Environment news

• Why does hot weather put me in such a bad mood?

  09-07-2026 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Not everyone experiences heat the same way, and studies show aggression, violence and road rage increase on hotter daysRecently, my husband and I embarked on what should have been a pleasant spring errand: a stroll to the local farmer’s market. But a passing heatwave had made it unseasonably hot outside. I cut him off on the sidewalk and he snapped at me, so I snapped at him for snapping at me. We spent the rest of the excursion in sweaty, stony silence. When we were almost home, he said,
  
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• The fight against AI data centers is important – but it’s just a starting point | Bruce Schneier and Nathan E Sanders

  09-07-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  AI companies want to capture the value created by entire industries. That concentration of wealth and power is society’s greatest riskOpposition to AI datacenters has emerged as a primary theme in US politics, one that – surprisingly – doesn’t fall along party lines. We applaud people coming together for constructive debate on any issue, and agree that communities need to evaluate whether any economic benefits these datacenters bring is worth their costs. Still, we worry
  
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• The brown huntsman timed as the fastest spider at a top speed of 3.59 m/s – video

  09-07-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Brown huntsman spiders were filmed to measure their speed. The 2021 research has been included in new analysis of the speeds of more than 250 spider species by scientists in the UK and Germany, which concludes the brown huntsman, Heteropoda jugulans, has a top speed of 3.59 m/s, making it the fastest of all spiders measured. The study includes research supervised by Dr Christofer Clemente, an evolutionary biomechanist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Continue reading...
  
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• Experimental bathtub: the remote lake island trying wave power to boost energy security

  09-07-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, are trying to find a more reliable form of power using local resourcesBeaver Island sits in the middle of the northernmost end of Lake Michigan, about 70 miles from the maritime border with Canada. The forested island, just a little bigger than San Francisco in size, is a popular summer destination for tourists and home to about 600 permanent residents. Getting there requires a boat or plane ride.Getting electricity to the island is not as easy. Po
  
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• Species’ ingenious survival strategies no match for human destruction, red list reveals

  09-07-2026 14:20 via theguardian.com
  Newly endangered animals include desert frogs and snails in extreme ocean depths, both threatened by miningLife has colonised every corner of the planet by evolving ingenious survival strategies but these are increasingly being overwhelmed by destructive human activities, this year’s red list of endangered species has revealed.Many snails, limpets and clams have adapted to life at crushing depths in the oceans on hydrothermal vents where water temperatures can reach 450C (842F). But an ass
  
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• Great Britain’s grid operator issues fresh warning over power supplies in heatwave

  09-07-2026 09:48 via theguardian.com
  Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday nightGreat Britain’s energy system operator has warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as the UK entered its third heatwave of the year.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice overnight asking for extra supplies from power generators to cope with the added demand from households turning on fans and air conditioners to cope wit
  
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• Great Britain’s grid operator issues another warning over power supplies in heatwave

  09-07-2026 09:48 via theguardian.com
  Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday nightGreat Britain’s energy system operator has warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as the UK entered its third heatwave of the year.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice overnight asking for extra supplies from power generators to cope with the added demand from households turning on fans and air conditioners to cope wit
  
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• Low-e windows keep homes cool … but may set neighbours’ property on fire

  09-07-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Low-emissivity windows also keep houses warm in winter, but use on bowed glass can have magnifying-glass effectLow-emissivity or low-E window glass is a useful green technology for keeping buildings warm in winter and cool in summer … but a rare side-effect can set the neighbours’ property on fire.The glass is coated with a thin layer of metal or metal oxide which lets visible light through but acts like a mirror in the infrared. Heat from the interior is reflected back in, retainin
  
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• Country diary: The field names here read like a history book | Eben Muse

  09-07-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Ynys Enlli, Gwynedd: A stroll down this island’s one road provides clues to its past – and it has nothing to do with the 20,000 saints apparently buried hereIn 1938, the Welsh naturalist Ronald Lockley described Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) as a mountain “crudely cemented to a lowland valley, and the whole thing thrown into the middle of a violent tide-race”. Much has changed since then, but that vivid picture holds true, as I wander it today.Certainly there’s a love
  
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• Western Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify

  09-07-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Temperatures across ravaged region 3C above average as scientists warn of risks for people, ecosystems and infrastructureRecord wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting costWestern Europe has been scorched by its hottest June on record, scientists have said, as the UK enters its third heatwave of the year and wildfires ravage France and Spain.Inflamed by carbon pollution, the deadly June heatwave helped push surface air temperatures for the region 3.06C above their average fr
  
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• ‘It makes your heart sing’: can a pioneering project show that rewilding really works?

  09-07-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Intensive farming has all but destroyed England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands. On a farm in Lincolnshire a radical aristocrat hopes to show there’s money in protecting nature• The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to orderIn the silent countryside south of Grantham, three vast steel barns rattled in the breeze. Gathered in a loose circle beside them were 15 landowners, land agents and a couple of young investors; all expensively dressed
  
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