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A former UK government scientific adviser warned amid the ‘shattering’ heat that worse is still to come
Met Office has just offered an update on temperatures across the UK, with several stations already reporting temperatures above 30C – and it’s not even 11am.
It’s 30.4C in Wych Cross, 30.3C in Charlwood, 30.2C at Kenly Airfield.
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We’ve gone in search of the invertebrate of the year. Now it’s your chance to choose
It’s time to vote for the 2026 invertebrate of the year. For the third year running, we’ve been profilng some of the most spectacular, fascinating and yet overlooked inhabitants of our planet; the huge category of animals (more than 1.3million different species) that have no spine. This group includes all sorts of creatures from jellyfish to bumblebees via parasites, spiders and worms. They carry out some of the most critical functions at the very base of all of our ecosystems, but it’s the vertebrates - pandas, lions, whales - that scoop up everyone’s attention.
Please vote for your favourite from these amazing species... or if you don’t have time to vote, just don’t forget to look down, or up, or under a stone or into a pond; some of the most marvellous creatures you’ve never heard of may be a few millimetres away.
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Voting has opened! Over the last two weeks we’ve profiled ten amazing invertebrates – nominated by you. Now it’s time to choose this year’s invertebrate of the year
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From spiders tuning their silken listening tools, to the beetle’s heady perfume, hundreds of conversations are happening in languages we don’t understand
All around us, every day, hundreds of conversations are taking place in languages we don’t understand, or even, in most cases, notice. Birdsong is one you would probably recognise, and you may have heard of honeybee “waggle dances”. But what about the spider tuning their web to listen for prey, or a waft of arousing perfumes emitted by a passing beetle? At any moment you may be walking right through a whole critical dialogue – and have absolutely no idea.
To delve into the world of invertebrate communication about food gathering, coordinating nest building, defending a territory, attracting a mate, and babycare is to realise just how smart and sophisticated they are. Spiders, for example, can “hear” vibrations on the silken strands of their web using sensors on their legs. With their legs and body weight, the spiders will adjust the silk strings, as we would a guitar string, to change its pitch, pulling, loosening or reconnecting strands to adjust how it sounds. In fine-tuning the silk they can know just who is walking on it – a possible mate to woo, a fly for feasting on or maybe a larger bug on the lookout for prey.
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Bat experts were shocked at how fast white-nose syndrome had spread to Canada’s northernmost colonies from the US. Now, the race is on to find a cure before species disappear
Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white fungus.
When they shone their headlamps to get a closer look, they saw another bat with the fungus on its forearms. “It hissed at us and crawled back into a crack,” Jesika Reimer says.
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PM to look at imposing restriction on devices in public spaces, though campaigners fear it does not go far enough
The government will look at banning disposable barbecues as wildfires continue to rage across the UK, Andy Burnham has said.
Disposable barbecues have been the cause of a number of serious fires over the last few years, but campaigners were critical of the prime minister’s failure to link those fires more broadly to the climate crisis.
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Rejecting North Sea drilling licences and protecting nature are just some measures Andy Burnham must implement to ready country
From record-smashing temperatures, wildfires, hosepipe bans and thousands of premature deaths, the climate crisis has left its mark across the summer of 2026.
Tackling the root cause – the burning of fossil fuels – and ending the crisis will take years. So will fixing the UK government’s calamitous failure to protect lives and livelihoods against the long-predicted affects of global heating.
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Of the 1.3m spineless wonders in the world, you told us your favourites. Now it’s time to pick the winner
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It’s raining in Melbourne as I write this, and on my way to work I saw pale pink earthworms everywhere, scattered and exposed all over the footpath like soft-bodied streamers.
It was a visible reminder, as I dodged to avoid squishing the inaugural winners, in 2024, of the invertebrate of the year contest, of the magnificent array of 1.7m invertebrate species we share the planet with.
Could England and Wales ever run out of water?
The return of the caspian tiger: how a species feared extinct has come back to Kazakhstan
‘Unprecedented, dangerous territory’: US north-west reckons with a summer of historic wildfires
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Hit by heatwaves and low rainfall, food producers are finding novel solutions to help crops and cattle survive
Ponds and collection tanks, drought-resistant crops and a certain rodent. As the climate crisis brings more extreme weather to Britain, farmers are experimenting with new tactics to tackle drought – and flooding.
The string of heatwaves and drought conditions experienced across vast swathes of Britain this summer has brought a series of challenges for food producers, particularly those growing crops more suited to the UK’s traditional climate.
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Wildfire smoke and ash can reshape aquatic ecosystems long after the flames have been extinguished
Wildfires are an increasing problem in Europe and elsewhere. While their immediate effect on air quality is obvious, they can also trigger less visible but significant environmental effects, including algal blooms.
An algal bloom is the rapid growth of algae and other plant-like microorganisms. These blooms can become so dense that they change the colour of the lake and seas. Although most are harmless, some produce dangerous toxins. When their blooms die, their decomposition depletes oxygen in the water, creating so-called dead zones.
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