In 2014 the Malaysian Airlines jet vanished over the Indian Ocean. Now the team that located Shackleton's Endurance is looking again with the latest undersea robots

West Somerset Lagoon would harness renewable energy for UK's AI boom - and create iconic' arc around Bristol ChannelThe architect of the London Eye wants to build a vast tidal power station in a 14-mile arc off the coast of Somerset that could help Britain meet surging electricity demand to power artificial intelligence - and create a new race track to let cyclists skim over the Bristol Channel.Julia Barfield, who designed the Eye and the i360 observation tower in Brighton, is part of a team that has drawn up the 11bn proposal. It would curve from Minehead to Watchet and use 125 underwater turbines to harness the power of the second-highest tidal range in the world. Continue reading...

From merrily dismissing climate science, to promoting irresponsible health claims, the podcast was an unintentional warning for our timesLooking back on this crazy year, one event, right at the start, seems to me to encapsulate the whole. In January, recording his podcast in a studio in Austin, Texas, the host, Joe Rogan, and the actor Mel Gibson merrily dissed climate science. At the same time, about 1,200 miles away in California, Gibson's $14m home was being incinerated in the Palisades wildfire. In this and other respects, their discussion could be seen as prefiguring the entire 12 months.The loss of his house hadn't been confirmed at the time of the interview, but Gibson said his son had just sent him a video of my neighbourhood, and it's in flames. It looks like an inferno." According to World Weather Attribution, January's fires in California were made significantly more likely by climate breakdown. Factors such as the extreme lack of rainfall and stronger winds made such fires both more likely to happen and more intense than they would have been without human-caused global heating. Continue reading...

With the snow line edging higher, 186 French ski resorts have shut, while global heating threatens dozens moreWhen Ceuze 2000 ski resort closed at the end of the season in 2018, the workers assumed they would be back the following winter. Maps of the pistes were left stacked beside a stapler; the staff rota pinned to the wall.Six years on, a yellowing newspaper dated 8 March 2018 sits folded on its side, as if someone has just flicked through it during a quiet spell. A half-drunk bottle of water remains on the table. Continue reading...

Beachgoers from the Tweed to Batemans Bay have been asked to be on the lookout - and every nest reported to TurtleWatch NSW will be protected

New polling shows 65% of registered US voters believe global heating is affecting cost of livingMost Americans now connect the worsening climate crisis with their cost of living pressures, with clear majorities also disagreeing with moves by the Trump administration to gut climate research and halt windfarms, new polling has found.About 65% of registered voters in the US think that global heating is affecting the cost of living, according to the polling by Yale University. Continue reading...

As part of the Guardian's Against the tide series, readers aged 18 to 30 share what they love about living in their coastal town, the challenges and why they often choose to leaveMegan, a 24-year-old from the Isle of Wight, is very familiar with saying goodbye. She decided university wasn't for her and remembers how, one by one, she waved off her friends who left the island to study. Many never came back. Continue reading...

We look back over the year's wildlife photographs, and hand out some much-deserved gongs to brilliant and beautiful creatures around the world Continue reading...

Mersey Valley Way takes in Manchester and Stockport on its 13-mile route with other walks to be identified in 2026A new river walk has been announced by the government as ministers try to improve access to nature in England.The 13-mile (21km) walk will go through Greater Manchester and the north-west of England. There will be a river walk in each region of the country by the end of parliament, the government has pledged. Continue reading...

Provisional figures in government mandate's first year show 20% shortfall in levels of SAF supplied for UK flightsThe take-up of sustainable aviation fuels is on course to fall short of the UK government's first annual mandate, official figures suggest.Production data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) covering most of 2025 shows that sustainable fuels (SAF) only accounted for 1.6% of fuel supplied for UK flights - 20% less fuel in volume than the 2% needed to fulfil the requirement. Continue reading...

Now is the time to think of new beginnings Continue reading...

In order to be less scared, I imagine the huge Australian huntsman as a girlie, just chilling and listening to us yap. It sounds dumb, but it worked (a little bit)

Low-cost tech and joined-up funding have reduced illegal logging, mining and poaching in the Darien Gap - it's a success story that could stop deforestation worldwideThere are no roads through the Darien Gap. This vast impenetrable forest spans the width of the land bridge between South and Central America, but there is almost no way through it: hundreds have lost their lives trying to cross it on foot.Its size and hostility have shielded it from development for millennia, protecting hundreds of species - from harpy eagles and giant anteaters to jaguars and red-crested tamarins - in one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. But it has also made it incredibly difficult to protect. Looking after 575,000 hectares (1,420,856 acres) of beach, mangrove and rainforest with just 20 rangers often felt impossible, says Segundo Sugasti, the director of Darien national park. Like tropical forests all over the world, it has been steadily shrinking, with at least 15% lost to logging, mining and cattle ranching in two decades. Continue reading...

