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The first living creature to be sent into orbit around the Earth was a Soviet stray dog called Laika. She was a pioneer of the space race.

University researchers trained sheep to recognise famous people, including Barack Obama and Fiona Bruce.

Consumers paying more on their electric bills is that’s exactly what might happen if the US Department of Energy gets its way with a recent request that bails out uneconomic coal plants.

Coal and Allied Pty Ltd will commit over $2 million as part of an enforceable undertaking entered into following a contravention of Australia’s national environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Building on the strong half-year results, the company confirmed continuing revenue growth at 6.8% compared to 2016Q3 and a 2,5-fold increase in net profit compared to last year’s result.

Australia wins first Fossil of the Day award at Bonn climate talks, as Syria signs up to leave the US isolated as the world's only non-member state.

Warmer and more acid seas cause huge blooms of jellyfish, but scientists are working on ways to convert them into something useful

The combination of climate change and overfishing is causing a population explosion in jellyfish. Since there are fewer fish to eat them, they appear off the British coast in vast swarms. This is a threat to nuclear power stations – because they can block the intake of cooling water – and to fish farms, where thousands get caught in the netting, sometimes killing hundreds of salmon by depriving them of oxygen.

Some species are poisonous, and so caution is required when jellyfish float next to you in the sea or are stranded on beaches. Their sting can be powerful.

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'Fast liquor', aged in months rather than decades, is the holy grail for distillers who are trying techniques ranging from using special barrels to blasting their brew with ultrasound. Chris Thompson, Associate Dean (Education) - Science, Monash University Boon Mian Teo, Lecturer, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Exclusive: Miner separates itself from call for environmental groups to be restricted to using 10% of funding for advocacy

BHP has said it will not support the Minerals Council’s bid to strip environmental groups of their ability to advocate for policy change.

The surprising move comes amid increasing pressure on Australia’s biggest miner to distance itself from the Minerals Council, which has taken a hardline position against any form of credible action on climate change. The government will soon table a bill aimed at limiting the ability of any charity to use donations raised from overseas on advocacy in Australia.

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Overuse of antibiotics in animals is contributing to growing drug resistance in humans with serious health implications, says global health body

Farmers must be prevented from using powerful antibiotics on animals reared for food, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned, because of the serious risks to human health that result.

New guidelines from the global body suggest farmers should stop using any antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in animals that are otherwise healthy, a common practice in some parts of the world, including Asia and the US. Such routine use is banned in Europe, though campaigners fear the rules are sometimes flouted.

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The reported move will leave the US as the only country now outside or opposed to the climate deal.

A public health emergency has been declared in Delhi as a choking blanket of smog descended on one of the world’s most polluted capital cities.

The declaration from the Indian Medical Association came as the US embassy website said levels of the fine pollutants known as PM2.5 that are most harmful to health reached 703 on the air quality index – well over double the threshold of 300 that authorities class as hazardous

• Delhi doctors declare pollution emergency as smog chokes city 

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Syria’s decision means America will be the only country outside the landmark deal if it follows through with Donald Trump’s vow to leave

Syria has decided to sign the Paris agreement on climate change, the world’s final functioning state to do so. The surprise decision, taken amid a brutal civil war in the country, will leave the US as the only country outside the agreement if it follows through on President Donald Trump’s vow to leave.

The landmark 2015 agreement requires global governments to limit temperature rises to no more than 2C, which scientists say is the threshold of safety, beyond which the ravages of global warming are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

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Heavy smog has led doctors to declare a state of emergency in one of India’s largest cities

A public health emergency has been declared in Delhi as a choking blanket of smog descended on the world’s most polluted capital city.

“We have declared a state of public health emergency in Delhi since pollution is at an alarming level,” Krishan Kumar Aggarwal, head of the Indian Medical Association, told AFP.

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Ministers accused of ‘stubborn failure’ to tackle widespread and illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year

The UK government is being sued for a third time over the widespread illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year.

Environmental lawyers ClientEarth have already defeated ministers twice in court, forcing a new pollution plan to be drawn up in July. But ClientEarth believes even the latest strategy does not meet the legal requirement of banishing toxic air in the “shortest possible time”, as EU law requires.

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Plans to pedestrianise one of the capital’s busiest cycling roads send the troubling message that cyclists and pedestrians can’t co-exist in an 80ft-wide street

Sadiq Khan’s proposal to ban cyclists from Oxford Street, published on Monday, is an unqualified disaster for cycling in London, perhaps the single biggest blow it has suffered in years. And he’s sending an even more dangerous signal to the rest of the country.

More than 2,000 cyclists a day, according to Department for Transport figures, use the first section proposed for pedestrianisation next year, between Selfridges and Oxford Circus. More than 5,000 a day use the section between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road, which is proposed to be pedestrianised in 2019.

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Daniel Trim’s airport-roosting pied wagtail has won the 2017 competition, which celebrates the work of amateur and professional photographers and the beauty and diversity of British wildlife. Winning images are chosen from thousands of entries, including film and junior categories.

More than 100 images are on show at the Mall Galleries in London, before touring nationally, and a book of the images is also available

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Anglican clergy, including five bishops, broadcaster Richard Coles and Olivia Graham, call on the church to support the aims of the Paris climate agreement by divesting from fossil fuel companies

As Church of England clergy, we have a strong interest in the ethics of investments made by the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board on our behalf.

This week, governments from around the world will meet in Bonn for the next round of UN climate talks. The Paris climate change agreement, which was signed by 195 countries in December 2015, included a commitment to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2C … and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels”.

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Group says church should show ‘moral leadership’ in light of claims that the oil giant misled the public over the risks of global warming

The Church of England should “show moral leadership” and immediately sell its investments in the oil giant ExxonMobil, according to a group of bishops and other clergy.

ExxonMobil is accused of misleading the public for decades over the dangers of climate change – the oil company denies the allegations – and has funded climate change denial, making its presence in the church’s £7.9bn investment fund of particular concern, the group argues. Investment funds worth more than $5tn have already committed to divest from fossil fuels.

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Governments have been underestimating methane emissions from gas and must phase out the fossil fuel, along with coal and oil, by 2035 to keep within Paris climate targets, a major study shows

Governments have drastically underestimated methane emissions from natural gas and will miss the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 2C unless they urgently scale down its use, a major new study has found.

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