The Guardian

Breakthrough the first indication the tumour is survivable and confirms research showing marsupials are rapidly evolving in response to the disease

Tasmanian devils have developed a natural immune response to the deadly facial tumour disease, confirming research that suggested the animals were rapidly evolving in response to the overwhelming threat.

Researchers from the University of Tasmania have identified six disease-resistant devils in the same small population since 2009.

First global assessment finds 301 species are primarily at risk from human hunting for the bushmeat trade

Hundreds of mammal species - from chimpanzees to hippos to bats - are being eaten into extinction by people, according to the first global assessment of the impact of human hunting.

Bushmeat has long been a traditional source of food for many rural people, but as roads have been driven into remote areas, large-scale commercial hunting is leaving forests and other habitats devoid of wildlife.

Some of the world’s biggest shipping groups say ‘ambitious’ action is needed at a key UN meeting to bring the industry in line with Paris climate goals

Many of the world’s biggest shipowners and charterers have called on heads of state to take swift action to force carbon emission cuts on their industry which is the only sector in the world not now bound by climate change targets.

Maersk, Cargill, the Global Shippers’ Forum and 45 other shipping organisations including the Danish Shipowners’ Association said “ambitious” action is needed at a key UN meeting in London next week to bring shipping into line with the world’s 195 countries, all of which have signed up to the Paris climate agreement to curb emissions.

Migingo Island is a tiny island in Lake Victoria, about half the size of a football pitch. It’s also one of the last places where numbers of Nile perch remain high; overfishing and pollution have led to dwindling stocks in the rest of the lake. This is one of the reasons why Uganda and Kenya continue to battle over its ownership. But a growing commercial interest in fish farming around the Lake could help ease tensions.

St Dominic, Tamar Valley Golden light burnishes withered leaves, reflects on the glossy green of ash and enhances the redness of prolific haws

The brilliance of the constellation Orion fades with the onset of dawn. Tawny owl calls echo from the gloom of Radland Valley and the A388 (a mile away) carries the sound of commuting traffic speeding across Viverdon Down.

In the field adjoining home, a rabbit scuttles across dewy grass to the burrowed hedgebank; sheep huddle in a corner, awaiting more light before fanning out to graze the lush aftermath of a hay cut.

Energy market operator says nine of 13 windfarms ‘tripped’ because their settings disconnected them from the grid after transmission lines were blown over

Several windfarm operators in South Australia have already revised their settings to allow them to ride through larger network disruptions, following the storm in September that caused a statewide blackout, according to an update by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).

New information released by Aemo on Wednesday morning reveals nine of 13 windfarms in the state “tripped” after freak winds blew over several major transmission lines in the state.

American photographer Tim Laman was named winner of the prestigious annual competition for his image Entwined Lives, showing a critically endangered Bornean orangutan in the Indonesian rainforest. The award is given for a story told in just six images, which are judged on their story-telling power as a whole as well as their individual quality.

The images will go on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 21 October, before touring internationally

Dozens of people enlisted to remove small ‘patties’ found between Eurong beach and Dilli village

An oil spill clean-up is about to begin on world heritage-listed Fraser Island in Queensland.

On Wednesday dozens of people were to begin removing oil “patties” scattered along a 40km stretch of sand, from Eurong beach to Dilli village.

Howard J Curtis of Liverpool asks why the shale gas and oil under the South Downs national park is not being exploited (Letters, 17 October). He needs to check his facts. Oil is being extracted from under the South Downs (in Lidsey, Markwells Wood, Singleton and Storrington, for example), there are applications for four wells, including horizontal drilling at Markwells Wood, and there is a site at Broadford Bridge that was prepared by one company, and which is now on the action list by another to bring in a drill. The issues haven’t gone away from Balcombe either.

And I do object to such activity taking place, not only here in West Sussex but also elsewhere, including Lancashire and North Yorkshire, when the climate change issues need to be addressed, and quickly.

Pedals the bear, known for walking like a human on his two hind legs, has apparently been been killed by hunters near Rockaway, New Jersey. Pedals was a YouTube sensation, as people shared videos of him walking through their yards. He appears to have been was one of 562 bears shot during a seasonal six-day hunt

• Pedals the bear, known for walking on hind legs, apparently killed by hunters
  

Data shows September was the warmest in modern temperature monitoring following months of record-breaking anomalies this year

Nasa has all but declared this year to be the hottest yet recorded, after September narrowly turned out the warmest in modern temperature monitoring.