Government poised to officially protect 200,000 hectares of remote Patagonian coastline and forestChile's government is poised to create the country's 47th national park, protecting nearly 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of pristine wilderness and completing a wildlife corridor stretching 1,700 miles (2,800km) to the southernmost tip of the Americas.The Cape Froward national park is a wild expanse of wind-torn coastline and forested valleys that harbours unrivalled biodiversity and has played host to millennia of human history. Continue reading...

Smallest number of new chargers since 2022 as carmakers persuade government to weaken EV sales targetsThe UK's rollout of electric car chargers slackened markedly in 2025 amid investor concerns over a slower-than-expected switch to cleaner battery vehicles.There were 87,200 chargers installed in the UK at the end of November, an increase of 13,500 compared with the end of 2024, according to data from Zapmap, which tracks charger installations. Continue reading...

Penguins hand over pebbles; scorpionflies give spitballs. But I'm hankering after a sea sponge presented by a dolphinThis Christmas morning, are you worried you didn't choose quite the right gift for that someone special? I always try my hardest, but everywhere I turn I'm bombarded with unhelpful suggestions. No, I don't want a candle that smells like turkey, because, well, we'll be cooking turkey. Nor do I want a sunrise alarm clock that mimics natural light, because I can leave the curtains open. And I definitely don't want a salmon DNA pink collagen jelly mask (Good Housekeeping's Best for Beauty Lovers), because said DNA comes from milt. AKA semen. If I wanted fish sperm on my face, I would tickle some pollocks.So if, like me, you're always looking for inspiration, my advice is: learn from the animal kingdom. Humans didn't invent gifting. The practice has been around for at least 100m years, long before our species evolved. With a little help from natural selection, this has given wild animals ample time to perfect the art of giving. Hell, some spiders even gift-wrap!Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction Continue reading...

Royal Horticultural Society's call backs government aim to increase woodland cover from 10% to at least 16.5% by 2050Gardeners should plant native tredges" - foliage between the size of a tree and a hedge - to boost England's tree cover, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.Taking inspiration from ancient woodlands could boost wildlife across England's 25m gardens, according to experts, and help increase native tree cover. The UK's woodland cover is approximately 10% and the government aims to increase this to at least 16.5% of all land in England by 2050.Beech (Fagus sylvatica)Holly (Ilex aquifolium)Western red cedar (Thuja plicata)Common yew (Taxus baccata)Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) Continue reading...

More than a year after the storm ripped apart families and farms, growers are bullish about strength of their industryChristmas tree farmers in western North Carolina are still rebuilding from last year's devastating Hurricane Helene, but growers are optimistic about business and the overall strength of their industry in the region.There's still a lot of recovery that needs to happen, but we're in much better shape than we were this time last year ... sales are good," Kevin Gray, owner of Hickory Creek Farm Christmas Trees in Greensboro, said earlier this month, while the buying season was in full swing. Continue reading...

Victoria Atkins says announcement to raise tax threshold from 1m to 2.5m days before Christmas seems very odd'

Seaweed has become a key cash crop as climate change and industrial trawling test the resilient culture of the semi-nomadic Vezo peopleAlong Madagascar's south-west coast, the Vezo people, who have fished the Mozambique Channel for countless generations, are defined by a way of life sustained by the sea. Yet climate change and industrial exploitation are pushing this ocean-based culture to its limits.Coastal villages around Toliara, a city in southern Madagascar, host tens of thousands of the semi-nomadic Vezo people, who make a living from small-scale fishing on the ocean. For centuries, they have launched pirogues, small boats carved from single tree trunks, every day into the turquoise shallows to catch tuna, barracuda and grouper.A boat near lines of seaweed, which has become a main source of income for Ambatomilo village as warmer seas, bleached reefs and erratic weather accelerate the decline of local fish populations Continue reading...

