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Health survey of remote parts of reef by the Australian Institute of Marine Science the first venture

The not-for-profit foundation that was awarded a controversial $443.3m grant for the Great Barrier Reef has funded its first project – a research survey that will be carried out by a government agency.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation will announce on Monday that a 25-day health survey of remote parts of the reef by the Australian Institute of Marine Science is the first venture awarded money through the Reef Trust partnership set up by the government last year.

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Thirty years ago, all 197 countries got together to ban the gases damaging the Earth’s ozone layer. Now we need to unite to combat an even greater threat. What can we learn from 1989?

Amid the anti-globalist chest-thumping of Brexit, Donald Trump, and the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, it may sound like the stuff of folklore. But there was a time in the recent past when all the countries of the world moved quickly to discuss a common threat, agreed an ambitious plan of action and made it work.

The Montreal protocol, which came into effect 30 years ago, was drawn up to address the alarming thinning of the ozone layer in the Earth’s stratosphere. It was the first agreement in the history of the United Nations to be ratified by all 197 countries. Since it came into effect on 1 January 1989, more than 99% of the gases responsible for the problem have been eradicated and the “ozone hole” – which, in the late 80s, vied for headline space with the cold war, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Madonna – is receding in the sky and the memory.

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A tech revolution – and an abundance of wind and waves – mean that the people of Orkney now produce more electricity than they can use

It seems the stuff of fantasy. Giant ships sail the seas burning fuel that has been extracted from water using energy provided by the winds, waves and tides. A dramatic but implausible notion, surely. Yet this grand green vision could soon be realised thanks to a remarkable technological transformation that is now under way in Orkney.

Perched 10 miles beyond the northern edge of the British mainland, this archipelago of around 20 populated islands – as well as a smattering of uninhabited reefs and islets – has become the centre of a revolution in the way electricity is generated. Orkney was once utterly dependent on power that was produced by burning coal and gas on the Scottish mainland and then transmitted through an undersea cable. Today the islands are so festooned with wind turbines, they cannot find enough uses for the emission-free power they create on their own.

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You won't believe your ears. A hidden herstory in the history of science.

Elizabeth Rizzini explains the 'super blood wolf moon' - and forecasts the weather for UK skywatchers on Monday.

During the spectacular event, the Earth's natural satellite turns a striking shade of red.

Follow Najuma the black rhino as she is transported from Germany to a new home in Yorkshire.

In the country’s two main breeding regions, 98% of farmers rely on the banned, traumatic practice of routinely cutting pigs’ tails

On a farm deep in Italy’s Lombardy region, scores of contented-looking pigs gambol, play and root about in spacious pens deep in straw. It looks more rural idyll than 1,000-strong breeding farm, but the pigs at this Fumagalli farm are in a lucky minority.

Unlike many of the pigs destined for the country’s prestigious prosciutto market – worth 7.98bn euros (£7bn) last year – they have not been subjected to the painful practice of tail-docking. A recent EU audit found that across farms in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, the country’s two main pig breeding regions, 98% of farmers remove their animals’ tails, a rate that stands among the highest in Europe.

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Scientists say a drastic cut in meat consumption is needed, but this requires political will

It has been known for a while that the amount of animal products being eaten is bad for both the welfare of animals and the environment. People cannot consume 12.9bn eggs in the UK each year without breaking a few.

But the extent of the damage, and the amount by which people need to cut back, is now becoming clearer. On Wednesday, the Lancet medical journal published a study that calls for dramatic changes to food production and the human diet, in order to avoid “catastrophic damage to the planet”.

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Satellite images show glaciers in US and Canada, excluding Alaska, are shrinking four times faster then in previous decade

Glaciers in western North America, excluding Alaska, are melting four times faster than in the previous decade, with changes in the jet stream exacerbating the longer-term effects of climate change, according to a new study.

The retreat hasn’t been equal in the US and Canada. The famous alpine ice masses in the Cascade Mountains in the north-west US have largely been spared from the trend.

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Next to nothing was known about sperm whales in the Southern Ocean. That is, until the Australian Antarctic Division started listening to their clicks.[Repeat]

Senior school student Zofia Witkowski-Blake speaks to her peers and politicians about science, its importance, how it is taught, and views and fears for the future on this week’s Science Show.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher, came face-to-face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded

Two shark researchers who came face to face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded are using their encounter as an opportunity to push for legislation that would protect sharks in Hawaii.

Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher and conservationist, told the Associated Press that she encountered the 20ft (6m) shark Tuesday near a dead sperm whale off Oahu. The event was documented and shared on social media by her fiance and business partner, Juan Oliphant.

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Footage emerges of divers getting up close and personal with a massive great white shark.

Norway’s new government has set itself a more ambitious 2030 emission reduction goal for non-ETS sectors than any other EU member state, but the country is fighting criticism for failing to rein in its big-emitting oil and gas sector.

A New Hampshire state representative released a bill Friday that would eliminate language to selectively withdraw the state from the RGGI market, while also proposing to funnel auction revenues from the programme back to energy efficiency projects.

Mexico intends to open public consultation on its pilot cap-and-trade programme in the coming months as it works towards a 2020 start date, an environment ministry official told Carbon Pulse.

An egg farmer, his farm hand and some dogs: how this mismatched trio saved an island of penguins and possibly more species from danger

European carbon prices extended this week’s gains on Friday, nearing €25 on lingering bullish sentiment from Brexit developments and the cold snap that has started to chill much of Western Europe.