‘I am an optimistic person’: the scientist who studies climate catastrophes

Friederike Otto, a member of the world's only rapid reaction force of climate scientists, on looking into the apocalypse of extreme weather

Cycling over London Bridge as the dry heat pushed the temperature above 40C and a hot wind gusted down the River Thames, Friederike Otto paused to look at the monument to the city's great fire more than 350 years earlier.

The heat was intense, the humidity was so low and there were these winds. You could almost feel if there was one spark now, London will burn again," she said.