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Nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson are the names proposed for the four new chemical elements added to the periodic table in January.

Using DNA from three people to create a baby is safe, according to a major research study, by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre at Newcastle University.

Coal powered the machinery and lit what English poet William Blake described as 'dark satanic mills'. Sam Leighton/Flickr, CC BY-NC

As the world moves to combat climate change, it’s increasingly doubtful that coal will continue to be a viable energy source, because of its high greenhouse gas emissions. But coal played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution and continues to fuel some of the world’s largest economies. This series looks at coal’s past, present and uncertain future, starting today with how it’s formed.

Coal was king of the British Industrial Revolution. As coke, it provided an efficient fuel for reliably turning iron ore into iron.

Cheap iron built the famous bridge across the River Severn at Ironbridge Gorge in 1781. And the machinery that filled the new factories of the industrial age was built from it.

Coal then powered the machinery and lit what English poet William Blake (1757-1827) described as the “dark satanic mills” that revolutionised cotton manufacture. It powered James Watt’s double-acting piston engine, whose reciprocating motion was converted into rotary motion by means of a crankshaft.

The resulting steamships and railway locomotives reduced the time and cost of bringing coal into factories and taking their products to British export markets across the globe.

Somewhat unexpectedly, the new forms of transport also generated exciting adventures for the British population – the mass seaside resort and the day return. Thus were Thomas Cook and the British tourism industry born.

Spoils of coal

Coal literally powered its way through the British economy of the 19th century – the so-called first industrial nation and workshop of the world.

Coal powered James Watt’s piston engine, whose reciprocating motion was converted into rotary motion by means of a crankshaft. Herman Pijpers/Flickr, CC BY

It even fuelled engines that drained water from deeper, less accessible coal mines to keep the supply coming. When steel superseded iron later in the century, coal remained a critical raw material.

Subsequent generations of locomotives and steamships improved transport productivity enormously, and gradually forced owners of stagecoaches, canal boats and sailing ships out of business. Then locomotives, rails, steamships and coal themselves joined the growing range of British exports as other countries sought to mimic the nation’s success.

Ironically, many ageing sailing ships were deployed to carry coal to refuel the growing network of coal bunkering stations around the oceans of the world, a trade that required low cost but no particular urgency.

Fast, reliable ocean liner services contributed to the first era of globalisation in the late 19th century, led by British steamship companies such as Cunard and P&O. They connected Britain across the Atlantic and eastwards, respectively.

Other countries followed suit, especially France, Belgium and Germany, which also had ample supplies of coal. While no one would deny the connection between coal and 19th-century industrialisation, why Britain was the first nation to modernise its economy by exploiting reserves remains highly contested.

Why Britain?

A long-held view is that the antecedents of British success can be traced back centuries during which the nation gradually built the preconditions for modern development. Growth-inducing institutions can take many forms, and include a stable political system and the development of commercial law.

The emphasis in Britain was on rising literacy levels and logical reasoning derived from movements that encouraged analytical thinking about the problems of the real world – the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment.

These “gifts of Athena” (in the words of economic historian Joel Mokyr) facilitated critical and creative thinking about “useful knowledge” necessary to solve growth constraints. In modern parlance, here was the knowledge economy.

This “Eurocentric” view – so-called because it assumes that development in Britain (and Europe) was ahead of the rest of the world – has now been challenged.

In his epochal study, The Great Divergence, US historian Kenneth Pomeranz used China as a point of comparison to reject the long-term antecedents of the “great divergence” between the economic development of Europe and the rest of the world.

Pomeranz argues that Britain and China had arrived at similar stages of development by the 18th century (“a world of surprising resemblances”, as he calls it) and that they reflected different, but equivalent, measures of progress.

Railway locomotives, along with steamships, reduced the time and cost of bringing coal into factories and taking their products to British export markets across the globe. Colleen Galvin/Flickr, CC BY

The divergence was then born of differing abilities to confront an impending global ecological crisis: growing populations faced food and raw material shortages in a low-technology era.

