Plant biologists examined records for nearly 1,200 individual corpse flower plants from 111 institutions around the world. The data and records were severely lacking and not standardized. Without complete information, conservationists were unable to make informed decisions about breeding their plants. Out of the plants studied, 24% were clones and 27% were offspring from closely related individuals. Low genetic diversity could lead to further endangerment and even extinction.
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/03/2025 - 10:37
Rainfall near Memphis, Tennessee, is expected to exceed 12in over the next three days
A prolific tornado outbreak will give way to a rare and widespread flooding threat across the midwest and southern US this week, stressing the nation’s short-staffed weather forecasting and disaster response efforts.
At least seven people have reportedly died so far as nearly 100 tornadoes struck on Wednesday.
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04/03/2025 - 08:09
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander grants consent to London’s fourth-biggest airport to allow potential 32m passengers a year
Luton airport will be allowed to almost double in capacity after the government overruled planning inspectors who recommended blocking the scheme on environmental grounds.
The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, granted a development consent order for the airport’s plans to expand its perimeter and add a new terminal, allowing for a potential 32 million passengers a year.
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04/03/2025 - 08:00
I bought it to be part of a greener future, but that was before Musk proved so awful. I’d sell it now, but prices have dropped
After our children left home, my wife and I decided to treat ourselves and buy a new car for a driving holiday in Europe. We’d been driving a family estate car for years, loading it up with kids and making trips to and from universities, but we wanted something for ourselves.
As a surprise, she booked a test drive for the Tesla Model S for my birthday. It was unlike any car I’d been in before. I thought “Wow, this is amazing.” It felt like the future: a computer on wheels that was constantly updating with new features. I can’t say I feel that way now – and many people seem to share that view. Tesla sales figures declined by 13% in the first few months of this year. Others feel even more uneasy: more than 200 demonstrations happened last weekend outside company facilities around the world to protest against Elon Musk and the wrecking ball he has taken to the federal government.
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04/03/2025 - 08:00
Application, submitted by Cranswick, would have created one of the largest industrial poultry and pig units in Europe
A megafarm that would have reared almost 900,000 chickens and pigs at any one time has been blocked by councillors in Norfolk over climate change and environmental concerns.
Councillors on King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough council unanimously rejected an application to build what would have been one of the largest industrial poultry and pig units in Europe.
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04/03/2025 - 07:50
White House approves Tennessee’s state of emergency request as further fatalities expected to be confirmed
Violent storms and tornadoes have torn across the US south and midwest, killing at least seven people and downing power lines and trees, smashing homes, and upturning cars across multiple states.
The outbreak of storms and tornadoes has resulted in at least seven deaths in Tennessee and Missouri, with further fatalities expected to be confirmed. One of the victims has been named: a 68-year-old man called Garry Moore who was a fire chief in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri. At least a dozen injuries have also been reported from the storms.
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04/03/2025 - 07:00
Energy Transfer, a top backer of US president, has received requests to power even more energy-guzzling data centers
Oil and gas barons who donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign are on the cusp of cashing in on the administration’s support for energy-guzzling data centers – and a slew of unprecedented environmental rollbacks.
Energy Transfer, the oil and gas transport company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, has received requests to power 70 new data centers – a 75% rise since Trump took office, according to a new investigation by the advocacy non-profit Oil Change International (OCI) and the Guardian.
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04/03/2025 - 07:00
Firm makes product used to waterproof clothing and allegedly polluted water with some kinds of Pfas
The makers of Gore-Tex, a popular product commonly used to waterproof clothing by companies such as the North Face and Mountain Hardware, poisoned drinking water and sickened residents around their facilities in rural Maryland, two lawsuits allege.
The facilities, about 90 miles north-east of Baltimore, polluted drinking water with levels up to 700 times above federal limits with some kinds of Pfas, a group of toxins known as “forever chemicals” due to their environmental longevity. The tainted water caused high rates of cancers and other diseases linked to Pfas exposure in the area, a class action suit alleges.
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04/03/2025 - 07:00
Maintaining seed diversity and abundance is essential – and requires constant work. It’s time for Congress to return to the seed business
From 1862 until 1923, US senators and members of Congress provided vast numbers of seeds to constituents. At its peak, the congressional seed distribution program delivered over 60m seed packets directly to farmers and market gardeners every year, helping introduce new varieties of everything from wheat and corn to oats, soybeans, flowers and vegetables. A century later, far fewer Americans till the soil for a living, but seeds remain central to our lives.
To understand the importance of seeds, try to imagine a morning without them. It would begin naked on a bare mattress, with no cozy sheets or pajamas, and there would be no fluffy towel to wrap up in after your shower. All of those things come from the seeds of the cotton plant. Stumbling wet into the kitchen, you would find no coffee, and no toast or bagel to go with it. There would be no eggs, no bacon, no cereal, no milk. All of those staples come from seeds or from livestock raised on seed crops. And if you thought you might console yourself with a chocolate bar, you can forget it. Cocoa powder, and the cocoa butter that makes it melt in your mouth, are both derived from seeds.
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04/03/2025 - 06:05
Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life team say genomes offer invaluable insight into how species will fare under climate crisis
Voting is now open! Vote for your favourite here
“We are following the ‘invertebrate of the year’ series with bated breath,” began the email that arrived in the Guardian’s inbox last week.
Mark Blaxter leads the Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life programme, a project that sequences species’ DNA to understand the diversity and origins of life on Earth. But far more importantly, Blaxter and his team are superfans of our invertebrate of the year competition and have offered to map the genome sequence of whoever wins this year.
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