The Guardian

Scotland’s botanic gardens suffer ‘unimaginable’ loss of rare specimens

For more than a century, whenever winter came to Scotland, they stood tall against the wind and rain and snow. But last month, battered by Storm Éowyn, hundreds of rare and historic trees in the living collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh were lost.

The charity has four sites in Scotland. Its tallest tree in Edinburgh, a 166-year-old Himalayan cedar, fell during Éowyn’s gusts of up to 80mph, while Benmore Botanic Garden on the west coast has suffered “unimaginable” devastation.

Developing countries urge biggest polluters to act as Trump’s return to the White House heightens geopolitical turmoil

The vast majority of governments are likely to miss a looming deadline to file vital plans that will determine whether or not the world has a chance of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown.

Despite the urgency of the crisis, the UN is relatively relaxed at the prospect of the missed date. Officials are urging countries instead to take time to work harder on their targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and divest from fossil fuels.

Exclusive: Analysis suggests development in flood regions result of Labour push for 1.5m new homes in five years

More than 100,000 new homes will be built on the highest-risk flood zones in England in the next five years as part of the government’s push for 1.5m extra properties by the end of this parliament, Guardian analysis suggests.

Building on areas with the highest risk of serious flooding is supposed to be discouraged. Experts say development should be avoided unless absolutely necessary because there is a significant chance of regular deluges, which will flood the properties, cause hundreds of millions of pounds of economic damage and make homes uninsurable.

Vehicles stranded, trains and planes cancelled, and schools closed after record 129cm of snow falls in 12 hours

Record-breaking snowfall has engulfed swaths of northern Japan, causing widespread disruption. Areas of low pressure and strong north-westerly winds brought cold air from other parts of Asia, causing the extreme weather.

In the Takachi district of Obihiro, a city in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, a record 129cm (4ft) of snowfall in 12 hours was measured this week. The conditions affected travel, with many vehicles stranded, trains and planes cancelled, and hundreds of schools closed.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

We are the post-pandemic flâneurs: stepping out of social media silos to meet people and connect with the world around us

When I moved back to London from Rome just before the second lockdown in 2020, I found a city that was hardly welcoming, with shops closed and an atmosphere of silent apprehension. Young, single people like me were only socialising online with existing friends, and opportunities to make fresh connections were rare.

When I met Irenka from Poland at a literary festival, she looked as thirsty for new friends as I was. As we started complaining about the difficulties of mingling she introduced me to an app that allows people to find new pals on organised walks. I quickly downloaded it.

Researchers have found a pattern indicating certain ‘words’ are used more often than others – but humans won’t be speaking whale any time soon

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Humpback whale song is structured in a similar way to human language – with shorter sounds used far more often than more complex ones – a structure which helps infants quickly learn how to communicate from their elders in both species.

Across languages and whale song, some words, or word-like elements, are used frequently while others are infrequent. They follow a pattern known as “Zipfian distribution”, where the most used word in a language (like “the”) is used about twice as often as the second most common word, and three times as frequent as the third most common word and so on.

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Greenpeace says PM has ‘swallowed industry spin whole’ after plans unveiled to expand in England and Wales

Keir Starmer has channelled his inner Donald Trump and promised to “build, baby, build” in his push for more nuclear power stations, despite warnings from environmental groups about the industry’s record for soaring costs and long delays.

A day after the prime minister unveiled his plans to revamp planning rules to bring in a series of small modular reactors (SMRs) across England and Wales, Greenpeace said Starmer had “swallowed the nuclear industry spin whole”, and Friends of the Earth described the plans as “overblown, costly hype”.

Middlewick Ranges in Colchester considered to be of national importance for nightingales and acid grassland

A council is proposing to remove the second-best place for nightingales in the UK from its local plan for 1,000 new homes, in a win for community campaigners and environmentalists.

Middlewick Ranges, a former Ministry of Defence firing range on the southern edge of Colchester, is set to be dropped from the city council’s allocated housing sites after councillors heeded a growing array of ecological evidence highlighting its national importance for nature.

On almost every level the chancellor’s decision to expand the London airport looks naive, if not foolish

For 20 years, politicians, industry leaders and campaigners have fought in courts, parliament and public meetings over the idea of building a new runway for Heathrow. For some, a third runway would not only boost passenger numbers at the airport but would be a symbol of the country’s determination to seek economic regeneration. For others, it would demonstrate, in vivid terms, our complete failure to understand the grim, global threat posed by further increasing carbon emissions.