New protections for hares, and more humane conditions on farms, should be welcomed by allLooking after wildlife and improving the lives of farm animals and pets are the related but distinct aims of the government's new animal welfare strategy for England. Its launch is timely: more than 1 billion chickens and around 8 million turkeys are reared each year - with many of the latter slaughtered in the run-up to Christmas. Winter is also peak season for pet abandonments, with animal charities particularly fearful this year, given the already high numbers of dogs and cats being dumped.Pledges to end the use of cages for laying hens, and cramped farrowing crates for pigs, will be welcomed byall who object to animal cruelty. So will a proposal toreplace the carbon dioxide stunning of pigs with an alternativethat is less distressing for them. New rules for farmed fish are also on the way. Until now, fish have been largely excluded from the evolving set of regulations aimed at minimising suffering at the pointof slaughter.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

U-turn lifts limit from 1m to 2.5m after protests and warnings that family farms were at riskMinisters will increase the threshold for taxing inherited farmland from 1m to 2.5m after months of pressure from campaigners and MPs representing rural areas.In a statement slipped out just before Christmas, the environment department announced the U-turn, which will apply from April when the tax kicks in. Continue reading...

No 10 has largely played down health secretary's commentsThe Treasury has published this explainer setting out in detail how the inheritance tax rules will apply to farms after today's announcement.When the government first announced its plan to extend inheritance tax to farms, it said that this would raise around 520m a year from 2028-29.The changes we are implementing reflects the concerns that have been raised while preserving the majority of the revenue from reform to help cut debt and borrowing and fund public services. The costings for today's announcement will be incorporated into the next OBR forecast. Continue reading...

Work under way to refloat boats on emptied waterway after earthwork more than 200 years old failsThe dramatic breach of a canal in the early hours of Monday, which sent two narrowboats tumbling into a hole and left others stranded, was caused by the collapse of an artificial embankment that had stood for more than 200 years.As emergency services declared the major incident phase over more than 24 hours after the embankment failure, work was beginning to isolate the damaged section of the canal and refloat boats still stranded either side of the emptied section of waterway. Continue reading...

As the number of the semi-aquatic creatures soars so can tensions. But the Swiss have a tried and tested system to calm the neighbours and restore harmonyI hate beavers," a woman tells the beaver hotline. Forty years ago she planted an oak tree in a small town in southern Zurich - now at the frontier of beaver expansion - and it has just been felled: gnawed by the large, semi-aquatic rodents as they enter their seasonal home-improvement mode.The caller is one of 10 new people getting in touch each week at this time of year. Beavers, nature's great engineers, can unleash mayhem during winter as they renovate their lodges and build up their dams. For people, this can mean flooding, sinkholes appearing in roads and trees being felled. A single incident can clock up 70,000 Swiss francs (65,000) in damages. Continue reading...

Met Office says temperatures are tracking ahead of 2022 after year of heatwaves and drought, though late cold spell could yet interveneForecasters say 2025 is more likely than not" to break the record for the hottest year in the UK since records began, after a summer of heatwaves and drought followed by a mild autumn.According to the Met Office, the official forecaster, the mean temperature for 2025 is tracking well ahead of the previous highest year, set in 2022. However, a colder spell expected from Christmas until the new year makes it too close to call definitively. Continue reading...

Advocates say State Electricity Commission's $650m Delburn windfarm will be a new chapter' for region previously home to Hazelwood coal power station

Major incident declared as 50-metre-long breach opens up in waterway previously flagged as amber risk'A man has told of his narrow escape after waking up just in time to raise the alarm as his canal boat and those of others were swallowed by a fast-appearing giant hole.Emergency services declared a major incident after the 50-metre-long crater - initially described by emergency services and other agencies as a sinkhole - breached the Llangollen canal in England's West Midlands, leaving boats teetering on the edge of a steep drop or stuck at the bottom of the cavity. Continue reading...

Black Diamond Pool eruption provides dramatic footage after being captured on official cameraA hot spring in Yellowstone national park that erupts sporadically was captured on an official camera exploding in spectacular muddy plumes at the weekend.Volcanic experts at the US Geological Survey described the eruption as simply Kablooey!" Continue reading...

Interior department move affects five projects under construction in latest blow to industry targeted by TrumpThe Trump administration has said it is immediately pausing all leases for offshore wind farms already under construction, in the heaviest blow yet to an industry that the administration has relentlessly targeted throughout the year.Trump's Department of the Interior said that it was halting the building of five wind projects due to national security risks". The department said it would work with the US Department of Defense to mitigate the risk of the wind turbine towers creating radar interference called clutter" that could in some way hamper the US military. Continue reading...

