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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.
Even as we empathise with these intelligent animals, our relentless push for resources kills them in their thousands, just as whalers once hunted them to the brink of extinction
For weeks now, a humpback whale has been trying to die. Entangled in ropes, it had wandered into the shallow Baltic Sea. Unable to feed, it is now subject to extreme dehydration, since whales satisfy their thirst through the fish they eat.
In such a parlous situation, the whale’s last resort was to strand itself on Poel Island, in the Bay of Wismar. Sadly, it has been a slow death. Beached whales die because they are crushed by their own weight. The German humpback’s agony may have been prolonged because it lay in shallow water and was thus only partly submerged.
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The US attack on Iran has made the need for renewable energy inarguable. Environmentalists are now being seen for the pragmatists that they are
Donald Trump has done more to accelerate the energy transition than anyone else alive. Fossil fuel companies bankrolled his presidential campaign to stop the transition in its tracks. But when you back a volatile narcissist, unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, you shouldn’t expect to control the outcome.
It’s not that the fossils are suffering yet. As prices have soared since Trump and Netanyahu attacked Iran, oil executives have been selling shares at gobsmacking prices: the CEO of Chevron, for example, has cashed $104m so far this year. Vladimir Putin has also received a massive boost to his Ukraine invasion budget. As promised, Trump has gutted clean energy rules and programmes, green alternatives and environmental science. A fortnight ago, he stated, with the usual quantum of evidence (zero): “The environmentalists, I mean, they are terrorists … I call them environmental terrorists.”
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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Santa Marta conference born out of frustration at Cop summits, where renewable progress has been stalled by major polluters
Everybody knows fossil fuels cause climate breakdown, but until recently, mention of them was all but erased from the annual UN climate summits. Last year, two weeks of discussions ended without fossil fuels being mentioned in the final outcome.
Frustration with those talks led a small developing country with a large fossil fuel sector – Colombia, the largest coal and fourth biggest oil exporter in the Americas – to rewrite the rules. With co-convener the Netherlands, and support from more than 50 countries, Colombia will host a groundbreaking new global conference this month to begin the long-awaited “transition away from fossil fuels”.
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Langness, Isle of Man: With their epic migrations, they are special birds, but especially so here, the place that coined the name
A swallow recorded at the start of March, sand martins mid-month. This year, many harbingers of spring have come early due to the warming climate, so here on the island, the question was: would our Manx shearwaters return early too?
Few places have birds named after them, but the Isle of Man is one (Sardinia another, for Sardinian warblers), the name granted in 1835 thanks to a large shearwater colony on the Calf of Man, an island off our south-west corner. That population was devastated by rats from a shipwreck, but after a rodent eradication programme by the Manx Wildlife Trust, numbers have rebounded to more than 1,500 breeding pairs.
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Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas
The critical Atlantic current system appears significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought after new research found that climate models predicting the biggest slowdown are the most realistic. Scientists called the new finding “very concerning” as a collapse would have catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa and the Americas.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system and was already known to be at its weakest for 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Scientists spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021 and know that the Amoc has collapsed in the Earth’s past.
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Exclusive: Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbon
More than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters.
The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a “trophic cascade” of climate and ecological benefits.
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At 1.5C of global warming, up to 90% of coral reefs could be lost. The next few months could be a defining moment
Where I come from – Hawai’i – the reef isn’t just something you look at. It’s part of us. It feeds our families, protects our shores, and lives at the center of our culture. In our stories, coral is one of our oldest ancestors. It’s a reminder that everything in the ocean, and all of us, are connected.
Right now, that integral connection is under threat.
Jason Momoa is an actor, film-maker, and UNEP Advocate for Life Below Water, dedicated to protecting our oceans and advancing global awareness around coral reef conservation
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Rising sea levels and ecological damage caused by heavy use of flood defence system force city authorities to consider next move
The Arsenale, the colossal shipyard that was the engine of the Venetian Republic’s domination for seven centuries, remains the nucleus of the city’s control over the water. Its northern section is made up of cavernous brick warehouses called capannoni, which in the 16th century could produce a warship a day through a rigorously ordered assembly line.
Now, one of them houses the operations centre of the Mose, the sprawling flood defence system that protects the city.
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Changing climate, new techniques and a homegrown study programme have all helped drive a UK viticulture boom
Rows of vines stretch across the rolling hills of rural Dorset. Currently waist height, they appear bare against a bleak spring sky. Up close, you can see they are already dotted with tiny woolly buds as they exit their winter dormancy for a new growth cycle.
Come summer these rows will be laden with chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes, ready to make the latest batch of English sparkling wine from the Langham estate near Dorchester.