Last week, Rachel Reeves chose to enter the fray. Remarkably, for a supposed green chancellor, she elected to back the project and seek the expansion of Heathrow to raise its annual passenger capacity by 50% to about 140 million. “A third runway at Heathrow would unlock further growth, boost investment, increase exports and make the UK more open and more connected,” she claimed. It was a bold move. It is unlikely history will view it as a sensible or justifiable one, however. On almost every level – political, local or environmental – her decision looks naive, if not foolish.

Concerns raised as $10bn Bezos Earth Fund halts funding for Science Based Targets initiative, which monitors companies’ decarbonisation

Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has halted its funding of one of the world’s most important climate certification organisations, amid broader concerns US billionaires are “bowing down to Trump” and his anti-climate action rhetoric.

The Bezos Earth Fund has stopped its support for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international body that assesses if companies are decarbonising in line with the Paris agreement. Earth Fund had been one of two core funders of the SBTi, with the Ikea Foundation: the two accounted for 61% of its total funding last year. Earth Fund’s decision was first reported by the FT.

Even brief exposure to particulate matter found to impede selective attention and emotional recognition

A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a study has found.

Researchers analysed data from cognitive tests completed by 26 participants before and after they were exposed either to high levels of particulate matter (PM) using smoke from a candle, or clean air for an hour.

New EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s pillars pledge to help auto industry and have no mention of the climate crisis

A new and starkly different vision for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been outlined by the Trump administration – one that involves mass staff cuts, an influx of industry lobbyists and, unusually, the promotion of artificial intelligence as a key agency priority.

A set of five “pillars” issued by new EPA administrator Lee Zeldin to guide the agency, set up under Richard Nixon in 1970 to protect US public health and the environment, does include one referencing “clean land, air and water for every American”.

EU monitor says global temperatures were 1.75C above preindustrial levels, extending run of unprecedented highs

A run of record-breaking global temperatures has continued, even with a La Niña weather pattern cooling the tropical Pacific.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month was the warmest January on record, with surface – air temperatures 1.75C above preindustrial levels.

Dylan Cooper and Cory Kerewaro from Reptile Relocation Sydney have removed 102 red-bellied black snakes from a single mulch pile on a property in western Sydney. Upon arrival they had expected to remove only four red-bellies which had been seen by the owner of the Horsley Park home. But during summer it can be common for some female snakes to congregate and share the same birthing site

Chicken used in dog treat was cultivated from single sample of cells taken from one egg, says manufacturer Meatly

A dog treat made from lab-grown meat has gone on sale at Pets at Home in a move the retailer claims is a world first.

Chick Bites are made from plant-based ingredients combined with cultivated meat, which is produced by growing cells and does not require the raising or slaughter of animals.

Prime minister vows to ‘push past nimbyism’ and calls on tech firms to help build small modular reactors to power AI datacentres

Keir Starmer will unveil plans for a historic expansion in nuclear power across England and Wales, pledging to use Labour’s large majority to make new sites across the country available for new power stations.

The announcement follows the prime minister’s call for tech companies to work alongside the government to build small modular reactors (SMRs) to power energy intensive AI datacentres across Britain.

The UK’s food supply has been threatened by recent events, such as the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic

Urgent action is needed to secure the UK’s food supply in the face of climate change-induced extreme weather, the imposition of tariffs and global insecurity, a report has warned.

Days after the US president, Donald Trump, warned Europe would be next for tariffs on trade after he imposed tax levies on Canada, China and Mexico, the report said the UK’s post-second world war food system was no longer fit for purpose, and the country’s food security was in a precarious state.

For those lucky enough to have a place to return to in Altadena, going home meant dealing with unfinished chores left behind when the Eaton fire forced them to evacuate. For Samy Arbid, who had moved into a property just a block from the fire line in November, there was a different kind of challenge: a 525lb (240kg) black bear. It had moved into the crawl space under the house before the fire and was still sheltering there when Arbid and his wife returned. The California wildfire department stepped in to help, luring the bear out with treats after deciding it was too big to tranquillise. The bear's new home is much more appropriate: the Angeles national forest

Team has produced more than 20 embryos using method used in humans, though there are no plans for live joeys

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Scientists have produced kangaroo embryos through in vitro fertilisation for the first time, in a development they say could help conservation of endangered animals.

Australian researchers at the University of Queensland made the eastern grey kangaroo embryos using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a technique widely used in human IVF, in which a sperm is injected into a mature egg.

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