Robot spots suspected debris of melted fuel for first time since 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plantImages captured by an underwater robot on Saturday showed massive deposits believed to be melted nuclear fuel covering the floor of a damaged reactor at Japan’s destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.

Lester, who was blinded by British atomic tests in South Australia in the 1950s, campaigned to get recognition for the 1,800 Indigenous Australians affectedTributes have poured in for Aboriginal elder and activist Yami Lester, who died at the age of 75.Lester, who died in Alice Springs on Friday night, lived a life of “great hardship and challenge” after being blinded as a young adolescent by the Maralinga atomic tests in the 1950s, which he called the “black mist”. Continue reading...

Popular gadget of 70s and 80s bubbles up again, remarketing itself as the greener alternative to fizzy drinks’ copious cans and bottlesFor anyone growing up in the 70s and 80s having a SodaStream was the kitchen sink equivalent of a magic show with the gadget up there with Swap Shop and E.T. as a pop culture reference for the era. At that time the coveted “fizzy-drinks maker” was proudly displayed on 40% of British kitchen counters, attracting the kind of awed attention that a spiraliser could only dream off today.It was a simpler time for consumers and today SodaStream faces stiffer competition for the nation’s attention as NutriBullet fruit and veg blenders bump up against Magimixes on crowded worktops. Continue reading...

Free swimming at La Villette is first step in Paris’s efforts to reopen some of its murky waterways to casual bathers, and the Seine could be nextStanding in his swimming trunks, Gilles looked up at the modern grey apartment buildings and trees that lined the Paris canal. He took a deep breath, then dived into the dark mass of water that had been officially banned to swimmers for decades.“Bliss,” he said after doing 500m of front crawl, occasionally brushing past bits of green algae in the new temporary swimming zone at La Villette canal basin, where Parisians can take their first legal dip in a city waterway for a century. Continue reading...

Comins Coch, Aberystwyth I was looking forward to seeing the ramshackle structure for myself. Then the anxiety beganA month or so ago, a friend casually mentioned that they thought red kites were starting to nest near their house. Very near, in fact; actually in the garden. Even in the hills beyond Tregaron, where kites wheel and dive in such abundance as to be almost unworthy of comment, having a nest within view of your kitchen window is unusual.On the boundary of the property, the crook of a sycamore tree provided an apparently suitable spot for the pair to set up home; occasional bulletins told of the progress, albeit slow and halting, of nest building. It seemed the birds were in no great hurry – limiting their activity to the odd twig or two each day – but eventually they had assembled a slightly ramshackle structure that managed to support the weight of a sitting bird. Continue reading...

First-class degrees | Female saints | Rambutan | Tennis and nationality | Sheep v giant hogweed | LitterGosh! How clever we have all become. Fifty years ago, only the top 2% of the population went to university and about 10% of them got firsts, so 0.2% of the population. Now, 30% go to uni, and 25% of them get firsts (Number of UK degree students receiving firsts soars, theguardian.com, 20 July), making 7.5% of the population. The universities say there is no grade inflation so we must be more than 30 times cleverer! Impressive or what?

Palm oil plantations on illegally deforested land in Sumatra – home to elephants, orangutans and tigers – have allegedly been used to supply scores of household brands, says new reportPepsico, Unilever and Nestlé have been accused of complicity in the destruction of Sumatra’s last tract of rainforest shared by elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers together in one ecosystem.Plantations built on deforested land have allegedly been used to supply palm oil to scores of household brands that also include McDonald’s, Mars, Kellogg’s and Procter & Gamble, according to a new report. Continue reading...

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...

Gove’s vision for the environment is undoubtedly ambitious but it is at odds with much government action – making it real will be a gargantuan taskWho knew? Environment secretary Michael Gove, arch Brexiter and seen just months ago grinning and thumbs up in eco-villain Donald Trump’s lair, turns out to be – in words, at least – a deep green.

