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The surprising origin of sprouts, the vegetable we either love or hate

14 December 2022

Sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and a dozen other vegetables are all the same species, Brassica oleracea. Now we have finally discovered their common ancestor

H60RX2 Deck and Turret of U.S.S. Monitor seen from Bow, James River, Virginia, by James F. Gibson, July 1862

How a US civil war shipwreck became a template for marine conservation

14 December 2022

The USS Monitor, an iconic piece of military history, sank 160 years ago. Now a marine sanctuary, the wreck has become an unlikely testbed for ocean conservation

Inside the decadent – but still ethical – world of vegan fine dining

14 December 2022

Fancy a posh meal without the climate hangover? Work out what luxury really means and you can create gourmet, guilt-free dining

Wildlife photography of a Red Fox diving into deep snows to capture Winter prey in Yellowstone National Park A Red Fox dives into deep Winter snow in Yellowstone National Park to capture prey in an epic mousing leap driving his face, paws and half his body into the snow. Some naturalists believe that Red Foxes use not only their incredible sense of hearing, but that they might actually use a sense of the planet?s magnetic field to guide their trajectory. After observing and documenting many such leaps, they make a very compelling case, adding to the mystique of these animals.

Subnivium: The secret ecosystem hidden beneath the snow

14 December 2022

An ephemeral ecosystem of tunnels in the snow is home to insects, frogs, rodents and even flowering plants. But as the climate changes, is it about to collapse?

Part of the Guadiana river has dried up and gives way to dry land under the Puente de la Mesta medieval bridge in Villarta de los Montes, in the central-western Spanish region of Extremadura, on August 16, 2022. - Temperatures in Spain have been very high this summer with several unusual heat waves. Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events including heatwaves and droughts more frequent and more intense. (Photo by THOMAS COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Extreme drought in 2022 exposed fragility of Europe’s energy system

14 December 2022

The past year saw temperature records fall and severe drought in many parts of the world – and it exposed how easily extreme weather can threaten Europe’s energy system

TOPSHOT - Icebergs float in Disko Bay, Ilulissat, western Greenland, on June 28, 2022. - The icebergs originate from Jakobshavn glacier (Sermeq Kujalleq), the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. The massive icebergs that detach from the glacier float for years in the waters in front of the fjord before being carried south by ocean currents. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Arctic and Antarctic saw record warmth and ice melt in 2022

14 December 2022

The sea ice around Antarctica shrank to the smallest area ever recorded in early 2022, and there were exceptionally high temperatures at both poles

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Peter Dejong/AP/Shutterstock (13628749bk) Activists take part in a protest at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt COP27 Climate Summit, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt - 18 Nov 2022

This year's COP27 set up a major battle for next year's climate summit

14 December 2022

An agreement to compensate nations losing out from climate change made at COP27 was welcomed, but expect fireworks at the next summit, COP28, when countries have to agree who pays for it

TOPSHOT - Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. - Ukraine remains deeply scarred by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, when a Soviet-era reactor exploded and streamed radiation into the atmosphere in the country's north. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was occupied in the early days of the war and it has remained in Russian hands ever since. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine started a new kind of nuclear war

14 December 2022

Ukraine's nuclear power plants were turned into a battleground in 2022, as Russian invaders sought to occupy a key resource

People walk in a flooded St Mark's Square

Venice may get a temporary respite from rising seas by 2035

6 December 2022

High winter sea levels in Venice are linked to warmer sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean, and cooling in that ocean over coming decades should therefore temporarily compensate for the city's sea level rise