the west coast of Florida. At the time of writing, forecast models were indicating that the storm was likely to develop into at least a category 1 hurricane before making landfall on Monday, with sustain
  
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• Norfolk Wildlife Trust revives endangered species: the local pub

  05-08-2024 07:00
  
  Restoration of Pleasure Boat Inn on edge of Hickling Broad makes charity the first wildlife trust to own a pubIt was a much-loved endangered species that desperately needed saving, but it was still a surprise when the Norfolk Wildlife Trust stepped in to revive it.The nature conservation charity has become the first wildlife trust to own a pub after restoring the Pleasure Boat Inn on the edge of Hickling Broad, a national nature reserve in the Broads national park. Continue reading...
  
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• How a monk and a Hippo joined forces to tackle Bangkok’s plastic pollution

  05-08-2024 07:00
  
  Desperate to restore the Chao Praya River to a pristine state, an abbot in the Thai capital began recycling in his temple. Now he has a floating ally in his efforts to clean up the riverPhotographs by Lauren DeCicca“Once upon a time this river was filled with fish; now, nothing swims in it any more,” says Wat Chak Daeng temple’s abbot, Phra Mahapranom Dhammalangkaro, as he looks out over Bangkok’s Chao Praya River.As a novice monk in the 1980s, he remembers seeing childre
  
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• Country diary: The night air is thick with bats | Nic Wilson

  05-08-2024 06:30
  
  Stevenage, Hertfordshire: They break the silence with their slaps, cracks and clicks – a reminder that unlit parks should be made safe for both humans and animalsIn the pitch-black night, Norway maples blaze orange on the far side of a blood-red lake. White bolts skim the ruddy surface of the water and flicker like St Elmo’s fire round our heads. It’s past 11pm, and we’re observing the scene on Hertfordshire and Middlesex Bat Group’s thermal-imaging cameras. My
  
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• All-night streetlights make leaves inedible to insects, study finds

  05-08-2024 06:00
  
  Scientists believe artificial light may be affecting natural ecology of plant life by creating extended photosynthesisStreetlights left on all night cause leaves to become so tough that insects cannot eat them, threatening the food chain, a study has found.Scientists noticed that trees in urban ecosystems showed far less damage than those in more rural areas. Their research, published in Frontiers in Plant Science, has shed light on a potential reason. Continue reading...
  
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