The Guardian

While the bar for boy birds is high, the bar for boy humans seems pretty low – as seen in a trend on TikTok where men are praised by women for doing … very little

A few nights ago I watched the Netflix nature documentary Dancing with the Birds, about, you guessed it, Abraham Lincoln. Just kidding, it’s about dancing birds! This is why I get the big bucks.

While watching the cute profiles of various bird species that all incorporate dance into their mating schemes, I cleverly noticed a running theme. In each case, when it came to the effort of courting and relationships, it was exclusively the male birds that had to put in the work.

Environment activists condemn expected decision by Tanya Plibersek to give green light to the Isaac River mine in central Queensland

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The Australian government has approved a new coal mine development for the first time since it was elected last year.

Tanya Plibersek, the federal environment minister, indicated she would give the green light to the Isaac River coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen basin. It was announced late on Thursday.

Creatures like crabs, barnacles, molluscs are drawn to havens built in Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight

Artificial rockpools in Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight have successfully attracted sea creatures, which have made them their home.

Scientists have hailed the discovery, saying the false crevices can be added to sea defences and other human-made coastline developments to create habitats for sealife such as crabs, barnacles, molluscs, small fish, sea squirts and seaweed.

More than 400 people were killed during flash floods caused by high rainfall in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to official reports.

The DRC floods happened days after deadly flooding in Rwanda, on the other side of Lake Kivu, which killed roughly 130 people. Uganda also experienced flooding, which caused 18 deaths and left thousands displaced.

Extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency in the region, from a severe drought in the eastern Horn of Africa to excessive rainfall in other parts of east and central Africa

• More than 400 people now confirmed dead after flooding in DRC

Environmental groups laud the regulation, which would advance clean power in the US – if it survives expected legal challenges

The US is set to impose new carbon pollution standards upon its coal- and gas-fired power plants, in a move that the Biden administration has hailed as a major step in confronting the climate crisis.

Under new rules put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), new and existing power plants will have to meet a range of new standards to cut their emissions of planet-heating gases. This, the EPA predicts, will spur facilities to switch to cleaner energy such as wind and solar, install rarely used carbon capture technology or shut down entirely.

Project will use data from satellites and sensors to provide warnings on algal bloom, blackwater and runoff contamination

AquaWatch Australia is a project that will issue the world’s first water quality forecasts. Researchers will combine data from satellites and sensors on the ground to provide early warning of potentially harmful events such as algal bloom, blackwater and runoff contamination.

These events are driven by rainfall, temperature and other weather factors. Blackwater occurs when floods wash organic material into rivers, turning the water black. As the material decomposes it can take all the oxygen out of the water, producing hypoxia which kills fish and other creatures.

The sales pitch for new cookers ignored concern about the danger of burning fossil fuel in your home, and the move towards electric induction hobs

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Australian retailer The Good Guys removed an article on its website this week that had described gas cooktops as efficient and affordable without mentioning the growing health and climate concerns of burning a fossil fuel in your kitchen.

The article, which was pulled after this column sent in questions, is nevertheless archived and had compared gas stoves to new electric induction cooktops.

Researchers say mosquitoes may be attracted to soap because when not feeding on blood they supplement sugar intake with nectar

Lathering up with soap might seem a reasonable mosquito-evasion strategy on the basis that if they can’t smell you, they can’t bite you.

However, a study suggests that rather than helping you go incognito, soapy fragrances could make you a more attractive target, with mosquitoes favouring the scent of volunteers who washed with three out of four popular soap brands tested.

Artist records underground sounds generated by Pando, a huge group of aspens in Utah considered to be a single organism

When it comes to the world’s heaviest living organism, it is a “forest of one tree” that is thought to take the crown. Now a sound expert is listening into the quiet grove in an attempt to hear its secrets.

Known as Pando – Latin for “I spread” – the 47,000 genetically identical quivering aspens in south-central Utah are considered to be a single organism, with the “trees” actually branches thought to be connected by a shared root system.

Heavy thunderstorms cause dangerous driving conditions, blocked roads and damage to homes

Flash flooding in parts of south-west England following torrential rain has led to a major incident being declared in Somerset.

Heavy thunderstorms on Tuesday evening resulted in Devon and Somerset fire and rescue declaring a major incident in the Galhampton, North Cadbury, and South Cadbury areas.

Campaign aims to teach people how to recognise the tree and signs of the pest and disease that threaten it

The UK’s sweet chestnuts are facing a double threat from pests and disease, and the government is calling on the public to learn to identify and protect the trees.

The trees were first recorded in Britain in the 12th century and provide food and habitat for a diverse range of wildlife. However, two problems are increasingly threatening sweet chestnuts: the oriental chestnut gall wasp (OCGW) and a fungus, chestnut blight.