Fortuitously, Britain had coal, conveniently located, and an empire in the New World with the space to produce primary commodities – timber, sugar, cotton and wheat – which, alongside coal, facilitated industrialisation.

Pomeranz concludes that Britain was a “fortunate freak” because its development was due to a short-term windfall from “coal and empire”, rather than to deeper determinants of long-term change.

Paths to growth

The publication of The Great Divergence led to a broad and thought-provoking debate in economic history for a decade and a half.

What we learnt from it – above all else – was that there have been different forms of economic development across the world. And some of these have been pathways less recognisable to Europeanists accustomed to coal and heavy industry as staples, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the measure, of development.

Other historians have drawn attention to forms of industrialisation, especially in Asia, that have needed more human – and less non-renewable natural – resources.

Now that we are living in an era when coal’s environmental problems have come to the fore, it’s heartening to be reminded that there are other growth paths.

The other relevant insight from the Great Divergence debate is that human agency is vital; there are no immutable lessons of geography or ecology, and no development path is unchanging.

Coal and other resources have always been abundant in many parts of the world. It’s the human ingenuity found in particular societies – however derived – that has created high levels of wellbeing from these natural resources.

Let’s hope we will find a way of maintaining living standards into the future while mitigating the impact of our growth on the environment.

This is the second article in our series on the past, present and future of coal. Look out for other pieces over the coming days.

Simon Ville does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Six months after Tim Peake blasted off to the International Space Station, he is preparing for his return to Earth.

Residents of Makoko, a vast slum of houses on stilts in a Lagos lagoon, say they will rebuild their pyramid-shaped floating school, after it collapsed in a storm on Tuesday. The school, which became a beacon of hope for the nearly 100,000 Nigerians who live in Makoko, was damaged by heavy downpour, despite being built to specifically withstand the storms and floods that are common in the four-month-long rainy season

• Nigerian floating school collapses due to heavy rains seven months after opening
  

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In attributing the rise in air pollutants in London to the EU, Nigel Pollitt is being disingenuous (Letters, 6 June). As chairman of the UK Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards for a decade to 2002, I was regularly asked by journalists as to whether diesel or petrol vehicles were better, and always gave the same answer: it depends whether you wish to increase air pollution or to accelerate global climate change, since diesel was more efficient but also more polluting. Thus it would have been Hobson’s choice, were it not for the unasked alternative, which was to get out of the car or, if that was not always possible, to drive the car with the smallest possible engine and to do so with minimal use of accelerator and brake.

Mr Pollitt should also know that all the evidence-based air quality standards that our panel proposed to the UK government were passed into law and then used by the EU for setting pan-European standards, resulting in a general reduction of pollution across Europe and in the UK. The recent rise in pollution in London is related to the selfish behaviour of those who purchase large diesel vehicles and use them for short journeys when efficient electric and hybrid vehicles are now available.
Anthony Seaton
Emeritus professor of environmental medicine, Aberdeen University

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British astronaut Tim Peake has been on the International Space Station for nearly six months, where the climate is unsurprisingly constant.

Researchers discover fossils that suggest the famous Hobbit species shrank on the Indonesian island of Flores within the space of 300,000 years.

Environment committee criticises voluntary action to end the tiny plastic particles that pollute seas, and slam the lack of labelling on microbead products

Voluntary action by the cosmetics industry to phase out the use of microbeads in Europe came under strong attack from MPs on Wednesday, who criticised loopholes in the pledges and slammed the lack of labelling on products containing the plastic particles.

Tiny plastic beads are widely used in toiletries and cosmetics but thousands of tonnes of them wash into the sea every year, where they harm wildlife and can ultimately be eaten by people. The US has banned microbeads and a petition signed by over 300,000 people asking for a ban in the UK was delivered to David Cameron on Wednesday.

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A kayaker has filmed a close encounter with a 23ft (7m) basking shark off the south coast of the Isle of Man.

This year could be worst ever for melt as data shows average sea ice extent for last month was more than half a million square kilometres smaller than the previous record of May 2012

Arctic sea ice fell to its lowest ever May extent, prompting fears that this year could beat 2012 for the record of worst ever summer sea ice melt.

