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More frequent heatwaves mean bees are unable to thermoregulate their hives – further endangering a species already in decline
Bumblebee nests may be overheating, killing off broods and placing one of the Earth’s critical pollinators in decline as temperatures rise, new research has found.
Around the world, many species of Bombus, or bumblebee, have suffered population declines due to global heating, the research said. Bumblebee colonies are known for their ability to thermoregulate: in hot conditions, worker bees gather to beat their wings and fan the hive, cooling it down. But as the climate crisis pushes average temperatures up and generates heatwaves, bumblebees will struggle to keep their homes habitable.
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For 30 years, Brian McNeill hunted the world’s second-biggest fish from small boats off the wild west coast of Ireland. Now the species has made a recovery so rapid it has astounded scientists
The ambush was simple. A spotter on a hill would scan the sea and when he saw the big black fins approach, he would shout down to the boatmen. They would ready their nets and quickly row out to the kill zone.
When a shark got tangled in the mesh, Brian McNeill would wait a minute or two while it struggled, then steady himself and raise his harpoon. This was the crucial moment. The creature would be diving and thrashing, desperate to escape. If the blade hit the gills blood would spurt, clouding the water. The trick was to hit a small spot between the vertebrae.
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Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passed
For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.
Torres has seen a co-worker die from heatstroke and another rushed to the emergency room in his years of working in construction in south Florida. He has also fallen and injured himself due to heat exhaustion.
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Tebay, Cumbria: It’s been a tricky season, especially with the wet start to the year, but this remarkable device changes everything
In his book The Hill Shepherd, written in 1977, Edward Hart says that “the hill shepherd works effectively with the very minimum of equipment”. I was thinking about this quote as I laced my Gore-Tex boots and pulled on my hat for another day of lambing outdoors.
There are three bits of equipment that I need with me each day at lambing time – my lip balm, lambing rope (a very thin, silky rope that can be washed after each use) and a New Zealand super crook.
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Science Advances report also finds people of color and low-income residents in US disproportionately affected
Using a gas stove increases nitrogen dioxide exposure to levels that exceed public health recommendations, a new study shows. The report, published Friday in Science Advances, found that people of color and low-income residents in the US were disproportionately affected.
Indoor gas and propane appliances raise average concentrations of the harmful pollutant, also known as NO2, to 75% of the World Health Organization’s standard for indoor and outdoor exposure.
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Even products marketed as ‘organic’ may be toxic, say campaigners, with risks for the wider ecosystem
Gardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as “organic”, experts fear, as they call for tighter regulation on products that poison the invertebrates.
Earthworms may appear humble, but Charles Darwin thought their work in improving soil structure and fertility was so important he devoted his final book to them and said: “It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures.”
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Governments issue health warnings as schools shut and crops fail, with fears that worse is to come as heatwave tightens grip
Extreme heat has gripped much of south and south-east Asia over recent weeks, killing dozens of people, forcing millions of students to miss school and destroying crops.
Both the Philippines and Bangladesh shut schools due to the unbearable heat last month, while governments across the region have issued health warnings. In Thailand, at least 30 people have died from heatstroke since the start of the year.
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They can communicate with each other about threats, summon help from predatory killers – and some can even count – but does this mean plants are conscious?
Last month, at a gathering at New York University, a group of prominent biologists and philosophers widened the perimeter of a very exclusive club. They declared that there is “a realistic possibility” that insects, crustaceans and fish experience consciousness. This was an expansion of an earlier declaration, made in 2012, in which researchers asserted that mammals and birds were capable of intentional behaviour and had all the physical markers of conscious states: “Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness,” they concluded. The official consciousness list – or “realistic possibility of consciousness” list – now includes “all vertebrates (including all reptiles, amphibians and fishes) and many invertebrates (including, at minimum, cephalopod mollusks, decapod crustaceans and insects)”.
Lizards have been shown to learn how to navigate mazes, suggesting behavioural flexibility, an often-used marker of intelligence. Bees are able to distinguish between styles of art; engage in play; and perform an elaborate, symbolically rich “waggle dance” that tells their hive mates precisely how far and at what angle to the sun to fly to find food. Scientists suggest bees may have the capacity to feel, perhaps denoting consciousness.
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Price and cleanliness are key to recycling fashion – and friends, charities, theatre groups and even museums will take quality castoffs
Selling your clothes isn’t just great for the environment, it also helps free up space in your wardrobe (for more secondhand clothes).
When asked for tips for selling unwanted clothing, Guardian readers suggest online marketplaces including Facebook, Vinted and eBay. But first, consider selling or giving to friends who might be the same size.
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As the climate crisis forces people to abandon their land in Rajasthan, a new industry has sprung up in the desert state, with thousands of gaily decorated vans setting off to sell ice-cream across the country
The parched villages of Gangapur in the desert state of Rajasthan have a new season in their calendar. Between November and February, car workshops along the town’s dusty mile-long market open before sunrise, cylindrical stainless-steel food containers are put on display, and traders stock up on chocolate and strawberry syrups.
Come March, the villagers start preparing to migrate. In the workshops, thousands of vehicles are converted into vans for selling a variety of ice-cream, from plain condensed milk flavoured with cardamom to chocolate, vanilla and pistachio, while local farmers turned dessert makers have their old mini-trucks serviced in readiness for the drive to distant towns and cities, where they will sell the sweet treat for the next nine months.
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