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Fewer fires globally may help explain the recent change in atmospheric methane, a study says.

Fed up with motorway driving? Now you can switch to virtual reality thanks to a new driverless car from Renault.

If you’re planning to cycle to work as part of a new year’s health kick here’s our tips to make sure you enjoy the ride rather than endure it

Come the new year, it’s traditional for people to promise themselves that the next 12 months will be marked by a health kick, and this sometimes end up as a pledge to cycle to and from work.

In bike-unfriendly Britain, even if your commute is short enough, this can sometimes be a tricky prospect. But if it works out, the benefits – to your health, to your wallet, to your general sense of wellbeing – can be astonishing.

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As we begin 2018 we’d like to see your photos of the wildlife you’ve discovered where you live

What sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps this month? We’d like to see your photos of the January wildlife near you, whether you’re a novice spotter or have been out and about searching for wildlife for years.

Share your photos and videos with us and we’ll feature our favourites on the Guardian site. We also occasionally print readers’ best images in the Guardian newspaper and will let you know if your image should feature.

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Staff at Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland confirm the birth to mother Victoria but say the first three months of life for the new-born cub are perilous

The first polar bear cub to be born in Britain for 25 years is being cared for in a private den by its mother, Victoria, at the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland.

Staff at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) park confirmed the birth after hearing distinct high-pitched sounds from Victoria’s maternity unit, which remains closed to visitors to ensure privacy.

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In Coastal Geometries, architect and photographer Tugo Cheng conjures minimalist compositions from the fishing nets and bamboo poles on the coast of Fujian. It is a world that’s vanishing, since this vital culture is threatened by rapid development

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New research shows wildlife-friendly farming can quickly help bird populations bounce back, but large-scale rollout will be needed to reverse long-term declines

Planting wildflowers and protecting nests on farms enables birds, from skylarks to starlings, to bounce back rapidly from long-term declines, new research shows.

Intensive agriculture has led to overall farmland bird numbers in the UK plunging by more than 50% since 1970 and the fall has not stopped yet, with the latest figures showing a 9% drop from 2010 to 2015.

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The Department of the Environment and Energy is overseeing a review of the operation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act 2012. The consultation period closes at 5pm AEST Friday 16 February 2018.

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire The weathered waymark, like a fragment of a wooden henge, is an archive of local history

At the top of steps into the railway cutting stands a wooden post. It is old and weathered and, when sunlight through trees catches it, a beautiful greenfinch blush of moss and algae.

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More hurricanes? Rising temperatures? BBC meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker looks ahead to the year.

A glimpse into the life the Inupiat, an indigenous community in Alaska.

Migratory animals are often blamed for the global spread of disease. However, recent research indicates they may not be the primary culprit. Alice Risely, PhD candidate in Ecology, Deakin University Bethany J Hoye, Lecturer in Animal Ecology, University of Wollongong Marcel Klaassen, Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Ecology, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

For decades, countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States have relied on China to hoover up their waste and recycle it into new products and packaging. On January 1, the country introduced a new ban on foreign waste imports.

The systems will save billions of pounds by enabling the diseases to be picked up much earlier.

Chain will now knock 50p off prices in bid to help change customers’ habits, with the UK discarding an estimated 2.5bn coffee cups every year

Customers who bring reusable cups to Pret a Manger will be given a 50p discount on hot drinks after the company introduced the measure and said it was hoping to change people’s habits and reduce waste.

The sandwich chain has been offering 25p discounts to customers using reusable cups since 2017, alongside Costa and Starbucks. CEO Clive Schlee said he hoped that doubling the discount would make a difference, following other initiatives to reduce waste such as not using plastic cup stoppers in inner city Pret shops.

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Plastic that would have been imported to China will cause chaos for councils as it mounts up, warn industry experts

A ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government is already causing a build up of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK and will bring chaos for councils in the weeks ahead, according to industry experts.

Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said his members had already seen some lower grade plastics piling up at their yards and warned urgent action was needed.

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The BBC's Dan Johnson visited a plant in Southwark to see how they're dealing with recycling build-up.

Ryan Zinke has recommended three major marine monuments be reduced to allow greater commercial fishing, prompting anguish from environmental groups

The Trump administration’s plan to shrink four land-based national monuments has provoked howls of anguish from environmental groups, Native American tribes and some businesses, such as the outdoors company Patagonia.

Related: In America and beyond, the spirit behind public lands is at risk | Hansjörg Wyss

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Climate scientists predicted the rapid rise in global surface temperatures that we’re now seeing

2017 was the second-hottest year on record according to Nasa data, and was the hottest year without the short-term warming influence of an El Niño event:

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In 2012 a form of gene editing was discovered, it is called CRISPR Cas9. It uses "molecular scissors" to alter a very specific strand of DNA.