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A former horticultural nursery in Regent’s Park has been transformed into a diverse mix of habitats, with a wide range of species already spotted ahead of its opening to the public on April 27
When the Queen Elizabeth II garden opens in Regent’s Park this month, the first people to visit the Royal Parks’ £5m biodiversity project will quickly discover they are not, in fact, the first visitors.
That honour belongs to a hairy-footed flower bee, a breeding pair of geese, some dragonfly nymphs, a flock of grey wagtails, a prickle of hedgehogs, an armada of newts, a flutter of spring butterflies and a “very cheeky” fox.
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U nedavnoj studiji objavljenoj u stručnom medicinskom časopisu BMJ Open, znanstvenici su revidirali točnost, referenciranje i čitljivost pet popularnih chatbotova vođenih umjetnom inteligencijom (AI) kako bi istražili kako su odgovorili na zdravstvene upite u područjima sklonim dezinformacijama. Studija je koristila 250 upita u pet kategorija sklonih dezinformacijama, a rezultate su procijenila dva stručnjaka za predmetnu materiju u svakoj kategoriji koristeći unaprijed definirane kriterije.
Nedostatak sna već je dugo poznat po tome što slabi imunološki sustav. Sada su američki znanstvenici s UF Health Cancer Institute došli do zapanjujućeg otkrića, naime, izgleda da crijevna mikrobiota potiče promjene u imunološkom sustavu uzrokovane kroničnim nedostatkom sna. Ove promjene potiču napredovanje raka, remete cirkadijalni ritam i slabe učinkovitost kemoterapije.
Lijekovi koji ciljaju proteine beta amiloida u mozgu vjerojatno nemaju klinički značajne pozitivne učinke, a povećavaju rizik od krvarenja i oticanja mozga, otkrila je analiza 17 studija. Inače, osobe s Alzheimerovom bolešću imaju visoke razine proteina poznatog kao beta amiloida u mozgu, koji se može otkriti prije početka simptoma, ali njegova uloga u napredovanju bolesti nije sigurna. Razvijeni su lijekovi za uklanjanje tih proteina iz mozga, pod teorijom da bi to spriječilo ili usporilo napredovanje bolesti.
Izgleda da semaglutid – aktivni sastojak popularnih lijekova za mršavljenje koji oponašaju crijevni hormon GLP-1 – djeluje izravno na podskupinu stanica jetre kako bi poboljšao funkciju organa i to čini neovisno o gubitku težine. Ovo otkriće dovodi u pitanje dugogodišnje pretpostavke o tome kako GLP-1 lijekovi djeluju u jetri i moglo bi promijeniti način na koji liječnici liječe metaboličke bolesti jetre.
Određivanje prisutnosti proteina u netumorskim stanicama unutar mikrookruženja raka moglo bi biti jedan od ključeva za utvrđivanje prognoze kod pacijenata s rakom debelog crijeva. Također, to može pomoći u utvrđivanju koji bi pacijenti mogli imati koristi od imunoterapije ili od tretmana usmjerenih na inhibiciju specifičnog proteina povezanog s proliferacijom tumora.
Aortne aneurizme karakterizira abnormalno povećanje aorte, primarne arterije odgovorne za prenošenje krvi iz srca. Ruptura često dovodi do iznenadne smrti, a trenutno nema učinkovitih terapija lijekovima za zaustavljanje napredovanja bolesti. Sada su japanski znanstvenici otkrili da su aortne aneurizme povezane s klonskom hematopoezom, procesom povezanim sa starenjem u kojem matične stanice koje stvaraju krv stječu genetske mutacije.
Odrasli koji su izjavili da se osjećaju usamljeno imali su veći rizik od razvoja degenerativne bolesti srčanih zalistaka, čak i nakon što su uzeti u obzir tradicionalni faktori rizika za srčane bolesti i genetika, pokazuje nova studija.
Nova studija pokazuje da aktivni mitohondriji održavaju dendritične stanice, stražare imunološkog sustava, u stanju spremnosti za odgovor, povezujući stanični metabolizam s regulacijom gena i aktivacijom T-stanica. Smatra se, da ovo otkriće otvara nove puteve za poboljšanje cjepiva i imunoterapije raka.
Daraksonrasib, lijek tvrtke Revolution Medicines za rak gušterače, uspio je u dugo očekivanom kliničkom ispitivanju faze III, gotovo udvostručivši tipično trajanje preživljavanja i smanjivši rizik od smrti za 60% u odnosu na kemoterapiju.
Crijevne bakterije mogle bi uzrokovati probleme djece s rijetkim, ali ozbiljnim stanjem alergije na hranu, tvrdi nova studija. Naime, djeca sa sindromom enterokolitisa induciranog proteinima hrane (FPIES) imaju profile crijevnih bakterija koji se značajno razlikuju od profila kod zdrave djece.
