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Crewe Green, Cheshire No wonder the spines of this tiny mammal keep most predators away; it’s like touching surgical needles

Although the air is mild for the time of year, the sky is iron-blue, threatening another downpour. It is wet and muddy under foot, slippery too. Charcoal and murky-brown, dead leaves clot the woodland path. There is the breath of tannin; I can almost taste it. Two grey squirrels chase each other over rotten logs, then dash up a tree strangled by ivy. A blackbird skitters into some bushes. I call my jack russell, Roob, who is loitering behind, sniffing new scents; this isn’t our usual walk. She doesn’t appear.

I retrace my steps, calling again, scanning through perished bracken and withered nettles. I smell ghostly flowers and wizened rosehips. There are tangled brambles, bitter-black berries and bare trees. A gust of wind rattles their branches; they creak and moan in protest. Then I hear her, growling at something near a holly bush.

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Even the cleanest coal plants add millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere each year.

With the right mix, the grid can go fully renewable for the same cost and reliability as fossil fuels.

With Trump at the reins, China is poised to eat America’s lunch in the renewable energy sector.

Boutique retailer Urth Energy becomes latest "solar focused" market newcomer to fail within 12 months after administrators called in.

Minister says he’s not surprised that generators don’t want another big baseload power station to enter the market

Australia’s resources minister, Matt Canavan, has flagged subsidising a “clean” coal baseload power plant from the government’s $5bn northern Australia infrastructure fund, and says the government has already heard from an interested party.

Canavan on Friday suggested a potential investor in a new power station was eyeing off development in the Galilee Basin, the planned site of the Adani coal mine – and he said cheap power had been the key to opening up the Bowen basin in Queensland in the 1960’s.

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Kiruna Stamell, a dwarf, explains her problem with gene editing.

BNEF report latest to debunk Coalition clean coal plans, finding it to be super expensive, and not very clean (unless you add CCS, and then its ultra-super expensive). As for Turnbull's argument that our grid needs more baseload...

Spill comes less than 18 months after a fire on the same oil rig and prompts warning from environmentalists over dangers of offshore drilling

An oil spill at an ExxonMobil platform in the Bass Strait is being investigated by the federal regulator, after the discovery of an oily sheen on waters around the rig.

The spill comes less than 18 months after a fire raged on the same platform for nine hours before it could be controlled. And in 2013, Exxon was responsible for a spill from another rig in the Bass Strait.

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As the ice melts, the race is on to exploit Arctic resources. And that means more claustrophobic submarine operations

Diminishing ice cover has increased political and economic competition for resources inside the Arctic Circle. This means more submarine operations, which are doubly claustrophobia-inducing, as a sub can only surface where the ice is comparatively thin. In an emergency, finding the nearest hole in the ice is essential, and this has spurred the development of a new type of forecast.

There are two types of hole in the ice, known as leads and polynyas. Leads are long fractures, gigantic cracks caused by ice sheets moving apart. Ultimately, they are due to wind or ocean currents pushing areas of ice in different directions. Leads are generally transient, as the seawater freezes over quickly when exposed to the cold air.

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Scientists in India have recorded the events that unfolded after the Earth's magnetic shield was breached.

Climate science denier and veteran lobbyist Fred Palmer is proud of getting Australia to adopt the sector’s arguments on climate and poverty

If you’re a lobbyist or an industry advocate, then you know you’re winning when you hear your own talking points coming back at you through the mouths of ministers.

Better still, if it’s the Australian prime minister.

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Congressman Jason Chaffetz withdraws House bill 621 as conservationists and outdoorsmen vow to continue fight over similar legislation

In the small hours of Thursday morning, US congressman Jason Chaffetz announced that he would withdraw a bill he introduced last week that would have ordered the incoming secretary of the interior to immediately sell off 3.3m acres of national land.

Chaffetz, a representative from Utah, wrote on Instagram that he had a change of heart in the face of strong opposition from “groups I support and care about” who, he said, “fear it sends the wrong message”.

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Citizen scientists are being sought for a project which will see tens of thousands of teabags buried in wetlands to monitor carbon sequestration

Australian scientists have launched a project to bury tens of thousands of teabags in wetlands around the world. They are hoping others will sacrifice a few cups of tea and join in to discover how efficient different wetlands are at capturing and storing carbon dioxide.

Lipton green tea and red tea “rooibos” varieties will be used in the project, which already involves more than 500 scientists in every continent except Antarctica.

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Banning cars on Saturdays in a heavily polluted city hasn't made the air any cleaner according to new research.

The British Antarctic Survey shifts its futuristic Halley base to keep it away from a watery grave.

A small but distinctive signal in X-rays from the Milky Way could be key to proving the existence of dark matter.

The Woodland Trust is calling on tree lovers to vote for their favourite entry in this year’s European contest that includes four British trees. The competition highlights the cultural importance of old trees and the need to protect them

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Transport secretary says airport expansion will bolster post-Brexit economy but critics warn over environmental obligations

Proposals for a third runway at Heathrow have been published for public consultation by the government as it declared that expanding the airport would show the world Britain was open for business after Brexit.

Related: Heathrow third runway plans published for public consultation

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‘Twenty-eight Climate Change Elevator Pitches’ delivers basic, accurate climate information

We know the climate is changing, the Earth is warming, and humans are the cause. As a scientist who studies this daily, I know the evidence is compelling and mutually reinforcing. In fact, the evidence is so compelling that it’s almost impossible to find scientists who disagree.

We also know that it’s possible to solve this problem using today’s technology. We don’t need to wait for fairy dust or cold fusion. Using energy more wisely, increasing renewable energy, modernizing nuclear power, and other actions are all things we can do right now to make the future better.

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