




Exclusive: Critics say removing battery installation requirement will reduce amount homebuyers save on energy bills
Ministers are poised to allow homes in England to be built without carbon-cutting technology in what experts have said is a climbdown after pressure from housebuilders.
The future homes standard (FHS), due to be published in January, will regulate how all homes are built and is expected to enforce tough new regulations such as mandating solar panels on nearly all houses and high standards of insulation and heat pumps in most cases.
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New year plant hunt shows rising temperatures are shifting natural cycles of wildflowers such as daisies
Daisies and dandelions are among hundreds of native plant species blooming in the UK, in what scientists have called a “visible signal” of climate breakdown disrupting the natural world.
A Met Office analysis of data from the annual new year’s plant hunt over the past nine years found an extra 2.5 species in bloom during the new year period for every 1C rise in temperature at a given location during the previous November and December. This year’s hunt started on Thursday and runs until Sunday.
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Mousley Bottom, Derbyshire: This area was a literal dump 40 years ago, devoid of life. But time and a dedicated council have worked their magic
Stand in this wood by the River Goyt, listening to the basso profundo of ravens overhead, and you could imagine that this place is some long-tempered blend of town and country.
In one sense it is. High overhead to the east is the busy Albion Road bridge leading into New Mills town centre. Turn north, and in front of you trees stretch all the way up the hillside, where there are redwings gorging on holly berries and the first pre-spring sounds of wren song that even the rush of the river cannot drown.
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Extreme heat and drought has destroyed 70% of Jordan’s olive crop, endangering livelihoods of 80,000 families and a centuries-old tradition
Abu Khaled al-Zoubi, 67, walks slowly through his orchard in Irbid, northern Jordan, his footsteps kicking up dust from the parched earth beneath centuries-old olive trees. He stops at a gnarled trunk, its bark split and peeling from months of unrelenting heat.
He points out that the branches should be sagging under the weight of ripening fruit, but instead they stretch upward, nearly bare, with only a few shrivelled olives clinging to the withered stems.
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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Fire chief says summer, the UK’s hottest on record, was ‘one of the most challenging for wildfires that we’ve ever faced’
Ten English fire services tackled a record number of grassland, woodland and crop fires during what was the UK’s hottest spring and summer on record, figures show.
In total nearly 27,000 wildfires were dealt with by fire services in England during the prolonged dry weather of 2025, according to analysis by PA Media.
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The ‘border adjustment mechanism’ aims to create a level playing field while also encouraging decarbonisation
The biggest shake-up of green trade rules for decades comes into force today, as companies selling steel, cement and other high-carbon goods into the EU will have to prove they comply with low-carbon regulations or face fines.
But a lack of clarity on how the rules will be applied, and the failure of the UK government to strike a deal with Brussels over the issue, could lead to confusion in the early stages, experts warned.
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In this week’s newsletter: From geopolitics to populism, multilateralism is under pressure – but climate action cannot succeed in a fractured world
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January might seem a bit too early to propose a word of the year, but I know mine already: multilateralism – the principle that common problems should have common solutions. It rests on the idea that all countries and people have a stake in the future of the planet we share, and that their rights should be respected. That cooperation beats competition, or going it alone.
Multilateralism is what has kept the UN process of climate diplomacy going, but now the principle is under threat as never before, amid a rising tide of populism and conflict. The US, under Donald Trump, explicitly rejects multilateralism, in favour of carve-ups between great powers. But if we are to stave off climate breakdown, only multilateralism will work.
‘Cities need nature to be happy’: David Attenborough seeks out London’s hidden wildlife
EU’s new ‘green tariff’ rules on high-carbon goods come into force
Renewable energy project approvals hit record high in GB in 2025, data shows
Into the void: how Trump killed international law
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The monsoon season is crucial for agriculture, making up 80% of annual rainfall, but also extremely destructive
January brings torrential rain to south-east Asia – more than 250mm fell in just two days in Singapore last year. This is because of the monsoon, a pattern of wind and rainfall, the name of which stems from the Arabic word for “season”.
The monsoon is sometimes described in terms of a sea breeze, in which the wind reverses direction in the morning and evening as the relative temperature of land and sea change, blowing out to sea at first and then inland as the land cools.
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The Colla Indigenous people claim Rio Tinto’s plans to extract the key mineral will harm fragile ecosystems and livelihoods
Miriam Rivera Bordones tends her goats in a dusty paddock in the russet mountains of Chile’s Atacama desert. She also keeps chickens and has planted quince and peach trees and grapevines, which are watered by a stream winding down the hills towards the Indigenous community of Copiapó.