Video shared by the US Geological Survey on social media shows mud spraying up and out from the Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone national park. Other recent eruptions have mostly been audible but not visible because they happened either at night or when the camera was obscured by ice. The agency said the Black Diamond Pool was previously the site of a hydrothermal explosion, in July 2024, that sent rocks and mud flying hundreds of feet into the air and damaged a boardwalk. It prompted the closure of the area to visitors due to the damage and potential for additional hazardous activity Continue reading...

Mass of congealed fat, oil and grease 100 metres in length found blocking sewers in Whitechapel area of capitalA fatberg" weighing an estimated 100 tonnes has been discovered blocking sewers in east London, officials have said.The mass of congealed fats, oils and grease measures about 100 metres long (328ft) and weighs about a third more than the heaviest of the British army's battle tanks. It has been called the grandchild of the 2017 Whitechapel fatberg, which weighed 130 tonnes and stretched for more than 250 metres (820ft). Continue reading...

Rich Stockdale says model of regenerative capitalism' would maximise profits by planting trees, restoring peatlands, and installing windfarms across its estatesThe founder of an investment firm buying large estates across Britain to restore woods and peatland has said it is unashamedly and proudly" capitalist, and plans to make tens of millions of pounds in profit.Rich Stockdale, the chief executive of Oxygen Conservation, said his model of regenerative capitalism" was a force for good" because it would offer investors significant profits by planting trees, restoring peatlands, operating solar farms and holiday homes and installing new windfarms across its estates. Continue reading...

Thousands of farms set to go bankrupt as grain farmers in particular hit by trade disruptions caused by price hikesDonald Trump, having promised to NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN", appeared to come through for them this month when he unveiled a $12bn aid package. Industry leaders say thousands of farms will still go bust this year.While the US president has vowed to increase domestic farm production, and even claimed this formed a big part" of his plan to lower grocery prices for Americans, many US farmers are grappling with mounting financial issues - compounded by Trump's agenda. Continue reading...

Milder weather led to a bloom in the invertebrates in south Cornwall and Devon, wildlife charity saysRecord numbers of sightings of one of the world's most intelligent invertebrates over the summer have led the Wildlife Trusts to declare 2025 the year of the octopus" in its annual review of Britain's seas.A mild winter followed by an exceptionally warm spring prompted unprecedented numbers of Mediterranean octopuses to take up residence along England's south coast, from Penzance in Cornwall to south Devon. Continue reading...

Humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish and end to puppy farming also in new package of animal welfare lawsCaged hens will be a thing of the past in England, the government has announced, as it launches a package of new animal welfare laws.Pig farrowing crates, which campaigners have said are cruel, will also be banned under the welfare changes. These cramped crates are used to stop pigs from rolling over and crushing their young, but once in them sows cannot turn over or move around at all. Continue reading...

Magpie on a mince pie anyone? Continue reading...

The first ever mass deployment of mother reef bricks aims to rebuild habitats - and could reshape the North SeaAllie Wharf's career unfolded amid conflict. As a senior foreign producer for Newsnight, she reported on Iraq and Afghanistan. Just two years ago, she was filming mass graves in Ukraine.But burnt out by wars, and after a detour farming ducks in Tanzania, Wharf has now settled on the quiet north Norfolk coast. Here, alongside her life and business partner, Willie Athill, she has embarked on a different kind of mission: the creation of Europe's largest natural oyster reef. Continue reading...

Asda, Lidl and Morrisons understood to be stocking imported branded turkeys to meet Christmas demandSeveral of the UK's big supermarkets have been forced to source turkeys from elsewhere in Europe to keep shelves stocked this Christmas, after avian flu curtailed UK production.Asda, Lidl and Morrisons are understood to be stocking branded turkey imported from mainland Europe - a move industry sources described as unprecedented" - to protect availability" and ensure sufficient supply for festive meals. Continue reading...

The Golden State's clean energy use hit new highs in 2025. As the Trump administration abandons US climate initiatives, can California fill the void?As officials from around the world met in Brazil for the Cop30 climate summit last month, the US president was nowhere to be found, nor were any members of his cabinet. Instead, the most prominent American voice in Belem was that of the California governor, Gavin Newsom.During the five days he spent in Brazil, Newsom described Donald Trump as an invasive species" and condemned his rollback of policies aimed at reducing emissions and expanding renewable energy. Newsom, long considered a presidential hopeful, argued that, as the US retreated, California would step up in its place as a stable, reliable" climate leader and partner. Continue reading...

