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The 11,500-year-old bones of a child unearthed in Alaska shed light on the peopling of the Americas.

Scientists have unveiled the first bionic hand with a sense of touch that can be worn outside the laboratory.

Sue Roaf writes that evacuation plans for Hinkley Point would have to involve at least a million people; while Diarmuid Foley says that, in the modern world, the route to weapons-grade material is not taken through the civilian nuclear fuel cycle

Justin McCurry (Fukushima looms large as Japan plans to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant, 28 December) quotes critics of the proposed reopening of the 8.2GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Japan, who say chaos would ensue if the plant failed and the 420,000 people who live within 20 miles of it had to be evacuated. But when the three Fukushima reactors failed on 11 March 2011, the radioactive plume spread over 40kms from the plant to the north-west, engulfing a large number of towns and villages. Everyone within 20kms of the plant was immediately evacuated. Iitate village, located 40kms away, and in the path of the toxic plume, was also evacuated. Many in the 20km zone may never return home but in the “return zone” villages they began to trickle back in early 2015. A 20-40km long radioactive plume issuing from the Hinkley nuclear facility could engulf both Cardiff (348,000 population) and Bristol (428,000 population), causing the evacuation of at least a million people from the region. The UK government is the only organisation brave enough to take on that level of catastrophic risk, with our money – happy to do so no doubt because the individuals who make the decisions on our behalf will be long retired when the cesium hits the fan.
Emeritus Professor Sue Roaf
Oxford

• David Lowry’s fact-finding mission to 1958 (Letters, 28 December) is correct – at the dawn of the nuclear age, the UK’s civilian nuclear fuel cycle was seen as a precursor to weapons-grade material. However, for technical and other reasons, it was soon realised that the route to weapons-grade material was not through the civilian nuclear fuel cycle. In the current (and real) world, the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy specifically, clearly and strictly breaks any such linkage. This is enshrined in IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group protocols.

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The natural world does indeed carry on functioning, writes Margaret Porter, but it is struggling. Plus Andrew Dean says robins are as happy in an old paint tin as a nesting box

Your correspondent June Lewis (Letters, 29 December), having referred to Country diary, says that the country – by which I think she means the countryside and nature – is “carrying on happily”. While the natural world does indeed carry on functioning regardless of politics (sometimes almost in spite of it), that world of nature struggles more than ever to maintain diversity of species with loss of habitat, environmental pollution, pesticides, climate change and human thoughtlessness. I mention just a few casualties: hedgehogs, butterflies, meadow flowers and some common birds, the numbers of all of which have declined over the last few generations in particular. Not a cause for rejoicing.
Margaret Porter
Gillingham, Dorset

• John Gilbey may not be right about the new nesting box location being more desirable (Country diary, Comins Coch, Ceredigion 30 December). Robins appear to like dry shelter regardless of nesting boxes. On acquiring an unoccupied house with a detached garage with a broken window, I wondered how many times generations of robins might have been nesting in an old empty paint tin on a shelf. All fledglings got away safely.
Andrew Dean
Exeter, Devon

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Fewer fires globally may help explain the recent change in atmospheric methane, a study says.

Fed up with motorway driving? Now you can switch to virtual reality thanks to a new driverless car from Renault.

If you’re planning to cycle to work as part of a new year’s health kick here’s our tips to make sure you enjoy the ride rather than endure it

Come the new year, it’s traditional for people to promise themselves that the next 12 months will be marked by a health kick, and this sometimes end up as a pledge to cycle to and from work.

In bike-unfriendly Britain, even if your commute is short enough, this can sometimes be a tricky prospect. But if it works out, the benefits – to your health, to your wallet, to your general sense of wellbeing – can be astonishing.

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As we begin 2018 we’d like to see your photos of the wildlife you’ve discovered where you live

What sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps this month? We’d like to see your photos of the January wildlife near you, whether you’re a novice spotter or have been out and about searching for wildlife for years.

Share your photos and videos with us and we’ll feature our favourites on the Guardian site. We also occasionally print readers’ best images in the Guardian newspaper and will let you know if your image should feature.

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Staff at Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland confirm the birth to mother Victoria but say the first three months of life for the new-born cub are perilous

The first polar bear cub to be born in Britain for 25 years is being cared for in a private den by its mother, Victoria, at the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland.

Staff at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) park confirmed the birth after hearing distinct high-pitched sounds from Victoria’s maternity unit, which remains closed to visitors to ensure privacy.

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In Coastal Geometries, architect and photographer Tugo Cheng conjures minimalist compositions from the fishing nets and bamboo poles on the coast of Fujian. It is a world that’s vanishing, since this vital culture is threatened by rapid development

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New research shows wildlife-friendly farming can quickly help bird populations bounce back, but large-scale rollout will be needed to reverse long-term declines

Planting wildflowers and protecting nests on farms enables birds, from skylarks to starlings, to bounce back rapidly from long-term declines, new research shows.

Intensive agriculture has led to overall farmland bird numbers in the UK plunging by more than 50% since 1970 and the fall has not stopped yet, with the latest figures showing a 9% drop from 2010 to 2015.

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The Department of the Environment and Energy is overseeing a review of the operation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act 2012. The consultation period closes at 5pm AEST Friday 16 February 2018.

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire The weathered waymark, like a fragment of a wooden henge, is an archive of local history

At the top of steps into the railway cutting stands a wooden post. It is old and weathered and, when sunlight through trees catches it, a beautiful greenfinch blush of moss and algae.

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More hurricanes? Rising temperatures? BBC meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker looks ahead to the year.

A glimpse into the life the Inupiat, an indigenous community in Alaska.

Migratory animals are often blamed for the global spread of disease. However, recent research indicates they may not be the primary culprit. Alice Risely, PhD candidate in Ecology, Deakin University Bethany J Hoye, Lecturer in Animal Ecology, University of Wollongong Marcel Klaassen, Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Ecology, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

For decades, countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States have relied on China to hoover up their waste and recycle it into new products and packaging. On January 1, the country introduced a new ban on foreign waste imports.

The systems will save billions of pounds by enabling the diseases to be picked up much earlier.

Chain will now knock 50p off prices in bid to help change customers’ habits, with the UK discarding an estimated 2.5bn coffee cups every year

Customers who bring reusable cups to Pret a Manger will be given a 50p discount on hot drinks after the company introduced the measure and said it was hoping to change people’s habits and reduce waste.

The sandwich chain has been offering 25p discounts to customers using reusable cups since 2017, alongside Costa and Starbucks. CEO Clive Schlee said he hoped that doubling the discount would make a difference, following other initiatives to reduce waste such as not using plastic cup stoppers in inner city Pret shops.

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Plastic that would have been imported to China will cause chaos for councils as it mounts up, warn industry experts

A ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government is already causing a build up of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK and will bring chaos for councils in the weeks ahead, according to industry experts.

Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said his members had already seen some lower grade plastics piling up at their yards and warned urgent action was needed.

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