Described by one researcher as looking ‘already dead’, the enigmatic creatures are one of the least understood species on the planet
It looks more like a worn sock than a fearsome predator. It moves slower than an escalator. By most accounts, it is a clumsy and near-sightless relic drifting in the twilight waters of the Arctic, lazily searching for food scraps.
But the Greenland shark, an animal one researcher (lovingly) said, “looks like it’s already dead”, is also one of the least understood, biologically enigmatic species on the planet.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
01/22/2026 - 05:00
01/22/2026 - 01:00
Exclusive: Beijing, Delhi, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro among worst affected, with demand close to exceeding supply
Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 39 of these sitting in regions of “extremely high water stress”, new analysis and mapping has shown.
Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exacerbated by climate breakdown.
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01/22/2026 - 01:00
Manual for building design aims to encourage low-carbon construction as alternative to steel and concrete
An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it’s time we took it seriously as a building material, too.
This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be “bamboo-ready” as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.
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01/22/2026 - 01:00
It’s not just Tunbridge Wells – a country famous around the world for its rain is in danger of self-imposed drought
You get up and go to the loo, only to find the flush doesn’t work. You try the shower, except nothing comes out. You want a glass of water, but on turning the tap there is not a drop. Your day stumbles on, stripped of its essentials: no washing hands, no cleaning up the baby, neither tea nor coffee, no easy way to do the dishes or the laundry. Dirt accumulates; tempers fray.
The water company texts: we are so sorry; colleagues are working to restore connection; everything should soon be normal. You want to believe them, but the more it’s repeated, the more it becomes a kind of hold music. There’s no supply the next day, and the day after, and the day after that. Each morning brings with it the same chest-tightening question: what will happen today? Buckets and bottles don’t stop you feeling grubby and smelly, or from noticing the taint on your family and friends and neighbours. You’re not quite the people you thought you were and nothing feels normal.
Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist
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01/21/2026 - 13:23
Experts say big flaw is the lack of mandatory requirements, meaning developers could ignore the guidance
Housing where shops, schools, public transport and possibly pubs are close by, with green spaces and access to nature, and where heritage is preserved, should be the norm for all new developments, according to guidelines set out by the government.
King’s Cross in London, for example, where industrial buildings have been converted into shops, restaurants and public spaces, and where schools and care homes mingle with social and private housing near to a cleaned-up canal and nature reserve, could become the model, according to the new vision.
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01/21/2026 - 12:49
Joe Yates, Prof Philip J Landrigan, Prof Jennifer Kirwan and Prof Jamie Davies respond to an article on doubts raised about studies on microplastics in the human body
While it may be a belated Christmas present for the petrochemical industry, your article (‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body, 13 January) was less surprising to the scientific community, where constructive debate around microplastic detection in humans has been ongoing for some time. Such debate is entirely normal – and essential – for scientific inquiry.
New and novel methods must be tried, tested, critiqued, improved and tried again. Science is incremental and gradual – unlike the uncapped production and pollution of plastics, which contain thousands of hazardous chemicals. Decades of robust evidence demonstrates the harms that these inflict on people and planet.
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01/21/2026 - 12:34
The storm will stretch 2,000 miles from south-west to east, disrupting travel and threatening power outages
A vast winter storm is set to descend across much of the US starting on Friday, sweeping snow, ice and brutal cold across nearly 2,000 miles from the south-west to the east coast and affecting more than 200 million people.
The system is expected to disrupt travel, bring down trees and power lines, and create the risk of prolonged power outages, followed by dangerously cold air.
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01/21/2026 - 09:00
Huge spike in fats, oils and grease going to Malabar treatment plant follows 2017 changes to reporting regime and reduced inspections, critics say
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Sydney Water says up to 12,000 food businesses in the city’s south-west could be illegally discharging fats, oils and grease into the sewage catchment that flows to Malabar – home to a problematic fatberg that could be as big as four buses.
The rise in restaurants and food manufacturers without proper grease traps and waste control measures is partly due to an increase in businesses overall.
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01/21/2026 - 06:00
Our nation’s fascination with rubbish knows no bounds – as was proved by one recent online debate
Even if you’ve never been anywhere near it, the Mumsnet message board is legendary. Since it launched in 2000, it has changed the vernacular – “am I being unreasonable?” is not just a question, it’s a shorthand for the type of person who asks it – and introduced us to the penis beaker (one maverick husband’s postcoital hygiene regime, made infamous). It’s a screenshot of society, a cultural thermometer; if it’s happening on Mumsnet, it’s big news. And one of the most popular recent threads is about bins.
The post that kicked it off was written by a woman who lived opposite an empty house where tenants had moved out. The landlord popped round late at night to drag the bins out for collection, and the next morning, at 6.45am, she could hear the lorry approaching. The coast was clear, and she still had a backlog of rubbish from Christmas. Deciding it was a victimless crime, she slipped one of her bags in their bin, which easily had room. Enterprising? Without a doubt. Moral, though?
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01/21/2026 - 05:25
Felling of 500-year-old oak has provoked fury from public and Enfield council, which leases land to Mitchells & Butlers
The restaurant chain Toby Carvery is facing eviction from one of its sites after taking a chainsaw to an ancient oak tree without the permission of its council landlord.
The partial felling last April of the 500-year-old oak on the edge of a Toby Carvery car park in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, provoked widespread public dismay and fury from Enfield council, which leases the land to the restaurant’s owners Mitchells & Butlers Retail (M&B).
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