Data published by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) this week showed average sea ice extent for last month was more than 500,000 sq km (193,000 sq miles) smaller than May 2012.

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He may have lost his campaign, but Sanders achieved major wins, making his rival promise more on green policies and climate change, reports Grist

Hillary Clinton is her party’s presumptive nominee. Whether Sanders drops out tomorrow or the day he loses the roll-call vote at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, his campaign is over.

But if ever there were a losing campaign that achieved some major wins, it’s Sanders’. Not only did he force Clinton to talk more about economic inequality, he pushed her to promise stronger action to fight climate change and rein in fossil fuel companies. If Hillary Clinton becomes president and keeps some of her more recent promises to restrict oil drilling and fracking, Sanders will deserve a share of the credit.

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Move towards renewable energy and away from coal power helped stall emissions growth last year but slowdown may be temporary, says oil giant

Carbon emissions stopped growing in 2015 for the first time in 10 years as the world turned its back on coal and embraced energy efficiency and renewable power with increased vigour, according to a new set of statistics.

China led the way in driving down emissions but the latest figures from oil company BP come with a warning that the progress may not last.

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The Atlas of Ocean Wealth, published ahead of World Oceans Day, brings together data from thousands of sources – from governments to Flickr photos – to provide insight into the economic and social value of our marine life. It is being used to pinpoint areas where even small-scale interventions can make a big difference to benefit local people and improve sustainability

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Companies should come clean on the harm plastic microbeads in their products is causing to marine life, says environment committee chair

The UK’s biggest beauty brands have been accused by an influential MP of showing contempt for their customers by refusing to appear in parliament to answer questions on the impact that their products are having on the oceans.

MPs on the environmental audit committee will hear on Wednesday from the UK and European cosmetics trade bodies on the harm caused by plastic ‘microbeads’ in cosmetics, which are mistaken for food by marine life.

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Environmentalists are sceptical that plans to quadruple maximum jail terms from five to 20 years will be effective.

Indonesia plans to quadruple maximum jail terms for animal poachers and traffickers in a major overhaul of wildlife crime laws, but environmentalists expressed scepticism on Wednesday that the changes would be effective.

Maximum sentences for poaching and trading protected animals will be increased from five years to 20 under the new legislation proposed by the environment and forestry ministry.

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The microbead pollution contaminating our marine life does not respect borders. As UK ministers meet on World Oceans Day they must look to find solutions by working with our neighbours and partners in Europe

From the shallowest coastal waters to the depths of the oceanic trenches some 10,000 meters beneath the sea, our oceans are home to a vast amount of life on earth. Covering over two-thirds of the world’s surface, they provide food and support tourism and leisure in every part of the world.

Our oceans are under pressure from warming and acidification, and on World Oceans Day, the environmental audit committee, which I chair, will be hearing about microplastic pollution.

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40% of Americans don’t understand the risks posed by climate change or a President Donald Trump

Currently, about 40% of Americans support Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, and about 40% of Americans are not worried about global warming. While short of a majority, this is a substantial fraction of the American public failing to grasp the risks associated with a Donald Trump presidency and potentially catastrophic climate change impacts.

In Business Insider, Josh Barro recently wrote about the former:

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Mammals began to flourish well before the end of the dinosaur age, a new study finds.

As the vaquita – the world’s smallest porpoise – plunges toward extinction, scientists have a tough decision ahead of them: to attempt a super risky captive breeding programme or not?

Today, there are approximately 7.3 billion people on the planet – and only 60 vaquitas. The vaquita has seen its population drop by 92 percent in less than 20 years in Mexico’s Gulf of California as the tiny porpoises suffocate to death one-by-one in gillnets. Now, scientists with the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA) are cautiously moving forward on a once unthinkable option: captive breeding.

“We have no idea whether it is feasible to find, capture and maintain vaquitas in captivity much less whether they will reproduce,” said Barbara Taylor, one of the world’s foremost experts on the vaquita with NOAA. “The uncertainties are large.”

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