The Guardian

Analyst says nuclear is the ‘thirstiest’ energy source, as report commissioned by Liberal supporters throws doubt on plan’s feasibility

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About 90% of the nuclear generation capacity the Coalition proposes to build would not have access to enough water to run safely, according to a report commissioned by Liberals Against Nuclear.

The report authored by Prof Andrew Campbell, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, assessed nuclear energy’s water needs and the available supply across the seven sites where the Coalition has proposed new reactors.

Days of heavy rains have led to rapidly swelling waterways and prompted a series of flood emergencies from Texas to Ohio. Forecasters attributed this violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf. The climate crisis is bringing heavier rainfall and related flood risks in most parts of the US, with the upper Midwest and Ohio River valley among the regions most affected, according to Climate Central, an independent nonprofit

Harsh weather is normal in Mongolia but the climate crisis has made conditions even more extreme. As millions of animals die and age-old traditions become harder to maintain, nomadic herders are forced into towns, where coal-fired heating has led to a health crisis

• ‘Everyone is breathing this’: how just trying to stay warm is killing thousands a year in the world’s coldest city

Zoos Victoria wildlife detection dogs uncovered the ‘bloody gorgeous’ reptiles in return for treats and cuddles

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Wildlife detection dogs successfully sniffed out 13 critically endangered earless dragons in previously unknown burrows in Melbourne’s west, after a training program launched by Zoos Victoria in 2023.

The Victorian grassland earless dragon – Australia’s most imperilled reptile – had not been seen for 50 years and was thought extinct before its remarkable rediscovery on privately owned grassland in 2023.

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Nature will reclaim its place as a terrifying quasi-divine force that cannot be mastered. I find this strangely comforting

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At times my work takes me to the big city and the tall buildings where people with power make decisions that affect the rest of us. While I am there, crossing busy roads, wearing tidy clothes and carrying out my duty, I think of faraway places where life is getting on without me.

Logrunners are turning leaf litter on the rainforest floor, albatross are cruising the wind beyond sight of the coast. Why does thinking about these creatures, who have no idea that I exist, bring me such comfort?

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The government’s promise to slash the cost of household batteries should be welcomed – it could drive a change that benefits everyone who uses the power grid

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It’s taken years to get here, but Labor’s election pledge to make household batteries cheaper is a significant step forward that should cut climate pollution and limit power price rises. While it has been criticised by some as a subsidy for the wealthy, it could drive a change that benefits everyone who uses the power grid, and not just those who can afford to put an energy storage unit in their garage.

Labor’s promise is that from July it will cut the cost of a typical household battery by about $4,000, or 30%. The discount will be delivered through a long-running small-scale renewable energy scheme that has helped make rooftop solar panels and hot water systems affordable for more people.

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Adam Morton is Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor

Dr Amanda Lilleyman, a shorebird expert and advocate, says a defence housing project and an industrial development plan in Darwin are threatening the habitat of the critically endangered far eastern curlew.  The bird relies on undisturbed Australian shorelines to fatten up before making an epic migration to the northern hemisphere. It’s one of more than 2,000 Australian species listed as under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis

• A high-flying visitor – the wondrous far eastern curlew – faces fresh threat in NT wetlands haven

Charity crowdfunding initial sum to build £750,000 facility on Bodmin Moor to study overlooked but biodiverse natural habitat

Europe’s first research station for the study of Atlantic temperate rainforest is set to be built beside an ancient wood in Cornwall.

The Thousand Year Trust charity is crowdfunding an initial amount to build the £750,000 facility, which will enable students and academics to study this historically overlooked but biodiverse natural habitat.

We do not have the luxury of rejecting solutions before we have thoroughly investigated their risks, trade-offs and feasibility

As a lifelong scientist, I have always believed that if something is possible, we can find a way to achieve it. And yet, one of the starkest realities we now face is that the world is failing to meet its climate goals. Last year marked a historic and deeply troubling threshold: for the first time, global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Without drastic and immediate climate action, this breach will not be temporary. The consequences – rising sea levels, extreme weather and devastating loss of biodiversity – are no longer projections for the distant future. They are happening now, affecting millions of lives, and likely to cause trillions in damages in decades to come.

But we must think beyond our immediate horizons. When I read The Iliad, I am reminded that it was written 2,800 years ago. I often wonder: in another 2,800 years, what will people – if humanity as we know it still exists – read about our time? Will they see us as the generation that failed to act or one that made the choices necessary to safeguard the planet for the future?

Guardian readers around the world voted in the this year’s contest, celebrating our spineless, friendly neighbours. But which creature won?

If you didn’t vote in the recent ballot, you missed out. Here was a vote where all 10 candidates were creative and morally upstanding, a vote unsullied by dubious lobbies, dodgy polls or demagogues. And if you’re seeking inspiration from a figure of strength who is also strangely cute then look no further than the winner of 2025: Milnesium tardigradum, a microscopic multisegmented animal that resembles a piglet wrapped in an enormous duvet.

