Since 2015, fires have undone years of effort to reduce ozone levels, underscoring a growing public health crisis
The highly destructive wildfires that have battered the US and North America in recent years have significantly increased emissions and been linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths, but their impact on air quality is greater than previously known, according to new research.
A study published in Science on Thursday found that, since 2015, wildfires have reversed US progress toward ozone air quality standards, as the worsening pollution caused by wildfire smoke has undone years of efforts to reduce emissions. Ground-level ozone (O3) is created when pollutants from cars, refineries and industrial sources react with sunlight, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/04/2026 - 14:16
06/04/2026 - 14:05
Policy agreement means trans people will continue to have access to Kenwood Ladies’ and Highgate Men’s ponds in north-west London
The bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules.
There are gender-segregated ponds for men and women, with trans people able to swim in whichever they feel most appropriate, or use the heath’s mixed-gender pond instead.
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06/04/2026 - 13:00
Insects join list of species capable of solving simple ‘box-and-banana’ problem that demonstrates basic intelligence
Bumblebees can use tools to solve a problem, according to experiments that demonstrate their remarkably advanced cognitive abilities.
The bees were given an adapted version of an experiment that, 100 years ago, first demonstrated chimpanzees could work out how to retrieve an out-of-reach banana by stacking boxes. Since then, various other primates, elephants and crows have joined an elite cohort of species known to be capable of this level of insight and spontaneous problem solving.
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06/04/2026 - 12:40
Beluga whales, which Marineland threatened to euthanize in 2025, will be moved to sanctuaries in Spain or across US
Canada and an embattled marine park have reached a tentative deal on the future of 30 beluga whales, ending a saga that has captivated the public and angered animal rights groups.
The federal fisheries ministry announced this week that all of Marineland’s belugas would be shipped to either Spain or one of four locations in the US, ending whale captivity in Canada.
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06/04/2026 - 12:28
US president announces plans for two new coal plants, in Alaska and West Virginia, using Defense Production Act
Donald Trump is using wartime presidential authority to hand $700m to coal-fired power plants in the US, the latest move by the president to bolster what he called “clean, beautiful coal”, despite it being the dirtiest of fossil fuels.
“Today, we’re taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal,” he said a press conference on Thursday.
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06/04/2026 - 11:00
Republican-led states growing renewable capabilities at faster rate as Texas emerges as clean-energy leader
Democratic-led states are eroding their climate policies, as red states are scaling up their clean energy deployment.
California on Friday scaled back its cap-and-invest program, offering more than $3bn in free pollution allowances to polluting companies. Earlier the same week, New York weakened its groundbreaking climate law, delaying a plan to regulate carbon from 2024 until 2028 and reducing emissions-slashing targets. Rhode Island’s governor, meanwhile, is attempting to roll back aggressive clean-energy programs.
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06/04/2026 - 10:00
Snow arrives in time for the start of ski season, but climate change and El Niño mean it may not stick around for long, experts say
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There was optimism across Australian alpine resorts this week as their social media channels filled with footage of snow flurries that arrived just in time for the opening of the ski season this weekend.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” said the Instagram account of Perisher, the southern hemisphere’s biggest ski resort in Kosciuszko national park in New South Wales, as hands swept the fresh snow from outdoor tables.
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06/04/2026 - 07:54
USDA confirms first case of new world screwworm fly in cattle in six decades, posing threat to livestock industry
A flesh-eating parasite rarely seen in the US in six decades has been found in a calf in Texas, agriculture officials said, in an alarming development for the country’s cattle industry.
The new world screwworm fly (NWS) was confirmed in the animal in the south of the state, about 50 miles from the Mexico border, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said late on Wednesday.
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06/04/2026 - 07:28
Registrations up 7% in the month, with battery EVs recording fastest growth and Tesla jumping 45% as motorists look to cut fuel bills
British car sales rose in May to their strongest level for the month since before the Covid pandemic, driven in part by strong growth from the Chinese manufacturers BYD and Chery.
Car registrations rose by 7% to 160,662 during the month, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group.
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06/04/2026 - 07:22
Exclusive: New loopholes for developers will exacerbate extreme disparities across country, charity coalition warns
The poorest and most nature-deprived communities in England will be further left behind in their access to green spaces if proposed changes to planning laws go ahead, a report finds.
More than 7.4 million people in England live in areas completely devoid of immediate biodiversity, including 1.4 million children under 15, the report commissioned by a number of wildlife and environmental NGOs says.
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