A pod of pilot whales, nesting storks and a clan of hyenas are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Sixty-five MPs have written to the environment secretary urging him to include the measures in his new strategy to tackle the air pollution crisisA cross party group of MPs is calling on Michael Gove to adopt a clean air bill in his new strategy to tackle the crisis of air pollution in the UK.Sixty five MPs have written to the environment secretary as he prepares to address the most pressing issue in his intray – a demand by judges for a new air quality strategy by 31 July to cut illegal levels of pollution from diesel vehicles. Continue reading...

Drivers who fail to give cyclists enough space when overtaking will be pulled over, and officers will explain how to overtake cyclists safelyLondon’s police force has launched a new initiative to tackle drivers who pass cyclists too closely, using plain clothes officers.From Friday, the Space for Cyclists initiative will be carried out by UK’s only cycle-mounted police command, the Met’s cycle safety team, after months spent adapting the tactic for London’s roads from a West Midlands Police initiative, introduced last year. Continue reading...

North Lees, Derbyshire The site of the old smelting works felt wholly reclaimed, and as the rain ended the air filled with insects and soon after wrensThe rain started as I crossed the pasture above North Lees Hall, the model, it is widely accepted, for Thornfield Hall in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. It’s a house the author visited more than once, staying with her friend Ellen Nussey in nearby Hathersage, and the intertwining of the names – thorn being an anagram of north and lee derived from the Anglo-Saxon for field – coupled with the detailed description Brontë gives, are persuasive. Continue reading...

Big reductions in no-take marine protected areas are being considered, going beyond those recommended by an earlier federal government reviewAustralia’s marine protected areas look set to be slashed by the federal government, with plans announced for cuts that go beyond those recommended by a review commissioned by the previous Abbott government.Draft management plans released by the Director of National Parks on Friday propose that large areas of Queensland’s Coral Sea, as well as off the coast of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and New South Wales, will lose or have their protection downgraded, to make way for expanded long-line fishing and seafloor trawling – which have been shown to damage the conservation value of the oceans. Continue reading...

A recent heatwave in Siberia’s frozen wastes has resulted in outbreaks of deadly anthrax and a series of violent explosionsStrange things have been happening in the frozen tundra of northern Siberia. Last August a boy died of anthrax in the remote Yamal Peninsula, and 20 other infected people were treated and survived. Anthrax hadn’t been seen in the region for 75 years, and it’s thought the recent outbreak followed an intense heatwave in Siberia, temperatures reaching over 30C that melted the frozen permafrost.Long dormant spores of the highly infectious anthrax bacteria frozen in the carcass of an infected reindeer rejuvenated themselves and infected herds of reindeer and eventually local people. Continue reading...

The life of our reef is intimately linked to the health of our politics and the future of our communities. Coal has no role to play

Hotels and local government in Cancún will pay premiums, and insurance industry will pay out if the reef is damaged by stormsA stretch of coral reef off Mexico is the testing ground for a new idea that could protect fragile environments around the world: insurance.

Scuffles and accusations of aggression increase at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas exploration site near BlackpoolTensions at Britain’s most high-profile fracking site have risen after an increase in violent clashes between protesters, security guards and police. One demonstrator said she had been left unconscious after a “pretty brutal” scuffle with security officers on Wednesday, and another activist fell from his wheelchair, the same day, when police officers pulled him out of the way of a 40-tonne lorry.Both protesters said they planned to report the incidents that had occurred at energy firm Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site, near Blackpool, to Lancashire police. Continue reading...

Six-year-old Xanda was shot and killed by hunters when he roamed outside the protected area of the Hwange national park in ZimbabweA son of Cecil the lion has been killed by trophy hunters in Zimbabwe, meeting the same fate as his father whose death in 2015 caused a global outcry.Xanda was six years old and had fathered a number of cubs himself. He was shot on 7 July just outside the Hwange national park, not far from where Cecil died, but news of the death only became public on Thursday. Continue reading...