But now the huge British-Australian mining multinational Rio Tinto has signed a deal to extract lithium, the “white gold” of the energy transition, from a salt flat farther up the mountains, and she fears the project could affect the water sources of several communities in the area.
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Prema rezultatima nove studije, izgleda da je težina kronične bolesti bubrega (CKD) povezana s povećanim rizikom od gastropareze. Porast prevalencije gastropareze bio je proporcionalan težini kronične bubrežne bolesti, s najvećom vjerojatnošću uočenom u uznapredovalim stadijima u odnosu na pacijente bez kronične bolesti bubrega.
Sve više dokaza upućuje na to da teška bolest desni, parodontitis, može doprinijeti poremećajima središnjeg živčanog sustava putem kronične upale. Međutim, njegova uloga u multiploj sklerozi, kroničnoj autoimunoj bolesti središnjeg živčanog sustava, nije bila jasna. No, rezultati nove studije upućuju na potencijalnu povezanost između relativne brojnosti Fusobacterium nucleatum, bakterije koja se nalazi u ustima, i težine bolesti kod pacijenata s multiplom sklerozom.
Rezultati nove studije ukazuju na potencijalne terapijske učinke dihidrotanshinona I (DHT), spoja dobivenog iz tradicionalne kineske biljke Salvia miltiorrhiza, na rak jajnika. Istraživanje, koje su proveli kineski znanstvenici sa Zhejiang Chinese Medical University i Jiangsu Normal University, otkriva da dihidrotanshinon I može izazvati autofagnu staničnu smrt u stanicama raka jajnika ometanjem puta autofagije-lizosoma posredovanog sortilinom 1 (SORT1).
Nedavno objavljena studija bacila je novo svjetlo na ulogu proteina NSUN2 u razvoju srčane hipertrofije i zatajenja srca. Naime, istraživanje, koje su proveli kineski znanstvenici s Harbin Medical University pokazalo je, da NSUN2, član obitelji domena NOL1/NOP2/Sun, značajno doprinosi patološkoj srčanoj hipertrofiji aktiviranjem osi LARP1-GATA4, potencijalno nudeći novu terapijsku metu za zatajenje srca.
Gestacijski dijabetes, stanje, koje povećava zdravstvene rizike i za majku i za dijete, poraslo je u SAD-u za 36% tijekom devetogodišnjeg razdoblja (s 58 na 79 slučajeva na 1.000 poroda) i povećalo se u svim rasnim i etničkim skupinama, pokazala je nova studija.
Briga oko spajanja kraja s krajem stari vaše srce jednako kao i klasični čimbenici rizika za srčane bolesti, tvrdi nova studija. Naime, pokazalo se, da su financijski pritisak i nesigurnost u vezi s hranom najjači pokretači ubrzanog starenja srca.
Nakon traumatske ozljede mozga, neki se pacijenti mogu potpuno oporaviti, dok drugi zadržavaju teške invaliditete. Točna procjena prognoze je izazovna kod pacijenata na terapiji održavanja života. Iako funkcionalna magnetska rezonancija u mirovanju (rs-fMRI) može procijeniti neurološku aktivnost ubrzo nakon ozljede mozga, nije poznato predviđa li komunikacija između regija mozga u ovom ranom trenutku dugoročni oporavak.
Diljem svijeta uobičajene infekcije postaju sve teže za liječiti. Novi pregled prikazuje otrežnjujuću sliku globalne antimikrobne rezistencije (AMR), prateći kako se bakterije i gljivice razvijaju brže nego što medicina može reagirati. Uspoređujući podatke o rezistenciji iz više sustava nadzora, znanstvenici su identificirali alarmantne trendove: rastuću otpornost na antibiotike posljednje linije, regionalne nejednakosti i brzo širenje rezistentnih gena putem globalnih putovanja i poljoprivrede.
Nova analiza više studija otkriva da proizvodi od kanabisa koji sadrže relativno visoke razine psihoaktivnog spoja tetrahidrokanabinola, obično poznatog kao THC, mogu pružiti kratkoročna poboljšanja boli i funkcije. Međutim, pregled je otkrio da proizvodi na bazi THC-a dovode do povećanog rizika od uobičajenih štetnih simptoma poput vrtoglavice, sedacije i mučnine.
Izgleda da tajna zdravijeg i mlađeg srca leži u vagusnom živcu. Naime, nova studija je pokazala da je očuvanje bilateralne srčane vagusne inervacije faktor protiv starenja srca. Posebno se desni srčani vagusni živac pojavljuje kao pravi čuvar zdravlja kardiomiocita, pomažući u očuvanju dugovječnosti srca neovisno o otkucajima srca.