The mega-polis Sao Paulo, Brazil, home to tens of millions of people who live in the city and its sprawling outskirts, has a major scorpion problem that isn’t going away anytime soon.
Scientific review of insect numbers suggests that 40% of species are undergoing dramatic rates of decline around the world. The study says that bees, ants and beetles are disappearing eight times faster than mammals, birds or reptiles. But researchers say that some species, such as houseflies and cockroaches, are likely to boom.
The last four years were the hottest since global temperature records began, the UN confirmed on Wednesday in an analysis that it said was a clear sign of continuing long-term climate change. The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in November that 2018 was set to be the fourth warmest year in recorded history, stressing the urgent need for action to rein in runaway planetary warming.
A keystone prey species in the Southern Ocean is retreating towards the Antarctic because of climate change. Krill are small, shrimp-like creatures that swarm in vast numbers and form a major part of the diets of whales, penguins, seabirds, seals and fish. Scientists say warming conditions in recent decades have led to the krill contracting pole-ward.
Scientific study suggests snoek (Thyrsites atun) can re-colonize the marine area of the Beagle Channel and South-Western Atlantic waters, an area in the southernmost point of the South American continent where this species competed with the hake (Merluccius sp.) to hunt preys in warmer periods.
A UK parliamentary committee has called on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to address concerns about the organization's standard for sustainable fishing in the world's oceans. The House of Commons' Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) issued recommendations following its Sustainable Seas inquiry, whose findings were published last November.
The world's oceans are heating up at an accelerating pace as global warming threatens a diverse range of marine life and a major food supply for the planet, researchers said on Thursday. The findings in the US journal Science, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, debunk previous reports that suggested a so-called pause in global warming in recent years.
World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim has made the surprise announcement that he is stepping down after six years in the post. His resignation will take effect from 1 February. Mr Kim, 59, was not due to leave until 2022, after he was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2017.
Growing numbers of bluefin tuna are being seen in the waters around the UK because of the warming impact of a long-term ocean current say researchers. These large, speedy fish are a globally endangered species and almost disappeared from the UK around 40 years ago.
Sir David Attenborough says he still has “hope” for the future of the planet. But the Blue Planet and Dynasties narrator says that human beings have to turn their gaze away from themselves.