Environmental groups accuse agency of turning blind eye as Texas ‘renders useless’ pollution controls by issuing lax permits for oil and gas facilitiesCampaign groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency in a bid to force it to clamp down on industrial air pollution in Texas.Related: Texas companies penalized in less than 3% of illegal air pollution cases – report Continue reading...

Pangolins are the world’s most trafficked wild mammal and decimated Asian populations have sharply shifted the focus of exploitation to AfricaThe true scale of the slaughter of pangolins in Africa has been revealed by new research showing that millions of the scaly mammals are being hunted and killed.

PM says there is a role for government but ‘the goal should always be for investment decisions to be made by the market’Malcolm Turnbull says it is better the market decides whether or not to build a new coal-fired power station in Australia rather than delivering that outcome through government intervention.

Summer’s here, and so are bees. These new macro images by Alejandro Santillana are being showcased in the Insects Unlocked project at the University of Texas at Austin Continue reading...

Individuals, schools and businesses are urged to adopt a five point plan to help make their towns and cities free of single-use plastic

In a film released by Surfers Against Sewage, narrated by the actor Imelda Staunton, the scale of the plastic waste that circulates on the currents of the world’s oceans is compared to a global nuclear security threat. The group is calling for people to adopt a five-point plan to reduce plastic pollution

The vast majority of newly built stations in Indonesia relied on export credits agencies or development banks, says study by Market ForcesThe much-discussed boom in coal-fired power in south-east Asia is being bankrolled by foreign governments and banks, with the vast majority of projects apparently too risky for the private sector.Environmental analysts at activist group Market Forces examined 22 deals involving 13.1 gigawatts of coal-fired power in Indonesia and found that 91% of the projects had the backing of foreign governments through export credit agencies or development banks. Continue reading...

Photographer Matthew Staver and writer Oliver Milman visited the US National Wildlife Property Repository, where illegal wildlife products, from stuffed tigers to worked ivory, are stored and countedIf the US had a national house of horrors, it would probably be the federal government compound that lies on the fringes of Denver, Colorado, incongruously set within a wildlife reserve where bison languorously dawdle against a backdrop of the snow-crowned Rockies.The National Wildlife Property Repository, operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), is a warehouse of the macabre. It’s a Noah’s ark of protected deceased biodiversity that smugglers attempted to get into the US before being caught by FWS staff at airports and ports. Continue reading...

The endangered wild dogs are well adapted to high temperatures but a warming world means pup survival is plummeting, study showsRising temperatures are making it too hot for African wild dogs to hunt and the number of their pups that survive is plummeting, according to a new study. The research is among the first to show a direct impact of increased heat on wildlife that appears well adapted to high temperatures.There are only 7,000 African wild dogs left in the wild and they have lost 93% of their historic ranges to humans. Research earlier in July suggested that a “biological annihilation” of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is already under way. Continue reading...

Wolsingham, Weardale The grasshoppers are singing, dragging the little pegs on their hind femurs across the edges of their long membranous wingsIn the 40 years that I have followed this steep, stony, path leading down to Tunstall reservoir, one moorland edge bank of fescues, betony and bell heather has always been a reliable spot for grasshoppers. Facing south-west, sheltered from wind by a larch plantation it’s a perfect place to sit on a sunny afternoon and listen to their soundtrack of summer.You would need more finely tuned ears than mine to distinguish all 13 of our grasshopper species by their songs, but here I have only ever found two; the meadow, Chorthippus parallelus, and the common green, Omocestus viridulus. Continue reading...

Holdfast Bay council wants moratorium on oil and gas exploration in bight over fears of ‘devastating impacts’ of oil spillLocal opposition to plans by multinational oil companies to drill in the Great Australian Bight has ratcheted up a notch after Holdfast Bay council passed a motion calling on the regulator to stop all such activity – the largest of five councils in the South Australian region to voice concern.The move almost doubles the number of people living in councils opposed to drilling in the bight, bringing it to nearly 84,000 people in total, with the representatives of the roughly 38,000 people in Holdfast Bay adding their voices to those of Kangaroo Island, Victor Harbor, Yankalilla and Yorke Peninsula. Continue reading...

