Singapore on Thursday recommended supermarkets start charging for disposable carrier bags, a move aimed at slashing carbon emissions in a tiny nation that produces enough annual waste to fill hundreds of Olympic-sized swimming pools. A 2018 study by the Singapore Environment Council found shoppers take home 820 million disposable bagsContinue Reading
Microplastics are found everywhere on Earth, yet we know surprisingly little about what risks they pose to living things. Scientists are now racing to investigate some of the big unanswered questions. Daniella Hodgson is digging a hole in the sand on a windswept beach as seabirds wheel overhead. “Found one,”Continue Reading
A new global survey illustrates the depth of anxiety many young people are feeling about climate change. Nearly 60% of young people approached said they felt very worried or extremely worried. More than 45% of those questioned said feelings about the climate affected their daily lives. Three-quarters of them saidContinue Reading
Last year was the warmest on record across Europe, breaking the previous high mark by a considerable distance, say scientists. Temperatures across the region were more than 1.9C above the long-term average between 1981 and 2010. The State of the Climate 2020 report from the American Meteorological Society says temperatures in theContinue Reading
Samantha Jenkins was studying a number of types of fungus in a research project for her company, when one of the fungi made a bid for freedom. “Imagine a jar full of grain with a kind of lump of mushroom coming out of the top,” says the lead biotech engineerContinue Reading
An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic is destined for our environment – both on land and in the ocean – by 2040, unless worldwide action is taken. That’s according to a global model of the scale of the plastic problem over the next 20 years. Dr Costas Velis from theContinue Reading
Scientists have new evidence to explain why plastic is dangerous to sea turtles: the animals mistake the scent of plastic for food. Thus, a plastic bag floating in the sea not only looks like a jellyfish snack, but it gives off a similar odour. This “olfactory trap” might helpContinue Reading