Environment

There has been concern over a number of years over the amount of pesticides and other toxins used in our fruit and veg production. Now an official investigation has found that 84 per cent of fruit and veg given out to school kids have tested positive for toxic chemicals. The tests found traces of pesticide in apples, bananas, carrots, pears, satsumas, tomatoes and raisins destined for four to six-year-olds. Two million kids get free fruit every year as part of...

It doesn’t seem five minutes since the weather reporters were getting almost excited at the prospect of warmer weather arriving to the UK for the summer; the smell of freshly cut grass, along with the busy humming of many a pollinating insect filling the air. Now, as we enter the ninth month of the calendar year, the temperature will soon plummet and the nights will begin to draw in. This is not a time to be down, quite the opposite....

Women were the key to spreading culture and knowledge around Europe 4,000 years ago, according to new research. The study revealed European women traveled far and wide from their home villages to start families - bringing with them new cultural objects and ideas, while men tended to stay near where they were born. Researchers found that at the end of the Stone Age and in the early Bronze Age, families were established in a surprising manner in the Lechtal area,...

Four out of five marine species living in the oceans around Antarctica are expected to decline in number as the seafloor warms over the next century. A British Antarctic Survey (BAS) team examined the potential distribution of more than 900 species of Southern Ocean shelf-dwelling marine invertebrates under a warming scenario produced by computer models. The researchers concluded that, while some species in some areas will benefit, four out of five of the species native to the region (79 per...

The picturesque seaside resorts many of us visit are not what they seem to be. Behind the sunshine (and showers) is a worrying level of deprivation. The Social Market Foundation has found that the coastal communities of the UK are among the worst off for employment, health, education and earnings. Behind the sandcastles and picture postcard vistas average wages are £3,600 a year behind the national average. The Think Tank found that five of the 10 local authorities in the...

Grazing reindeer help increase plant diversity in Arctic regions despite climate change, according to new research. Swedish scientists have found global warming actually reduces the number of plant species in the tundra. But plant-eating animals, such as reindeer and voles, can help plant diversity in the long run. The researchers believe animals could help protect diversity by preventing losses of small and slowly-growing species. Doctor Elina Kaarlejärvi, of Umeå University in Sweden, said: “By eating tall and wide-leaved plants, reindeer...

A petition to ban 'cruel' donkey rides from a traditional English seaside resort has gained more than 110,000 signatures in just six days. Supporters say the animals endure unnecessary suffering as they are forced to walk up and down seafronts carrying children in hot weather with no rest. The petition was set up by a woman known on as 'Kirsty D' who visited Clevedon, Somerset, on a hot day. It calls on the local council to ban the rides on...

Warming global temperatures could see an explosion of life in the Antarctic Ocean. Increases of just 1°C or 2°C, which are predicted over the next century, could lead to rapid increases in the populations of some species at the expense of others. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the US's Smithsonian Environmental Centre made the discovery after warming an area of the seabed around their research facility. The findings reported in the Current Biology journal showed the effects of...

This week media across the world has focused its cameras on devastating floods in Texas while natural disasters in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have gone unreported. At least 1,200 people have been killed and millions have been left homeless following devastating floods that have hit South Asia in one of the worst flooding disasters to have affected the region in years. International aid agencies said thousands of villages have been cut off by flooding with people being deprived of food and...