

In response to a request from Hvar's registered charity Dignitea, the EC has sent a full explanation of the regulations which should be applied to the proposed oil and gas drilling in the Adriatic.


Oceans absorb 90% of global heating, making them a stark indicator of the relentless march of the climate crisis
The world’s oceans absorbed colossal amounts of heat in 2025, setting yet another new record and fuelling more extreme weather, scientists have reported.
More than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity’s carbon pollution is taken up by the oceans. This makes ocean heat one of the starkest indicators of the relentless march of the climate crisis, which will only end when emissions fall to zero. Almost every year since the start of the millennium has set a new ocean heat record.
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Cars that emit fumes closer to pavement result in pedestrians experiencing 40% more pollution
Some vehicles are much more polluting than others and the design of exhaust pipes could affect how much air pollution we breathe when we walk along a busy road, research has found.
Diesel vehicles still dominate exhaust pollution 10 years after the International Council on Clean Transportation revealed that many diesel cars were highly polluting, emitting far more nitrogen oxides on the road than in official testing.
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For much of the last 30 years, the rest of the world has been forced to persevere with climate action in the face of US intransigence
Donald Trump’s latest attack on climate action takes place amid rapidly rising temperatures, rising sea levels, still-rising greenhouse gas emissions, burgeoning costs from extreme weather and the imminent danger that the world will trigger “tipping points” in the climate system that will lead to catastrophic and irreversible changes.
The US president’s decision to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the world’s leading body of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will not alter any of those scientific realities.
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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Vast swathes of the country’s trees have been killed off by droughts and infestations, in a trend sweeping across Europe. A shift towards more biodiverse cultivation could offer answers
Even the intense green of late spring cannot mask the dead trees in the Harz mountains. Standing upright across the gentle peaks in northern Germany, thousands of skeletal trunks mark the remnants of a once great spruce forest.
Since 2018, the region has been ravaged by a tree-killing bark beetle outbreak, made possible by successive droughts and heatwaves. It has transformed a landscape known for its verdant beauty into one dominated by a sickly grey.
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Citizen scientists help in University of Bonn study showing river carries up to 4,700 tonnes of ‘macrolitter’ annually
Thousands of tonnes of litter are pouring into the North Sea via the Rhine every year, poisoning the waters with heavy metals, microplastics and other chemicals, research has found.
This litter can be detrimental to the environment and human health: tyres, for example, contain zinc and other heavy metals that can be toxic to ecosystems in high concentrations.
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Abernethy Forest, Cairngorms: Thanks to a local collaborative effort, linnets, bramblings, green and goldfinches are coming to this field in joyful flocks
It’s -6C and I’m off to what has been a regular haunt recently – a field planted by Speyside Fields for Wildlife. This is a small, community-run charity that works with local farmers, crofters and others to take over “spare” fields and land for wildlife-friendly crops.
Some sites are planted with annuals such as cornflower, corncockle, marigold and poppy – important sources of pollen, nectar and flowers that used to grow among the grain crops before herbicides became commonplace. Others, such as this one on a hill farm, have been planted with seed crops that benefit birds and other wildlife during autumn and winter.
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In this week’s newsletter: Conservationists have seen nests raided around the country to match demand from the Middle East
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Earlier this week we published an investigation that found hundreds of UK peregrine falcon nests have been raided in the past decade, in order to feed a growing appetite to own prized birds for racing and breeding in the Middle East.
This piece has been a year in the making, working with a great team of reporters from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) to shed light on a multimillion-dollar industry that stretches around the world.
Germany’s dying forests are losing their ability to absorb CO2. Can a new way of planting save them?
The LA wildfire victims still living in toxic homes: ‘We have nowhere else to go’
‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate?
How demand for elite falcons in the Middle East is driving illegal trade of British birds
Global wildlife crime causing ‘untold harm’, UN report finds
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At the Oxford farming conference there were signs the government has much to do to win back farmers’ trust
Few symbols were more potent than the wooden coffin bearing the inscription “RIP British agriculture, 30th October 2024” that greeted Labour’s environment minister at the annual Oxford farming conference.
It marked the date of Rachel Reeves’s first budget, when she announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms. For the chancellor’s cabinet colleague Emma Reynolds, it underlined the anger among Britain’s farmers.