Heating means pests breeding and spreading faster, warn scientists, with simplified current food system already vulnerable

System operator Neso predicts lowest carbon intensity ever on Christmas Day after new wind and solar power come onlineBritain's energy system operator has predicted that this year's Christmas Day could be the greenest yet.If the weather remains mild and windy for the rest of December, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) has said it could record the lowest carbon intensity - the measure of how much carbon dioxide is released to produce electricity - recorded on the network for 25 December. Continue reading...

European legislators may ban plant-based products from using the name to prevent confusion'. Just don't mention beef tomatoes or buffalo wingsMost of what you eat is sausages. I mean, if we're going to get literal about it. Sausage derives from the Latin salsicus, which means seasoned with salt". You might think of a sausage as a simple thing, but on this reading it is everything and nothing, a Borgesian meta-concept that retreats as you approach it.From another perspective, a sausage is an offal-filled intestine, or the macerated parts of an electrocuted or asphyxiated pig or other animal - generally parts that you wouldn't knowingly eat - mixed with other ingredients that, in isolation, you might consider inedible. For some reason, it is seldom marketed as such. Continue reading...

EPA proposed undoing Biden-era policy on exposure to carcinogenic toxin in latest push to weaken toxin standardsDonald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to increase the levels of exposure to highly carcinogenic formaldehyde it considers safe. If successful, people would continue to be exposed to concerning amounts of the toxin in thousands of everyday products used across the economy, experts and advocates say.Formaldehyde, a pungent colorless gas at room temperature, is found in a range of cosmetics, personal care products, home cleaners, craft supplies, leather goods, furniture, clothing, plastic, building materials and other everyday goods. During Joe Biden's term, EPA scientists took a major step toward reining in the broad societal risk by issuing a finding that any level of exposure to formaldehyde can cause cancer, and very low levels cause non-cancer health harms. Continue reading...

Games such as Dragon Quest used to mobilize workers to back corporate goals including relaxing environmental rulesToyota, the world's biggest carmaker, is using retro-style video games to rally its US workforce behind its corporate goals, including lobbying to relax environmental rules, the Guardian can reveal.Through an internal platform called Toyota Policy Drivers, employees can play games with names such as Star Quest, Adventure Quest and Dragon Quest, earning prizes by engaging with company messaging about policy and by contacting federal lawmakers using company-provided talking points. Continue reading...

Researchers noticed dramatic' changes in nutrients in crops, including drop in zinc and rise in leadMore carbon dioxide in the environment is making food more calorific but less nutritious - and also potentially more toxic, a study has found.Sterre ter Haar, a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and other researchers at the institution created a method to compare multiple studies on plants' responses to increased COlevels. The results, she said, were a shock: although crop yields increase, they become less nutrient-dense. While zinc levels in particular drop, lead levels increase. Continue reading...

Long Island receives 21cm of snow, while a tornado tears down decorations near MalagaHeavy snow fell in parts of New England this week. New York's Central Park received a few centimetres of snow, while 21cm (8.5in) was dumped in parts of Long Island. This is the earliest New York has experienced snowfall since 2018.New York narrowly missed out on widespread snowfall a few weeks ago. The low-pressure system tracked ever so slightly to the north of New York, enabling the warmer air to edge in. Meanwhile, upstate New York and other parts of New England were on the colder side of the system and received significant snow accumulations. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ancient forests and turquoise rivers of the Cochamo Valley protected from logging, damming and developmentA wild valley in Chilean Patagonia has been preserved for future generations and protected from logging, damming and unbridled development after a remarkable fundraising effort by local groups, the Guardian can reveal.The 133,000 hectares (328,000 acres) of pristine wilderness in the Cochamo Valley was bought for $63m (47m) after a grassroots campaign led by the NGO Puelo Patagonia, and the title to the wildlands was officially handed over to the Chilean nonprofit Fundacion Conserva Pucheguin on 9 December. Continue reading...

This week's best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Analysis suggests consumption at Northumberland site could be 50 times higher than US operator QTS estimatesThe UK's largest proposed datacentre is understating the scale of its planned water use, according to an analysis.The first phase of construction for the hyperscale campus in Cambois in Northumberland has been given the go-ahead by the local council. The US operator QTS, which is developing the site, has promoted its water-free" cooling system as proof of its sustainability. Continue reading...