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Urbanisation of marine environment impacts on seal hearing and is comparable to noise pollution of inner cities

Seals are being temporarily deafened by underwater noise in the UK’s busy shipping lanes, a new study suggests. Researchers compared the experience of the seals to that of people living amid the din of inner cities.

Dr Esther Jones, an ecologist from the University of St Andrews, said: “Like humans living in busy, noisy cities, some seals live in areas where there is a lot of shipping traffic and associated noise.

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The fissure that will lead to the breakaway of one of the largest bergs ever seen has a new branch.

May brings the joys of spring for the northern hemisphere while winter is a step closer for the southern hemisphere. We’d like to see your wildlife photos

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Whether you are in the northern hemisphere where creatures are enjoying spring, or you’re in southern climes edging closer to winter, May, which brings change, is a great time for wildlife photography.

Related: Corvids build castles in the sky

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The UK Government has decided not to appeal against the High Court's rejection of a bid to delay publication of its draft plan to tackle illegal levels of air pollution.

The Guardian has expanded its global environment desk with three new appointments

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Last November, the Guardian environment columnist Bill McKibben made the grim prediction that the “damage from the US election would be measured in geologic time”.

One hundred days and counting into Trump’s presidency, there’s little reason for optimism. The former CEO Of ExxonMobil is our secretary of state. The new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency wants to dismantle the agency. The Keystone pipeline has been revived, the clean power plan is in peril, and vast swaths of the Atlantic seaboard may be opened to offshore drilling.

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No 10 will not challenge high court judgment, which rejected ministers’ efforts to keep policy secret until after election

A draft plan to tackle air pollution will finally be published within the next week, after No 10 said it would not challenge a court ruling forcing the government to release information before the election.

Theresa May’s official spokesman said the government would not appeal against the high court judgment, which rejected attempts by ministers to keep the policy under wraps until after the poll.

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Nasa says its Saturn probe encountered very few particles in its dive inside the rings last week.

A fossil kept in storage in a museum for decades turns out to that of a new species, say researchers.

A terrible new white paper tries to make the case that carbon pollution isn’t dangerous

Although Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has been among the biggest proponents of withdrawing America from the Paris climate agreement (using bogus ‘blame China’ arguments to make his case), climate deniers have been unhappy with him. That’s because Pruitt doesn’t want to challenge EPA’s carbon pollution endangerment finding – he thinks it would be a lost cause. A group of contrarian scientists released a white paper trying to pressure him to attack the finding anyway.

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After Trump’s revival of the pipeline project, some communities along its route are preparing to fight back while others see a promise kept by the US president to ‘make America great again’. The Guardian drove along the proposed route of the pipeline through three red states – Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska – to hear what those who will be affected have to say about it

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The Rhône glacier in the Swiss Alps is shrinking due to climate change. Artist Noémie Goudal produced and photographed an installation of the changing landscape for Project Pressure

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A group in Ontario are using animals like capybaras and kinkajous to reduce stress.

India shifts gear on electric vehicle policy, aims for no petrol or diesel cars to be sold on the subcontinent by 2030.

Friends of the Earth say the Andrews government's 2017-18 budget investment in climate change has been modest and that next year’s budget has emerged as a litmus test on the issue.

Claxton, Norfolk Once the nest building instinct has been unleashed it is remarkable how lavish their designs can be

It is wonderful to walk down the lane on to the marsh and see how, despite April’s refrigerated interlude, spring is building still. In some cases, this is literally true, not just the hawthorn hedges, which are fattening up with fresh leaves and blossom, but also the jackdaws, whichjourney back and forth with great gobbets of moss and cattle hair in their beaks. Some are so front-loaded with construction materials that one wonders how they see to navigate.

Corvids are generally great architects, and once the instinct has been unleashed it is remarkable how lavish their designs can be. The standard rook nest is a rough 15cm-deep stick platform, but recently I have come across some where the foundations are in a deeply forked situation. They have gone on until these twisting columns of sticks, which are known as “castles”’, are more than a metre tall.

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Herbert Smith Freehills has advised ANZ, BTMU and Westpac on the project financing for the construction, commissioning and operation of the A$225 million Ross River Solar Farm.

RCR Tomlinson Ltd has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $175 million with APA Group to design and construct one of Australia’s largest utility solar farms.

Company once known as Australia Gas Light says energy transition will skip ‘baseload gas’ and instead be about shift from ‘big coal’ to ‘big renewables’.

Energy Minister Mark Bailey has today announced an extension to an innovative battery storage and solar trial in Townsville.

Victorian government documents detailing state's $25m battery storage tender say renewables + storage have surpassed gas as cheapest source of new peaking power.