Environment news feed

Promiscuous finches, pea-sized frogs and hitchhiking snails - the pick of this week's images from the natural world

Mark Ames from I Bike London joins Helen Pidd in the studio to update us on how the London bike hire scheme is getting on. He thinks it's a victim of its own success and tells us a hilarious story about finding an abandoned Boris bike in Mayfair.Bike blogger Peter Walker talks to the Guardian's Sydn

Proponents of GM promise bigger cuts of meat, more efficient farming and animals less prone to disease, but is it an unnecessary abuse of nature?? GM salmon may go on sale in US after public consultationThe bid by the US Federal Drug Administration to approve the first genetically modified animal -

We have learned so much about our home planet in the three decades since James Lovelock wrote Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (Oxford, 1979). Has the book stood the test of time?Once in a generation, perhaps, you get to read a book that will change the way we see the world. But it might take a who

The biggest bluffer in the old kitchen garden of Sandy Lodge has us fooled. "Hornet!" warns my companion, and the great monster duly carves a flightpath between our dodging bodies. The inch-long insect goes on to balance on a water mint flower: its swollen abdomen is a rather too yellow shade of amb

The rape of more than 150 women and children is probably, though not yet proven to be, connected with the exploitation of mineral minesCassiterite, wolframite, coltan: they might be the spoiled offspring of celebrity parents, or characters from an unfamiliar fairytale. The truth is much more prosaic

The challenge of the rescue operation is ensuring that the 33 men remain healthy, sane and busyAs 33 miners enter their third week trapped 688 metres underground, the logistics of keeping them alive has been reduced to a single dimension: 12cm."That's the size of the tube by which we can supply them

Men send messages of love and gratitude in grainy 45 minutes film which shows them optimistic and heartyStripped to their waists and sweating in the heat, unshaven, scrawny and filthy but all, it seemed, optimistic and hearty: the first video footage of the 33 trapped Chilean miners gave hope today

Budget-conscious parents might be tempted by cut-price school uniforms, but should they have ethical concerns about how they were sourced and who produced them?My three-and-a-half-year-old is due to begin nursery school in September and must wear a uniform consisting of a royal blue sweater and trac

A relatively new type of El Niño, which has its warmest waters in the central-equatorial Pacific Ocean, rather than in the eastern-equatorial Pacific, is becoming more common and progressively stronger, according to a new study by NASA and NOAA. The research may improve our understanding of the relationship between El Niños and climate change, and has potentially significant implications for long-term weather forecasting.

A unique 'natural laboratory' in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive extinctions in the past.

Our West Midlands division recently held a workshop on the revision of BS 10175.

A review of the IPCC chairman's financial relationships reveals a scrupulously honest man has been much maligned? Pachauri cleared of financial misdealings? Read KPMG's report on Pachauri's financesHas anyone been as badly maligned as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli

Six skippers face unlimited fines and multi-million pound confiscation orders after admitting breaching fishing quotas.

Dominic Couzens tells the stories of 50 of the rarest birds in the world

One of the world's tiniest species of frogs is discovered living in and around Borneo's carnivorous plantsOne of the world's tiniest frogs - barely larger than a pea ? has been found living in and around carnivorous plants in Borneo, one of the scientists who made the accidental discovery said today

Concerted action to tackle climate change will happen only if the public demands it for the sake of future generations"How did you become an activist?" I was surprised by the question. I never considered myself an activist. I am a slow-paced taciturn scientist from the Midwest US. Most of my relativ

Seumas Milne is absolutely right that those who want to return the Labour party to its correct place within the political spectrum should ensure Ed Miliband beats David (Ed is the only Miliband who offers a genuine alternative, 26 August). However Ed Miliband is young and untested, and his leadershi

Last night's force 9, through which the Hebrides and her intrepid crew brought us back to Uist, has dropped away to a strong wind. By late afternoon the temptation to stop unpacking the piles of boxes and go out for a walk becomes irresistible. The day is bright and lively, the sun constantly vanish