Environment
Urban trees can absorb as much carbon as a rainforest, scientists have discovered
The study on 85,000 trees in north London shows the importance of planting and protecting urban forests to offset fossil fuel emissions.
Mind calls for Government to scrap proposals for disability benefits ‘migration’
The Social Security Advisory Committee – the panel of experts responsible for scrutinising laws which affect the benefits system – have published the Government’s draft proposals for moving more than two million disabled people onto Universal Credit. The Government has said that this will take place between 2019 and 2023. It will affect around one million people with mental health problems who currently receive the disability benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Under these proposals people currently getting ESA will receive a letter informing...
Over half of school staff forced to spend own money on essentials for children,says shock report
Staff fork out on food for hungry kids, tampons, toilet rolls, pens, pencils and books as funding cuts bite More than half of school support staff feel they have to spend their own money on things for children at cash-strapped schools, a new GMB study shows. Teaching assistants and other support staff are forking out on food for hungry kids, tampons, pens, pencils and books. Staff report having to bring balls and even paper aeroplanes for break time because ‘our...
Horses ‘can read human emotions’
They combine facial expressions and voice tones to perceive our emotions, say psychologists
Bin lorry driver caught this dramatic picture of a menacing storm brewing
Rich Renton, from Duns in the Scottish Borders, was driving with two colleagues on his usual collection route when the looming cloud caught his eye.
Adverse effects of indoor air pollution on child health to be investigated in first ever UK review
The potentially harmful impact of indoor air pollution on children is to be the subject of a major study for the first time in the UK, with experts saying it needs to be taken as seriously as outdoor pollutants. A new working group, led by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), has been established to study the effects of indoor air pollution on child health and what can...
Amazing pictures show the moment an angry duck decided to take on an osprey
The female mallard got the better of the bird of prey after jumping on its back mid-air, forcing it to drop its catch
Democracy ‘in decline for third of the world’s population’
The research also found that only 15 per cent of people globally live in places where women and lower income groups have at least somewhat equal access to power
Sparrows ‘have whistled the same songs for more than 1,000 years’
Researchers say American swamp sparrows may have sung the same songs for more than a millennium - and passed them on through generations by learning