Tim Friede put his ‘ass on the line’ to help stop snakebite deaths – whose numbers appear to be rising amid the climate crisis
As we overheat and degrade our planet, more people are set to come into contact, sometimes fatally, with venomous snakes. One man hopes to provide an unusual solution to this, after subjecting himself to 200 intentional snakebites to his body.
For nearly 20 years, Tim Friede, 58, allowed some of the most lethal snakes in the world to bite him so he could build up an immunity that could one day be developed into a universal antivenom.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/09/2026 - 05:00
04/09/2026 - 04:00
Record low levels of Antarctic sea ice is having grim consequences for penguins yet to grow waterproof feathers
The mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks as sea ice is melted by the climate crisis has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to declare the species officially in danger of extinction.
Emperor penguins rely on “fast” ice – sea ice that is firmly attached to the coast – for nine months of the year. It is where their fluffy chicks are hatched and grow until they have their waterproof feathers. Adults moult every year and also need a safe haven while their swimming feathers regrow.
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04/09/2026 - 03:00
Use of glyphosate has risen 10-fold in 30 years, raising fears for public health
It was Scottish farmers in the 1980s who pioneered the practice of spraying glyphosate on their wheat just before harvest. Struggling in the damp glens to get their crop to dry evenly, they came up with the idea of accelerating the process by killing it a week or two before harvesting.
Glyphosate, then a revolutionary herbicide that killed everything plant-based but spared animal life, seemed perfect for the job. Soon the practice spread to wetter, colder agricultural regions around the world.
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04/09/2026 - 02:00
It’s worrying to watch Labour entertain Reform’s fantasies about fossil fuels. Only renewables will bring lower bills and higher energy security
Ed Miliband is facing a dilemma, apparently. Reform UK is suggesting new oil and gas licences in the North Sea as a way to cut fuel bills and they’re steadily gaining cheerleaders – not just in the media, but also in some trade unions.
Labour – having swept into power on a green-friendly manifesto, much of which has already been abandoned, but the kernel of which was to prioritise green over fossil energy – is in a bind. It’s plain that fresh exploration of the North Sea would run counter to the party’s every principle, and particularly those of Miliband, whose legacy will be his career-long commitment to the scrappy, dogged, surely often tedious and dispiriting legislative fight against climate breakdown. And yet, equally plainly, the pressure from Nigel Farage is only going to get more intense: he has framed the issue of North Sea oil and gas versus renewables as an elemental fight between the common man and the elites. The wokerati doesn’t care about your cost of living crisis, while the hard right does.
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04/09/2026 - 00:00
Council backs £700,000 plan to save historic landmark at former RAF base in the New Forest
A unique RAF watch office that has been crumbling for decades is to be turned into a smart hideaway home to be shared by holidaymakers – and the bats that already use it.
The Landmark Trust, which rescues at-risk buildings, has been given permission to convert the ruined property in Hampshire into a holiday retreat with four bedrooms and a roof terrace.
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04/08/2026 - 23:00
Marine Conservation Society warns that fish numbers have reached dangerous point of decline
Consumers should “completely avoid” buying UK-caught cod, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has said, as it warned that populations have reached a dangerous point of decline despite zero-catch recommendations.
The MCS, an environmental charity, publishes a Good Fish Guide to help consumers and businesses make sustainable seafood choices.
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04/08/2026 - 12:35
Record high set on Monday and raised on Tuesday, with 14.4GW of electricity generated in sunny spring weather
Britain’s sunny spring weather powered the grid to new solar energy records on two consecutive days this week.
Solar farms in England, Wales and Scotland generated 14.1GW of low-carbon electricity at lunchtime on Monday, surpassing the previous high of 14GW in July last year.
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04/08/2026 - 10:58
Lee Zeldin opens conference for Heartland Institute, which once compared climate advocates to the Unabomber
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Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gave the keynote speech at a conference on Wednesday morning, one which was hosted by a prominent climate-denying thinktank that previously compared those concerned about the climate crisis to the Unabomber on billboard posters in 2012.
“No longer are we going to rely on bad, flawed assumptions instead of accurate, present-day facts, without apology or regret,” Zeldin said at the Heartland Institute’s conference on climate change in Washington DC, referring to well-established climate science.
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04/08/2026 - 10:00
Analysis of six extreme heatwaves found when temperature and humidity were accounted for, all were potentially deadly for older people
Extreme heat is already creating “non-survivable” conditions for humans in heatwaves that have killed thousands and likely many more, according to new research that warns people are more susceptible to rising temperatures than first thought.
Scientists re-examined six extreme heatwaves between 2003 and 2024 and found that when temperature, humidity and the body’s ability to stay cool were accounted for, all were potentially deadly for older people.
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04/08/2026 - 05:00
To tackle the US’s woefully low seafood consumption, drastic measures are being taken. Enter tuna that looks like chicken nuggets and salmon masquerading as beef jerky
The seafood industry is trying to tackle a slippery problem: the US has never developed a taste for fish. Americans will eat canned cheese product and put marshmallow “fluff” on their sandwiches, but they seem to balk at eating fish. The average American consumes about 19lb (under 9kg) of the stuff a year, while the global average is 45lb. Over in Iceland, they’re really getting their omega-3s in: they lead the world with around 200lb of seafood a year.
Still, the tide may be turning: Big Fish has come up with a cunning plan to crack the US market. You know how there are sneaky ways of hiding veggies in recipes for picky toddlers? That’s basically the strategy. Except instead of hiding spinach in a chocolate pancake, the plan is to make fish look like meat. Think tuna that looks like chicken nuggets and salmon sticks that look like beef jerky. It’s not quite fake meat – it’s Fishy Meat™. Yum.
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