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Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions
• ‘Happiness is not just about GDP’: ambitious plan or utopia?
Humanity can raise living standards, reduce inequality and keep global heating within a 2C rise, according to a sweeping vision for planetary survival.
The report by the World Inequality Lab (WIL) aims to be the most comprehensive attempt yet to navigate the polycrisis that is pushing the world toward climate breakdown, political extremism and ever greater economic and social tension.
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Smartphone data shows how we seek refuge in extreme heat, and why social inequalities leave some vulnerable
Heatwaves are now an increasingly expected part of summer for many. But how people stay cool varies from place to place. A new study uses mobile phone location data to track where people go when the mercury climbs, and assesses how we need to adapt to live better with the inevitable heatwaves to come.
During the summer of 2025, a 10-day extreme period of heat across Europe led to 2,300 deaths. Globally, governments are implementing heat action plans, but social inequalities mean some people are more vulnerable to heat than others. Researchers used mobile phone location data across seven countries – Brazil, China, France, India, Nigeria, Turkey and the US – to assess how people stayed cool during heatwaves in 2022 and 2023.
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Electric shock is one of the biggest causes of death among wildlife in the country but a court ruling is a first step to making power lines safe
Peque, a small black howler monkey, scratches her head as she sits on a thick wooden branch in a wired enclosure with seven other orphaned baby howler monkeys at a rescue centre in Nosara, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
Last year, Peque was one of more than 100 animals to arrive at International Animal Rescue Costa Rica (IARCR) as a result of electrocution on power lines, which primates such as monkeys frequently mistake for trees and vines.
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Campaigners say builders’ demolition of nest site highlights weak protection of wildlife from development
A building that was a noted nesting site for swifts, among the UK’s most at-risk birds, has been demolished during the nesting season, highlighting significant weaknesses in the protection of wildlife from development, campaigners say.
Contractors for the housebuilder Hill Group carried out the demolition of Regent House near Dorking station in Surrey over the last few weeks, during the nesting season which runs from 1 March to 31 August.
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Bridport, Dorset: The female in my garden has been a glittering presence of late, but soon she will return to the river to breed
The beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) is aptly named. This loveliest of damselflies is on the wing now across south-west England and Wales, fluttering like a falling scrap of metallic paper among the vegetation.
One of only two species of damselfly with coloured wings, the males have blue bodies and dark-sheened wings while females are green with contrasting tan wings. But such a plain description doesn’t begin to capture their true appearance.
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Bank of England says updated imagery will celebrate native wildlife while bolstering anti-counterfeit features
Puffins, dolphins and bumblebees are among the wildlife that could feature on new banknotes in the UK as the Bank of England announces its shortlist.
There has been controversy over the decision, with figures including Nigel Farage criticising the Bank for, he claimed, wanting to replace Winston Churchill with a beaver. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said it was “a silly thing to do”, and Reform UK’s Farage called it “absolutely crackers”. In the end, no beaver appeared on the shortlist. Mammal options include bottlenose dolphins and red foxes.
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Governments urged to act to prevent potentially disastrous impacts on human resistance to medicines
The use of antibiotics on livestock will rise by nearly a third in the next 15 years without government intervention, according to new global estimates, with potentially disastrous impacts on human resistance to essential medicines.
Animal husbandry accounts for close to three-quarters of global use of antimicrobial medications and in many countries their use is poorly monitored. Some herds are routinely dosed and in many countries antimicrobials are used to increase the growth of animals bred for meat.
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The first heatwaves of the season reveal how ill-prepared governments across the continent are to protect people from increasingly dangerous temperatures
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Meteorological summer has begun, ushered in with scorching heat that struck before spring was up. Although western Europe is nowmostly free from last week’s heat dome – which shattered temperature records for May in the UK and Ireland – it is already bracing for yet another sweltering summer. Oppressive days, restless nights and furious fires are brewing. On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation warned us all to prepare for the imminent return of the warming weather pattern El Niño.
Scientists have not worked out how many people died during thislatest bout of hot weather, but one environmental epidemiologist’s early modelling pegged it at 250 extra deaths in the UK alone on the weekend before temperatures peaked. The full death toll is likely to be particularly high because the heat struck before people had properly adjusted their behaviour to stay safe in the heat.
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Understanding whale sounds could help prevent strikes from ships and even aid in search for extraterrestrial life
If you stand on certain shorelines and listen carefully you might just hear deep rumbling noises. Sharp-eared fishers, lighthouse keepers and sea kayakers have been haunted by these late-night sounds for centuries and now, for the first time, scientists have recorded these thrums and pinpointed them to humpback whales, proving that whales have a far larger vocabulary than previously thought.
Fred Sharpe from the Alaska Whale Foundation and his colleagues set up land-based microphones to tune in to the mysterious ocean noises. Tip-offs from Alaskan coastal communities helped to narrow down the best recording locations. Along with the previously documented trumpets, blows and shrieks that humpback whales make, the researchers recorded very low frequency rumbles, a bit like distant thunder, and new sounds including pizzle, howl and hooting noises. The night thrums travelled through the air and could be heard up to 6 miles (10km) away.
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Physical and psychological impacts of a tap water parasite outbreak continue to be felt in south Devon
Most of the tourists milling around the busy fishing harbour or visiting Agatha Christie’s riverside holiday retreat have probably forgotten what South West Water euphemistically calls the “Brixham incident”.
But for residents at the centre of the “incident” – a parasite outbreak that caused perhaps hundreds of people in south Devon to fall ill after they drank contaminated water – the physical and psychological impacts are still keenly felt.
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