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Sandbanks can shift position during winter storms, but sonar mapping means charts can now be updated immediately
Offshore sandbanks are a particular navigation hazard because, unlike rocks and reefs, they have a habit of shifting position during winter storms.
The Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile (16km) bank off the coast of Deal in Kent, close to the busy shipping lanes of the Dover strait. The sands have claimed about 2,000 vessels over the years. In 1634, two lighthouses were set up on South Foreland for sailors to follow a safe route through.
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Kolera, teška bakterijska infekcija koja uzrokuje proljev i ubija ako se ne liječi, može se pobijediti prehranom bogatom proteinima, pokazuju rezultati nove studije. Naime, pokazalo se, da prehrana bogata kazeinom, glavnim proteinom u mlijeku i siru, kao i pšeničnim glutenom, može napraviti dramatičnu razliku u količini bakterija kolere koje mogu zaraziti crijeva.
Novo kliničko ispitivanje provedeno u Danskoj pokazalo je da aminokiselina arginin, koja se normalno nalazi u ljudskoj slini, može modificirati stvaranje plaka na zubima, čime štiti od karijesa. Naime, nakon njegove primjene došlo je do povišenja pH, mjenjanja strukture dentalnog biofilma i smanjenja štetnih bakterija, ističući potencijal arginina u sprječavanju karijesa.
Većina razgovora o majčinom mlijeku usredotočuje se na teme poput hranjivih tvari, antitijela i vremena vezivanja, a ne na bakterije. No, ispada da ljudsko mlijeko nosi vlastitu malu zajednicu mikroba, koja može pomoći u oblikovanju crijevnog mikrobioma djeteta u razvoju - što zauzvrat može utjecati na apsorpciju hranjivih tvari, metaboličku regulaciju, razvoj imunološkog sustava i još mnogo toga.
Švedski znanstvenici s Karolinska Instituta otkrili su da mikroglija, imunološke stanice živčanog sustava pomažu u zaštiti leđne moždine od oštećenja povezanih sa starenjem. Smatra se, da ovo otkriće može doprinijeti novim spoznajama o nastanku određenih neuroloških bolesti.
Novi dokazi upućuju na to da hvatanje željeza u neupotrebljivim oblicima može izgladnjeti ranjive neurone, što dovodi u pitanje desetljeća razmišljanja o toksičnosti željeza kod Parkinsonove bolesti i otvara nova terapijska pitanja.
Otprilike polovica starijih muškaraca pati od problema sa spavanjem, bolova u leđima ili oboje. Sada je nova studija istražila prethodi li jedno drugom i otkrila da problemi s leđima mogu predvidjeti probleme sa spavanjem godinama kasnije kod muškaraca starijih od 65 godina.
Povećeni omjer neutrofila i limfocita (NLR) značajno je povezan s povećanim rizikom od depresivnog poremećaja i može također korelirati s rizikom od samoubojstva (suicida) među osobama s depresivnim poremećajem, tvrdi nova meta-analiza.
Pokazalo se da genetska mutacija koja se prenosi s majke na djecu u obiteljima pogođenim shizofrenijom sada potpuno utišava moždani receptor koji farmaceutske tvrtke nastoje ciljati novim lijekovima. Naime, promjena jedne aminokiseline transformira receptor 1 povezan s aminom u tragovima (TAAR1) iz funkcionalnog staničnog čuvara u molekularnu slijepu ulicu.
Prema rezultatima nove studije, akupunktura nudi potencijalno niskorizičnu dodatnu opciju za intenzivnu njegu, pomažući u smanjenju ovisnosti o analgeticima i sedativnim lijekovima, skraćenju trajanja mehaničke ventilacije i boravka na intenzivnoj njezi, smanjenju učestalosti delirija te poboljšanju gastrointestinalne pokretljivosti.
Nedavno objavljena studija otkrila je novi mehanizam bakterije Streptococcus anginosus koji potiče rak. Istraživanje pokazuje da metaboliti metionina koje proizvodi ova bakterija mogu značajno doprinijeti razvoju raka želuca. Smatra se, da ovo otkriće produbljuje razumijevanje uloge crijevnog mikrobioma u raku i otvara nove putove za strategije prevencije usmjerene na mikrobiotu.