Last month was 0.91C above the average temperature for that time of year from 1951 to 1980, the benchmark used for measuring rises.

Sustainable development goal target 12.5 is to reduce waste. But with a planet increasingly dependent on technology, is that even possible? Kai Loeffelbein’s photographs of e-waste recycling in Guiyu, southern China show what happens to discarded computers

High court hears evidence in air pollution case against the government that environment and transport department plans were overruled

The Treasury blocked other government departments from charging diesel cars to enter towns and cities blighted by air pollution, documents revealed during a high court hearing on Tuesday.

Legal NGO ClientEarth is challenging the government’s pollution plan, which by law should cut illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide in the “shortest possible time”. Air pollution causes 50,000 early deaths and £27.5bn in costs every year, according to the government’s own estimates, and was called a “public health emergency” by MPs in April.

Campaigners say decision to open up the Barents Sea violates the nation’s constitution and threatens the Paris climate agreement

A lawsuit has been filed against the Norwegian government over a decision to open up the Barents Sea for oil exploration which campaigners say violates the country’s constitution and threatens the Paris climate agreement.

The case is being brought by an alliance including Greenpeace, indigenous activists, youth groups, and the former director of Nasa’s Goddard institute for space studies, James Hansen.

Subpoena would force oil company to hand over decades of documents that would establish whether it misled investors about climate risks

Exxon Mobil Corp asked a federal court on Monday to throw out a subpoena from New York state that would force the oil company to hand over decades of documents as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into whether it misled investors about climate change risks.

The filing means Exxon has now requested the US district court in Fort Worth, Texas for injunctions against two major climate subpoenas: one issued by New York and another from Massachusetts that the company challenged in June.

A new deal to reduce the use of powerful climate-changing chemicals will require Senate approval in the US, reports Climate Central

The jubilation and relief that flowed from United Nations climate talks in Rwanda over the weekend may be short-lived in the U.S., where legal experts say the agreement risks being blocked by Republican senators.

Weary U.N. diplomats finalized a deal Saturday to phase out the use of most HFCs, which are chemicals used in refrigerators and air conditioners and by other industries. The agreement was designed to accelerate a shift to safer substitutes for some of the world’s fastest growing and worst greenhouse gases.

Research shows milk from devils could kill superbugs and combat the facial tumour that has killed 80% of their population

Milk from Tasmanian devils could kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria like golden staph and potentially combat the deadly facial tumour disease that has killed 80% of the wild devil population in the past 20 years.

According to research led by Sydney University PhD student Emma Peel, milk produced by the marsupials contains antimicrobial peptides called cathelicidins which had been tested as being effective against a number of pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or golden staph.

Elephants will certainly survive. But it may only be in ‘fortress’ conservation parks. Is there any way to allow elephants to stay wild?

I have just returned from Kenya’s North Eastern Province where one night, camped out in a dry riverbed with just a mosquito net for cover, a herd of elephants emerged out of the dark – a great and almost silent mass of shapes.

They passed through our makeshift camp, looming over us, their tusks white against the night. I was close enough to hear them breathe, to hear the sound of their feet in the sand. Another minute and they were gone, leaving me awestruck in the truest sense of the word.

National Audit Office says household bills will be £17 higher annually than planned by 2020 due to the installation rate of windfarms and solar panels

Household energy bills in four years’ time will be £17 higher annually than planned because of the number of windfarms and solar panels installed in recent years, according to the government’s spending watchdog.

The amount of money levied on bills each year to pay for renewable energy subsidies is capped under a system called the levy control framework, to limit costs for consumers and businesses. The cap was set at £7.1bn for 2020/21, but government officials warned last year it was on track to hit £9.1bn because so much green energy was being deployed.

Claxton, Norfolk I laid my song thrush down in the earth where all those life scenes and memories and scents arose

Even in death it looked perfect, spots on his chest as bold as a summer’s morning. It was a dead song thrush. The tiny yellow tips to the coverts and the faintest crease of like colour at the corners of the beak suggested a bird of the year, inexperienced in the ways of cats or windows. Yet what to do with something so beautiful?

First I had work. Our garden is split in three – vegetables down one side; a middle lawn running all the way to autumn’s only colour, a cyclamen patch in the shadows under the hollies; and on the other side, by the hedge, a meadow area that has been left entirely to steer its own course for the past eight years.