Thousands of Guardian readers around the world voted in the contest, which we invented to celebrate the overlooked, unsung heroes of our planet.

Proposal that ships pay levy on emissions to fund climate action in poor countries opposed by powerful economies

Poor countries have accused the rich world of “backsliding” and betrayal of their climate commitments, as they desperately tried to keep alive a long-awaited deal to cut carbon from shipping.

Nations from 175 countries have gathered in London this week at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to hammer out the final details of a deal, more than a decade in the making, that could finally deliver a plan to decarbonise shipping over the next 25 years.

UK’s £800m research body backs project that could unlock radical therapies to extend human lifespans

The curious case of the queen bee has long had scientists pondering whether the head of the hive harbours the secret to a long and healthy life.

While queen bees and workers have nearly identical DNA, the queens enjoy what might be regarded as royal privileges. They are larger, fertile throughout life and survive for years compared with workers, who last a few months at best.

Now in it’s 10th year the Parrtjima festival is a free event, showcasing installations, interactive workshops and performances, all centred around this year’s theme ‘Timelessness’. The festival is on now at Alice Springs Desert Park until 13 April

Some 57,000 people participated in the Aussie Bird Count, with the lorikeet joining the noisy miner and magpie in the top three spots

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The rainbow lorikeet and its colourful plumage has topped Australia’s largest citizen science event as the most numerous bird recorded across the country.

More than 4.1m birds were counted as part of BirdLife Australia’s annual Aussie Bird Count, a week-long event which involved 57,000 participants across the country last October.

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Rainbow lorikeet

Noisy miner

Australian magpie

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

Welcome swallow

Galah

Silver gull

Australian white ibis

House sparrow

Little corella

Without the strongest conservation efforts, it can’t be long before the Maugean skate – and other marine living fossils in Australia – are wiped out

• Explore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this election

Australia is justly famous as a place where ancient species, long extinct elsewhere, live on. After aeons of adversity, Australia’s living fossils often survive only in protected habitats: the Wollemi, Huon and King Billy pines, the Queensland lungfish and even the Tasmanian devil (which thrived on the mainland at the same time as the Egyptians were building the pyramids) are good examples. Such species are a source of wonder for anyone interested in the living world and they should serve as a source of hope that, given half a chance, even ancient, slow-changing species can survive periods of dramatic climate change.

Australia’s largest repository of living fossils is arguably the cool, shallow marine waters off its southern coastline. Despite that fact that most of us enjoy a swim, snorkel or walk on the beach, the biological importance of our shallow temperate seas is almost entirely unrecognised.

Eva Czislowski, a student and activist, says Carnaby’s black cockatoos used to blacken the sky. ‘I can't believe that I won't be able to experience that,' she says. The endemic WA bird is just one of 2,000 Australian species listed as under threat, in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis

• From blackening skies to barely casting a shadow – the Carnaby’s cockatoo faces a bleak future

If a car generates more potholes, takes up more space and poses more risk, it is only fair that its owner pays more

Britain is facing an unusual crisis: carspreading. Our road vehicles are getting bigger as people buy more and more SUVs of increasing dimensions and weight. At the same time, our streets and parking places remain the same size.

The consequences of this uncontrolled vehicular expansion have become profound. Potholes are being created in greater numbers as our roads are pounded by heavier vehicles; multiple parking spaces are being taken over by single, giant cars; and road accidents are now producing more severe injuries to drivers and passengers of other vehicles. This last issue is of particular concern.

Constitutional expert says Tory leader’s break from political consensus over target for greenhouse gasses will require monarch to choose his words carefully

King Charles will have to temper his public support for net zero after Kemi Badenoch broke the political consensus over the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Senior royal sources have conceded that the 76-year-old monarch, who has spent more than half a century highlighting environmental challenges, will have to choose his words more carefully now that the Conservatives under Badenoch have said it will be impossible for the UK to hit net zero by 2050.

EPA bids to change chemical risk evaluations, which could expose public to higher levels of PFAS and other pollutants

The Trump administration is quietly carrying out a plan that aims to kill hundreds of bans on highly toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds in consumer goods.

The bans, largely at the state level, touch most facets of daily life, prohibiting everything from bisphenol in children’s products to mercury in personal care products to PFAS in food packaging and clothing.

‘Groundbreaking’ tool aims to help tree-planting efforts and identify areas to create nature-rich habitats

England’s non-woodland trees have been mapped for the first time, using cutting-edge methods of laser detection and satellite imagery.

Tree scientists at the UK’s Forest Research agency have built a comprehensive picture of trees in urban and rural areas in a “groundbreaking” map that goes live on Saturday.