In the first project of its kind, scientists are trying to answer if the future of Alaska’s streams and tundra may depend not on survival of the fittest but on how species adapt together
On Alaska’s North Slope, scientists tread carefully across clumps of tussock grasses toward a fast-flowing stream draining the imposing Brooks Range of ice and snow. Near Galbraith Creek, they string out a mist net for white-crowned sparrows. The birds have recently arrived from southerly latitudes, intent on feasting on the insects that will soon descend on the tundra like storm clouds.
The Arctic summer is short-lived, and sparrows have only a few weeks to establish territories, find mates, lay eggs and raise their chicks on a steady diet of bugs. From every ensnared bird, the scientists collect blood, feather and faecal samples to see what they are eating and how that changes over the summer.
Galbraith Creek on Alaska’s North Slope
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/09/2026 - 06:00
09/09/2026 - 01:00
Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisis
Zack Polanski has challenged Andy Burnham’s government to publish an unredacted version of an explosive report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of overseas ecosystems would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national security.
The Green party leader in England said the prime minister should come clean about the scale and impact of the climate and nature crisis and called on the government to publish in full the report that warns the UK faces devastating security consequences.
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09/09/2026 - 01:00
Facilities likely to employ 10,400 workers, compared with 40,000 in industry estimates, thinktank says
Datacentres in the UK will create just a quarter of the jobs predicted by the tech sector, while consuming vast amounts of energy, according to new research.
Environmental thinktank Verdant predicts that all the datacentres currently planned are likely to directly employ 10,400 workers – compared with the more than 40,000 cited in projections by the industry lobby group TechUK.
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09/08/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 09 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00243-9
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is the first global treaty to restrict the use of harmful fishing subsidies. The agreement is a critical step towards reigning in the destructive subsidies that have fueled the rapid depletion of global fish stocks. However, these important new rules are being undermined by the significant number of countries—including some of the world’s biggest fishing nations—that have refused to ratify the treaty.
09/08/2026 - 17:09
Officials say sighting a sign species – driven to extinction in state before reintroduction in 2011 – expanding its range
A gray wolf has recently been seen in California’s Mendocino national forest for the first time since the species returned to the state 15 years ago, state wildlife officials confirmed.
Officials in Lake county, which is about two hours north of San Francisco, said last week the California department of fish and wildlife (CDFW) had received reports of sightings in the forest in late August. The agency verified the presence of a wolf in the far north end of the county, county supervisor Brad Rasmussen said in a statement on social media.
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09/08/2026 - 16:54
A total of six people apprehended as clean-up of rubbish stacked 10 metres high cost about £6m
Two men have been arrested after fly-tippers dumped a “mountain of illegal waste”, stacked 10 metres high, in Oxfordshire.
Hundreds of tonnes of rubbish appeared in a field between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington in November last year. The waste tip was so large that removing it could cost more than the local council’s annual budget, the area’s MP said.
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09/08/2026 - 12:37
Appeals court dismisses lawsuit from Jackson residents claiming that tainted drinking water violated their rights
A US appellate court has decided that the federal constitution does not guarantee a right to clean water.
That legal opinion came in the form of a decision on Friday from the fifth circuit court of appeals to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a 2022 lawsuit from several Jackson, Mississippi, residents claiming that tainted drinking water violated their constitutional rights.
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09/08/2026 - 11:18
Center of storm passed west of the islands and was moving away but flooding and mudslides will continue to be a risk
Damaging winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Lowell pelted Hawaii’s western islands on Tuesday, knocking out power to thousands and ripping up stretches of beachside roads.
Fierce winds downed trees and caused widespread power outages on the island of Kauai, home to 73,000 residents. The Kauai island utility cooperative reported that nearly all of its members were without power early on Tuesday.
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09/08/2026 - 07:06
More than 140 clubs breached licences, with a third caught taking water illegally, analysis shows – but no fines issued
More than 140 golf clubs in England have breached their water extraction licences in the past five years, according to data analysis by the Guardian.
More than a third of these clubs were caught taking water illegally from the environment, either by taking more than permitted or by removing it outside the permitted period.
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09/08/2026 - 07:05
Man, who had arrived in Turin from Miami via Istanbul, under investigation for smuggling and faces fine or prison
An Italian man is facing a hefty fine or possible prison term after the dried head of a critically endangered crocodile was found in his luggage at Turin’s Caselle airport.
The man had arrived at the airport in the northern Italian city on a flight from Miami via Istanbul, the Turin unit of Italy’s financial police squad said in a statement.
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