Thousands go to hospital with respiratory problems after massive dust cloud blows in from Saudi Arabia
Iraq was hit by its most severe sandstorm of 2025 this week, turning skies from blue to an orange haze. Visibility dropped to less than half a mile, causing travel disruptions, with two major airports halting flights, and streets in Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq, deserted. Respiratory problems sent thousands to hospital. The storm also affected Kuwait, where wind gusts exceeded 50mph, and visibility in some areas was diminished to zero.
This massive dust cloud originated in Saudi Arabia before being blown into Iraq. While dust storms are common in Iraq, the climate crisis is expected to intensify them across the region in the future, fuelled by desertification in Saudi Arabia and Syria.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/18/2025 - 03:57
04/18/2025 - 00:00
Online exhibition collects soundscapes from nature reserves and sites such as Machu Picchu and Taj Mahal
The sounds of wind turbines, rare whales and the Amazonian dawn chorus are among the noises being preserved as part of an exhibition of soundscapes found in world heritage sites.
The Sonic Heritage project is a collection of 270 sounds from 68 countries, including from famous Unesco-designated sites such as Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal, as well as natural landscapes such as the monarch butterfly sanctuary in El Rosario, Mexico and the Colombian Amazon.
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04/17/2025 - 15:56
Environmentalists warn new proposal from US wildlife agencies could lead to habitat destruction and extinction
The Trump administration is planning to narrow protections for endangered species, in a move that environmentalists say would accelerate extinction by opening up critical habitats for development, logging, mining and other uses.
The proposal is the latest deregulatory effort by Donald Trump, who has made it a priority to dismantle endangered species protections as part of a broader quest to boost energy extraction and industrial access, even in the US’s most sensitive and vulnerable natural areas.
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04/17/2025 - 13:53
Lake ecosystems can receive high inputs of terrestrial organic matter (t-OM) that microbes make available to higher trophic level consumers. A research group examined terrestrial reliance of 19 consumer groups from 35 boreal lakes using stable isotopes of hydrogen. According to the study, benthic macroinvertebrates and the benthivorous fish reliance to terrestrial energy (allochthony) was higher compared to pelagic plankton and planktivorous fish. Consumer allochthony decreased along the environmental gradient from forested to agricultural catchments, likely due to alteration in the origin of lake organic matter.
04/17/2025 - 13:51
A new butterfly species, Satyrium curiosolus, was discovered in a recent study at Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. It has unique evolutionary history, having likely remained in isolation for up to 40,000 years, leading to flatlined genetic diversity and exceptionally high levels of inbreeding. Due to its specific ecological associations and low genetic diversity, this butterfly may soon face challenges with climate change adaptation and will require special conservation strategies.
04/17/2025 - 13:48
A new study has investigated how the relationship between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grassland biomass changes when one or more nutrients are added. The authors show that precipitation and nutrient availability are the key drivers of plant biomass, while the effects of plant diversity are minimal.
04/17/2025 - 13:00
Scientists sound the alarm over substances such as arsenic and lead contaminating soils and entering food systems
About one sixth of global cropland is contaminated by toxic heavy metals, researchers have estimated, with as many as 1.4 billion people living in high-risk areas worldwide.
Approximately 14 to 17% of cropland globally – roughly 242m hectares – is contaminated by at least one toxic metal such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel or lead, at levels that exceed agricultural and human health safety thresholds.
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04/17/2025 - 12:46
Toby Carvery owner apologises over tree’s felling as football club faces questions about whether it knew of decision
An ancient London oak controversially felled earlier this month was assessed to be a “fine specimen” last year by tree experts working for Tottenham Hotspur as part of the football club’s plans to redevelop parkland next to the site.
Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), which owns the Toby Carvery in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, apologised on Thursday for the “upset” caused by the felling of the tree.
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04/17/2025 - 12:38
Exclusive: Henry Dimbleby joins farmers in voicing fears of lower standards and a poor deal for British food producers
Britain’s rural communities could be “destroyed”, the former government food tsar has said, if ministers sign a US trade deal that undercuts British farming standards.
Ministers are working on a new trade deal with the US, after previous post-Brexit attempts stalled. Unpopular agreements signed at the time with Australia and New Zealand featured tariff-free access to beef and lamb and were accused of undercutting UK farmers, who are governed by higher welfare standards than their counterparts. Australia, in a trade deal signed by Liz Truss in late 2021 that came into effect in 2023, was given bespoke sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards aimed to not be more “trade-restrictive than necessary to protect human life and health”.
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04/17/2025 - 11:28
The pivotal ‘barbarian conspiracy’ of AD367 saw Picts, Scotti and Saxons inflicting crushing blows on Roman defences
A series of exceptionally dry summers that caused famine and social breakdown were behind one of the most severe threats to Roman rule of Britain, according to new academic research.
The rebellion, known as the “barbarian conspiracy”, was a pivotal moment in Roman Britain. Picts, Scotti and Saxons took advantage of Britain’s descent into anarchy to inflict crushing blows on weakened Roman defences in the spring and summer of AD367.
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