First global analysis of all mass–produced plastics has found humans have produced 8.3bn tonnes since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or oceansHumans have produced 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans, according to a new report.

Exclusive: Australian Conservation Foundation asks environment and energy minister to revoke Carmichael mine approvalA fresh legal challenge could be brewing for Adani’s planned Carmichael coalmine. New advice has found the federal environment minister’s approval of the mine may have been unlawful in light of new scientific evidence of its impacts on the endangered black-throated finch.As a result, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has asked the federal minister for the environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, revoke the approval and ask Adani to resubmit its plans for consideration. Continue reading...

Brexit department warns EU counterparts it will ‘return waste to its country of origin’ if an agreement on nuclear cooperation cannot be reachedBritain has warned the EU that it could return boatloads of radioactive waste back to the continent if the Brexit talks fail to deliver an agreement on nuclear regulation.

Neart na Gaoithe project on east coast likely to go ahead after long-running court battle despite claim it threatens seabirdsA £2bn offshore windfarm in Scotland looks set to go ahead after the RSPB lost a long-running legal challenge against the plans, which the conservationists said threatened puffins, gannets and kittiwakes.The Scottish government gave its consent to four major windfarms in the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay in 2014, but the RSPB launched a judicial review, saying it was extremely concerned at the impact on seabirds. Continue reading...

Catholic order builds chapel in middle of cornfield in attempt to use religious freedom protections to block Atlantic Sunrise pipelineCatholic nuns in Pennsylvania are resisting plans to build a $3bn pipeline for gas obtained by fracking through its land by creating a rudimentary chapel along the proposed route and launching a legal challenge, citing religious freedom.The Adorers of the Blood of Christ order has filed a complaint against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a bid to keep the pipeline off their land. The nuns’ lawyers argue in court papers that a decision by FERC to force them to accommodate the pipeline is “antithetical to the deeply held religious beliefs and convictions of the Adorers”.

Coal supplied just 2% of power in the first half of 2017, marking a steep decline from just five years ago, according to analysis by Imperial College

Scene in Coverack ‘devastating’ as forecasters warn of more potential flooding in parts of England and WalesDazed residents in a Cornish fishing village have begun a huge clean-up operation following a flash flood that saw a torrent of water more than a metre deep rip up roads and damage 50 properties.As forecasters warned of more potential flooding in parts of England and Wales on Wednesday, the scene at Coverack on the Lizard peninsula was described as devastating.

Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers discussed the failure of the Republican healthcare plan and rollback of environmental regulationsLate-night hosts addressed the GOP healthcare bill on Tuesday night, which collapsed after four Republican senators came out in opposition to it.“Trumpcare is no more,” Trevor Noah of Comedy Central began. “I don’t know why we’re surprised. We all knew the words Trump and care were never destined to be together.” Continue reading...

Trump has been paralyzed on healthcare and tax reform, but his administration has been active in eroding safeguards and protections elsewhereGiven all that Donald Trump promised the business world during his bombastic campaign it’s tempting to dismiss the president’s first six months with a “meh”. It would also be myopic. Continue reading...

The wall of Republican climate denial is starting to crack; who will be the Neo that accelerates the process?

Operator of UK’s largest power station says it plans to convert one of three remaining coal-fired units to gasThe operator of the UK’s largest power station has seen its share price slide after it posted a pre-tax loss of £83m in the first half of the year despite increasing earnings by 73%.Drax Group, which runs a coal and biomass plant in North Yorkshire, boosted its earnings to £121m from £70m last year, due to its acquisition of the business energy supplier Opus Energy. Continue reading...

Daimler acts to reduce nitrogen oxide output as diesel emissions remain under scrutiny in wake of VW scandalAlmost every new Mercedes-Benz diesel car bought in the UK during the past six years is being recalled to improve their emissions performance.

