Environment

Environment

Guyermer, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

These caves are some of the oldest on Earth – and were home to the earliest human ancestor 

The Sudwala Caves, in South Africa, are some of the oldest known caves on the planet.
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Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite

The 40,000 seedlings bringing life back to Yosemite’s meadows

In 2016, conservationists started planted thousands of native seedlings in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Ten years later, many of them are still alive and they're improving the health of the soil – slowly.
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"A catastrophic torrent of immensely powerful water raced at 30-40 miles an hour, carrying basalt boulders and sediment"

Utah’s extraordinary landscape bears the scars of a catastrophic prehistoric flood that reshaped the region in just a matter of weeks.
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Gruinard Island

"It's home to more than 2000 extremely venomous vipers." Snake Island, Anthrax Island and beyond: 9 deadly Islands you'd be a fool to visit…

When an island gets a dangerous-sounding nickname, such as Snake Island, Anthrax Island or Shark Island, you know it’s probably one to strike off the holiday list, says Helen Pilcher.
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Current tide at Saltstraumen maelstrom in Norway

"It grunts and gulps like a hungry pig and has claimed a dozen lives"

Despite their risks, these natural marvels can be a boon for marine life as they stir up the nutrients so there is lots of food for animals
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Beneath the ocean, a giant conveyor belt is slowing down. If it stops, the deadly consequences could be global

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may be weakening, which could cause huge problems for the planet
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Alaska's rivers are turning bright orange - and we know why

Acid rock drainage might have implications for wildlife and people, scientists say.
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Open Top Chambers in Antarctica

Scientists put tiny greenhouses over Antarctica’s only two flowering plants and left them there for 7 years. Here's why 

A warming climate is forcing Antarctica’s native plants to adapt. Not only have they risen to the challenge, they’ve adapted in two different ways, according to a new study.
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Iceberg

Manhattan-sized iceberg breaks free in Greenland. What caused the event has never been seen before

The Petermann Ice Shelf in northern Greenland just experienced its largest calving event since 2020 – here's what caused it.
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Aletsch, Switzerland

More than 5% of Switzerland’s glacial ice vanished in 2026, say scientists

A winter with little snow followed by an exceptionally warm summer has led to a year of rapid melting in the European country.
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Iceberg A23a drifting in the southern ocean having broken free from the Larsen Ice Shelf.

It was twice the size of Greater London and weighed nearly 1 trillion tonnes – but it wasn’t the largest of its kind

What’s the world’s largest iceberg? As it turns out, there are several contenders
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Frying Pan Lake New Zealand

It may look like a giant natural spa, but its water is hot, acidic and can cause serious burns

The world’s largest hot spring has a milky-green surface and bubbles with geothermal activity
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Sycamore tree

It can grow as tall as a 10-storey building and live for 400 years – and it's filled with tiny 'helicopters'

Meet the sycamore tree – a true giant of the forest.
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Comb Jellyfish

“The animals found deep down could easily star in a science fiction movie – including ones that float through the darkness like disembodied buttocks.”

The mesopelagic zone stretches from 200 metres to 1,000 metres deep and is full of bizarre, baffling and even bioluminescent creatures
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Siyam World Maldives' 499-tonne freighter on the seafloor

It's longer than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, weighs 499 tonnes and sits 24 metres below the surface, where sharks patrol Noonu Atoll’s tropical waters

The retired tuna freighter has been sunk in an attempt to create a new marine habitat in the Maldives
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Astalor/ Getty Images

"A lion began calling – a sawing, rasping sound that echoed off the rocks." I camped alone in Namibia's brutal desert and I'll never forget what happened to me

Anton Crone shares his experience traversing the dangerous Hoanib Valley and close encounters with the local wildlife
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Artist impression of the new wetlands at Sandilands

This golf course in England was intentionally flooded. Now something amazing is happening 

The new reserve is an addition to the Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park and will provide important refuge for wildlife.
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Danum Valley, Borneo

Scientists just climbed 38 of the tallest trees in Borneo. What they found was staggering

Researchers have discovered that Borneo's enormous tropical trees have evolved remarkable ‘workarounds’ to protect themselves from drought.
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Credit: Zoonar RF/Getty Images

East Antarctica recently gained almost 700 billion tonnes of ice – and scientists know why

What happens in Antarctica can influence the whole planet, so scientists keep a close eye on environmental changes.
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Crescent Island, Kenya

Wild animals stranded on island in Kenya. Scientists visited 5 years later – and found something worrying

In 2020, zebras, giraffes, impalas and waterbucks were all marooned on Crescent Island in Lake Naivasha – and they've remained there ever since.
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Aerial view of a jungle river flowing out of a Bai (saline, mineral lick) in the rainforest of the Congo Basin. This rich mineral clearing is located in the middle of the rainforest where forest elephants, buffalos and gorillas gather in large numbers to reap the benefits of the mineral salts. Odzala National Park, Republic of Congo.

It’s larger than New York State and contains more than 30 billion tonnes of carbon – equivalent to 3 years of global fossil fuel emissions

The Cuvette Centrale, in the centre of the Congo Basin, is the largest tropical peatland in the world
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Wide view of the entrance to Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia.

It’s so vast you could plonk London’s St Paul’s Cathedral in the middle, it contains a 100-metre tower of poop and it's home to 3 million mammals

Would you venture into Deer Cave?
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Boiling lake

This strange, steamy lake bubbles with boiling volcanic water – but sometimes almost vanishes

Steam rises from a vast, grey-blue lake deep in the mountains of Dominica, known as 'Boiling Lake'
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Sunset behind the hoodoos at Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness, New Mexico

It's over 75 million years old and like something out of a fantasy video game with outlandish giant mushrooms, fairy chimneys and an alien throne.

Here's why the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness has bizarre sandstone formations
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