Environment news

• The Guardian view on microplastics research: questioning results is good for science, but has political consequences | Editorial

  18-01-2026 18:58
  Errors in measuring microplastic pollution can be corrected. Public trust in science also needs to be shored up It is true that science is self-correcting. Over the long term this means that we can generally trust its results – but up close, correction can be a messy process. The Guardian reported last week that 20 recent studies measuring the amount of micro- and nanoplastics in the human body have been criticised in the scientific literature for methodological issues, calling their resul
  
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• Why am I a vegan? I do it for my mental health | Emma Beddington

  18-01-2026 15:00
  Vegan restaurants are closing, RFK Jr is sounding the drum for carnivores, and the protein cult is bigger than ever. But eschewing animal products helps me ward off a sense of impotence – and despairLet’s get this out of the way, because I’m itching to tell you (again): I’m vegan, and this is our time, Veganuary! Imagine me doing a weak, vitamin B12-depleted dance. Unlike gym-goers, vegans are thrilled when newbies sign up each January, for planetary and animal welfare re
  
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• Australia’s koala paradox: why is the beloved marsupial endangered in parts but overabundant in others?

  18-01-2026 15:00
  There are so many koalas in some places that food is the issue – while elsewhere populations are threatened by habitat loss. And there are no easy fixesSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereOn French Island in Victoria’s Western Port Bay, koalas are dropping from trees. Eucalypts have been eaten bare by the marsupials, with local reports of some found starving and dead. Multiple koalas – usually solitary animals – can
  
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• Why are onions turning up on Brighton beach?

  18-01-2026 08:00
  Food produce and other waste has been littering Sussex coastline as capsized shipping containers wash ashoreCoral Evans was walking along the beach in Brighton on Tuesday evening when she came across an unfamiliar sight.“Hundreds of dust masks had washed up, along with single-use plastic gloves and cans of dried milk,” she said. “It was odd to see in winter – because nothing surprises us in summertime with the amount of people on the beach.” Continue reading...
  
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• Inventor says robo-vaccination machine could be used to combat bovine TB

  18-01-2026 08:00
  Tony Cholerton created Robovacc to inoculate a timid tiger at London zoo – but says it could administer jabs to badgersIt began with the tiger who wouldn’t come to tea. Cinta was so shy that she refused to feed when keepers at London zoo were around, and staff wondered how they would ever administer the young animal’s vaccinations without traumatising her.So Tony Cholerton, a zookeeper who had been a motorcycle engineer for many years, invented Robovacc – a machine to qui
  
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• Dublin Bay’s oyster graveyard rises from dead in effort to restore rich ecosystem

  18-01-2026 08:00
  Pioneering scheme hopes species that thrived for thousands of years in Irish waters can do so againThe dinghy slowed to a stop at a long line of black bobbing baskets and David Lawlor reached out to inspect the first one.Inside lay 60 oysters, all with their shells closed, shielding the life within. “They look great,” beamed Lawlor. So did their neighbours in the next basket and the ones after that, all down the line of 300 baskets, totalling 18,000 oysters. Continue reading...
  
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