Flooding in Cornish coastal village of Coverack described as horrendous, and further deluges possible further northMuch of England and Wales has been warned to prepare for more stormy weather and localised flooding after several people in Cornwall had to be rescued from flash floods overnight.Heavy rain and thunderstorms caused “devastating” flooding in the coastal village of Coverack in Cornwall on Tuesday, with about 50 homes and businesses affected. Met Office forecasters put in place a yellow warning, the lowest of the three weather warnings, for most of the rest of Wednesday and said that as much as two-thirds of a month’s average rainfall could come down in a few hours. Continue reading...

Every winter thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish gather to breed in a stretch of shallow, rocky water off Point Lowly in South Australia. The phenomenon, known as an aggregation, is the only known instance of cuttlefish gathering in such large numbers – it is estimated there can be more than 150,000 in a 10km stretch of water – and has become a tourist as well as scientific attraction. This video, taken by mpaynecreative.tv, captures male cuttlefish as they display their brightest pigments in a bid to attract females. It is not known why the giant Cuttlefish aggregate in this area particularly but it is believed they are likely attracted to the shallow rocky area along the coast as it provides optimal habitat to lay their eggs. Video courtesy of mpaynecreative.tv Continue reading...

Emergency services tell people to avoid Coverack area and not to drive through flood waters after violent storms on Tuesday afternoonDozens of homes have been evacuated on the south coast of Cornwall as flash floods sweep through the county after violent thunderstorms on Tuesday afternoon.Cornwall Fire and Rescue told people to avoid the Coverack area because of “major flooding”. Continue reading...

Four re-introduced beavers in Scotland engineered a network of dams, canals and ponds that left the landscape ‘unrecognisable’ from the original drained pastureThe extraordinary ability of eager beavers to engineer degraded land into wildlife-rich wetlands has been revealed by a new study in Scotland.Scientists studied the work of a group of four re-introduced beavers over a decade and found their water engineering prowess created almost 200m of dams, 500m of canals and an acre of ponds. The result was a landscape “almost unrecognisable” from the original pasture that was drained over 200 years ago, with the number of plant species up by nearly 50% and richly varied habitats established across the 30 acre site. Continue reading...

Australian team failed to find missing Malaysia Airlines plane but images show ocean floor’s mountains, rift valleys and shipwrecks in unprecedented detailDetailed ocean-floor maps made during the unsuccessful search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, released by Australia on Wednesday, could help increase the knowledge of rich fisheries and the prehistoric movement of the earth’s southern continents.Related: Why hasn't MH370 been found? Continue reading...

Trevone to Padstow, Cornwall From higher land the ocean appears even more azure, like the sky now streaked with cirrusBeneath the clearing sky, people gravitate from car park and cafe towards the life-guarded beach. By Roundhole Point, kayakers paddle and huddle around their instructor, and further west, low tide reveals the expanse of sand in Harlyn Bay.Close to the shore alexanders along a track are clustered with an abundance of little stripy snails along the bare stems and among the umbels of black seeds. Perhaps these snails relish the celery flavour and thrive in the mild seaside weather, but (as with the tourists and sun-seekers) their numbers diminish away from the sea.

A recovery from near total collapse has led North Sea cod stocks to be labelled as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council for the first time in 20 yearsFish and chip lovers can now enjoy North Sea cod with a clear conscience, after the fishery was awarded sustainable status by the Marine Stewardship Council on Wednesday.Stocks of cod in the North Sea were once one of the world’s great fisheries but plummeted by 84% between the early 1970s and 2006. They came perilously close to the total collapse seen in the Grand Banks fishery off Canada in the early 1990s, which has still not recovered. Continue reading...

Thirty-five councils pledge to switch renewable energy, maximise public transport use and develop more climate-resilient communitiesLocal councils across Australia are taking climate action into their own hands as climate policy paralysis plagues the federal government.Thirty-five have pledged to switch to renewable energy, build sustainable transport, and develop greener, efficient and more climate-resilient communities. Continue reading...