Globally, fossil fuel extraction and exploration is taking place at almost 3,000 sites in conservation areas, analysis shows

Fossil fuel extraction and exploration is taking place at almost 3,000 sites in protected areas around the world, analysis has revealed, with the UK having the highest number of fossil fuel sites in protected areas.

Globally, the activities affect more than 800 areas established to defend nature. The coal, oil and gas at the fossil fuel sites would lead to 47bn tonnes of climate-heating carbon dioxide if fully exploited, four times the annual emissions of China, the world’s biggest polluter.

Governments urged to roll out chargers, reduce prices and recruit celebrities to mobilise public as one in four new vehicle sales predicted to be electric by 2025

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One in four new cars bought by Australians could be electric as early as 2025 but governments should set a date for the end of petrol car sales to speed up the transition, energy experts recommend.

Australia also needs new policies to roll out vehicle chargers and put pressure on electric car prices, they say, and should recruit celebrities and sports stars to create the “biggest public mobilisation the nation has ever seen”.

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Some systems at Defra are so old they have no protection from cyber-attacks, says public accounts committee

UK politics live – latest updates

Food security and air quality in the UK are being put at risk by outdated IT systems at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), a parliamentary committee has found.

MPs have said the situation “cannot continue” as officials are having to use paper forms rather than digital systems to track fast-moving animal disease and keep food, air and water safe.

Spain is facing one of its worst droughts in recent history, which is becoming increasingly visible through drone footage.

Last month was the driest April in five decades and the warmest on record since 1961, according to the state agency Aemet. This has caused reservoirs and wetlands across the country to be affected, with many looking much emptier than they did the same time last year.

In northern Catalonia, the Rialb, Baells and La Llosa del Cavall reservoirs are now below 25% of their capacity, with the Rialb reservoir particularly badly affected, showing cracked ground and only holding 5.69% of its capacity

• Spain braced for record April temperature of 39C as extreme heat causes misery

• Catalonia’s farmers face threat of drought … and a plague of hungry rabbits

• April Mediterranean heatwave ‘almost impossible’ without climate crisis

Relying on a boss’s embarrassment is a bad way to structure performance pay at utilities

• Three UK water bosses give up bonuses after anger over sewage
  

Contain your excitement at news that bosses of a few water companies won’t be taking their bonuses this year. In all three cases – South West Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water - acceptance of any bonus at all would rightly have provoked general outrage. These firms were at, or near to, the bottom of the league table in the Environment Agency’s last set of annual environmental performance ratings.

At the most sludgy end, South West joined Southern in scoring the lowest possible one star out of four, which the chair of the EA – a body that itself has hardly excelled during three decades of under-regulation – translated into plain English. It meant the companies’ environmental performance “was terrible across the board”. Thames and Yorkshire were two of four companies getting two stars, which indicated a need for “significant improvement”, so still deeply in cruddy territory.

Exclusive: Company accused of ‘lobbying and greenwashing’ for more fossil fuels despite knowing of risks

The Italian oil major Eni is facing the country’s first climate lawsuit, with environmental groups alleging the company used “lobbying and greenwashing” to push for more fossil fuels despite having known about the risks its product posed since 1970.

Greenpeace Italy and the Italian advocacy group ReCommon aim to build on a similar case targeting the Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands to force Eni to slash its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030.

Testing of 18 popular kinds of contact lenses found extremely high levels of organic fluorine, a marker of ‘forever chemicals’

Many soft contact lenses in the US are largely made up of compounds called fluoropolymers that are by definition PFAS “forever chemicals”, new research suggests.

Testing of 18 popular kinds of contact lenses found extremely high levels of organic fluorine, a marker of PFAS, in each.

Call of the coquí frog is affected by rising temperatures, scientists find

Frogs in Puerto Rico are croaking at a higher pitch due to global heating, scientists have found.

The frogs appear to be decreasing in size at warmer temperatures, which causes their croaks to become high pitched. If the trends continue, the heat could become too much for the sensitive amphibians to survive successfully, researchers have said.

Food and veterinary authority report questions whether hunting large whales can meet animal welfare objectives

Whales have taken as long as two hours to die during Icelandic hunts, according to a report by the Icelandic food and veterinary authority.

A number of the carcasses of the fin whales shot by explosive harpoons during hunts in Iceland last year were examined by the organisation, which found that almost 40% struggled for approximately 11 and a half minutes before they died, while two took more than an hour. A quarter of the fin whales, the second-largest mammal on Earth after the blue whale, considered “vulnerable” globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, had to be harpooned a second time. Only 59% died instantly.