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Russia’s arrest of a Ukrainian scientist this week over his support for curbs on krill fishing have thrown the vital role of the tiny marine species into the spotlight
Antarctic krill are small, shrimp-like marine crustaceans (Euphausia superba). They feed on plankton and are the main food source for larger marine animals. The word “krill” comes from the Norwegian word “kril” meaning the small fry of fish.
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Study of Met Office data one of first to show how nocturnal insects affected by factors such as light pollution
Scientists have used Met Office radar data to track the trillions of insects flying above the UK for the first time, revealing a concerning decline in nocturnal species.
The team repurposed data from the UK’s network of 15 weather surveillance radars, which scan the sky hundreds of times a day.
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Record-breaking hurricane expected to make landfall on Tuesday with 160mph winds, while New Zealand reels from storm damage
• Hurricane Melissa – follow latest updates live
The Caribbean is bracing for Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful to ever strike the region. Melissa began as a cluster of thunderstorms off the coast of west Africa, which travelled west and developed into a depression, reaching tropical storm status to the north of Venezuela on 21 October. Rapid intensification over the weekend strengthened Melissa to category 4 as it slowly meandered west through the Caribbean Sea.
Melissa is expected to reach category 5 intensity on Monday night, veering north-east towards Jamaica before making landfall on Tuesday by about midday, with peak winds of 160mph (257km/h), which would make it the strongest of only five hurricanes ever recorded to hit Jamaica directly. The most recent, and before now the most powerful, was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which brought gusts of 130mph.
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‘Trumped-up’ charges spark diplomatic row as scientists express fears for health of 70-year-old Leonid Pshenichnov
A diplomatic row has erupted over the “illegal” detention of one of Ukraine’s scientists, who has been accused by the Kremlin of undermining Russia’s industrial trawling for krill in Antarctica.
Leonid Pshenichnov, 70, a Ukrainian biologist who is an expert on Antarctica, has a decades-long record of scientific research and contributions to conservation, including support for marine protected areas in the region.
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Silicone wristbands worn by volunteers in the Netherlands captured 173 substances in one week
For decades, Khoji Wesselius has noticed the oily scent of pesticides during spraying periods when the wind has blown through his tiny farming village in a rural corner of the Netherlands.
Now, after volunteering in an experiment to count how many such substances people are subjected to, Wesselius and his wife are one step closer to understanding the consequences of living among chemical-sprayed fields of seed potato, sugar beet, wheat, rye and onion.
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Former Paralympics champion says inaccessible charging points show government ‘has forgotten about us’
Campaigners including Tanni Grey-Thompson have warned that disabled drivers are at risk of being locked out of the electric car transition because of inaccessible chargers.
The former Paralympics champion and the Electric Vehicle Association England are pushing for the government to introduce standards to ensure chargers are easy to reach.
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London: In spring the family of foxes stared at us while we gardened. Now I’m watching them as the cubs have grown up, ready to leave
I have been watching a family of foxes through my bedroom window for a long time now. Today I decided to record 15 minutes of one of the fox’s days. It went like this: 12:30pm – the fox is asleep, 12:40pm – the fox is still asleep (foxes are mainly nocturnal animals and sleep up to 10 hours during the day), 12:52pm – the fox wakes up and walks out of sight, probably to go through some bins or steal our garden gloves, 12:54pm – the fox jumps on top of the shed, 12:54pm – the fox is asleep again.
Many urban foxes find shelter around people’s gardens. This can include under sheds, in bushes, behind bins or in their own burrows, called earths. In spring, baby foxes are born, and when we’re gardening they stare at us through the bushes, or quickly pass through when our backs are turned. I know I should clap and scare them away, but the cubs grow up bold, and it’s peaceful sometimes to pull up weeds and pretend you can’t see the amber eyes watching you.
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‘The women here are warriors,’ says a midwife in Joal, and contraception is key to their health and life chances. But now UK and US aid cuts threaten to undo years of progress
The fishing quay on the beach at Joal is usually so crowded with women dealing with the day’s catch that you can barely glimpse the sea. But today it is quiet, just an expanse of broken shells and plastic bags that leads down to the water’s edge.
Last night, as is increasingly common here on Senegal’s coast, there was a storm and heavy rain so the men could not go to sea safely in their open wooden fishing boats, known as pirogues. Many houses were flooded, so women stayed at home for the day, baling out bedrooms and dealing with the aftermath. Times are tough.
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With tourists outnumbering locals by 20:1, islanders say levy is needed to help protect neolithic sites and maintain public services
Artisan jewellery, gift and whisky shops crowd the main street of Kirkwall on Orkney. The town even has a new sushi shop, offering bento boxes and matcha cheesecake.
Once home to the Viking earls who ruled the islands, Kirkwall has hit it rich: it tops the UK’s charts for cruise ship visits, as American, German and Italian tourists descend on remarkable neolithic sites such as Skara Brae and its medieval cathedral.
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For seven years Ian McMaster has been mothing on his painstakingly rehabilitated Queensland property. But only once has he encountered the elusive southern pink underwing
Dark descends upon a dead-end property atop a winding mountain road and Ian McMaster steps out into the forest.
Protective goggles perched atop his grey hair, torch in hand, McMaster is drawn into the gums that surround his rammed-earth home toward a white sheet shining in UV light like a stage prop moon.
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