Exploding Aphids Plaster Holes in Their Home With Bodily Fluids

In an extreme version of the clotting process, the bugs suicidally erupt to save their nest. By Ed Yong.

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We are living on "the planet of the chickens," says this scientist

The humble chicken is dominating the planet, with more than 23 billion walking the earth at any one time.

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Greenland is melting even faster than experts thought, study finds

Climate change is eliminating giant chunks of ice from Greenland at such a speed that the melt has already made a significant contribution to sea level rise, according to a new study. With global warming, the island will lose much more, threatening coastal cities around the world.

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Judge Delivers Major Setback to Trump Policy to Increase Coal Mining on Federal Land

A federal judge late Friday delivered a significant setback to the Trump administration’s policy of promoting coal, ruling that the Interior Department acted illegally when it sought to lift an Obama-era moratorium on coal mining on public lands. The decision, by Judge Brian Morris of the United States District Court of the District of Montana, does not reinstate President Barack Obama’s 2016 freeze on new coal mining leases on public lands.

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A Global Pact for the Environment

With each successive Earth Day, the scale of the global environmental crisis becomes more disheartening. So too does the collective failure to respond to the planet’s plight. Over the past year, scientists have issued dire warnings about global warming, mass extinction, the extent of plastic pollution and the death of the world’s oceans. Humanity is now deep in the Anthropocene, a new geologic era defined by the human transformation of the natural world, and the lights are blinking red.

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Gorillas pose for selfie with DR Congo anti-poaching unit

Two gorillas have been photographed posing for a relaxed selfie with the rangers who rescued them as babies. The image was taken at a gorilla orphanage in Virunga National Park, DR Congo, where the animals were raised after poachers killed their parents. The park's deputy director told BBC Newsday that they had learned to imitate their carers, who have looked after them since they were found. The gorillas, he added, think of the rangers as their parents.

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There’s just no getting away from microplastic contamination

Microplastics may be having a moment in the spotlight, as the public is increasingly aware of their presence in the environment around us. But as more evidence of their presence comes to light, it’s becoming clearer that we don’t yet have a handle on how big or bad the problem is. A huge amount of small plastic particles end up in the sea, but recent research has also found them in lakes and mountain river floodplains, and even as airborne pollution in megacities.

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