The Guardian

Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British Columbia

Deep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience – and unpredictability – of the deep-sea ecosystems.

For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system.

Research raises more questions over safety of material that health advocates say is made with dangerous levels of ‘forever chemicals’

Athletes who play on artificial turf are likely to be coated with higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” than before playing on the field, new research suggests, raising more questions about the controversial material’s safety.

All artificial turf is made with what public health advocates say is dangerous levels of PFAS. When the highly mobile chemicals break off from plastic grass blades, they can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled, ingested or get in open wounds.

Right to Roam finds areas of outstanding natural beauty have on average poorer footpath access than rest of England

England’s most stunning “national landscapes” are largely out of bounds, and 22 of the 34 have less than 10% of their area open to the public, research has found.

The government last year renamed areas of outstanding natural beauty to national landscapes, and said part of their aim was to widen access to nature. Ministers said at the time the new name reflected a recognition that they are not just beautiful but important for many reasons including improving wellbeing.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

The winners of the annual British Wildlife Photography awards have been announced, with the winner – an image of invasive goose barnacles hitching a lift across the ocean on a discarded football – chosen from more than 14,000 submissions

Mechanism is vital to boost the ‘only viable option’ to decarbonise emissions from heating homes, says green charity

The government has delayed by a year its scheme for spurring the take-up of heat pumps, under pressure from the gas boiler industry.

The clean heat market mechanism is intended to force heating installers to fit more low-carbon heat pumps, to meet the UK’s net zero greenhouse gas emissions target and save energy.

‘Sunak now wants all the badgers dead,’ says ecological consultant Tom Langton

The government has U-turned on its plans to phase out the badger cull, with proposals to exterminate the vast majority of some local populations across much of south-west and central England.

Ministers plan to introduce controversial targeted culling, also known as “epidemiological culling” or “epi-culling”, whereby populations of badgers can be reduced to almost zero in some areas where cattle are deemed to be at high risk of contracting bovine TB (bTB).

Impact on ecosystems must be predicted before technology is used, US atmospheric science agency chief says

Scientists must work urgently on predicting the effects of climate geoengineering, the chief of the US atmospheric science agency has said, as the technology is likely to be needed, at least in part.

Richard Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the government-backed body was estimating the effects of some of the likely techniques for geoengineering, including those involving the oceans.

EVs represent about 1% of light vehicles in Australia – but Electric Vehicle Council warns there is ‘more work to be done’ to reach 2050 emissions targets

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Electric vehicles are “no longer a novelty” and their uptake in Australia is booming, with the industry recording a 120% rise in sales over the past year, according to a new report on the industry.

There are now more than 180,000 EVs on Australian roads, with 98,436 of those bought last year, the Australian Electric Vehicle Industry Recap 2023 found.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Testing commissioned by Mamavation blog found high levels of a marker of PFAS in nine of 11 baggies tested

Most of the nation’s plastic sandwich baggies contain toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, an analysis suggests, raising questions about the products’ safety in the US.

Testing of 11 types of baggies made by major producers showed high levels of a marker of PFAS in nine.

Fancy a plate of fangers and mash? Some researchers say python farms on a commercial scale could provide sustainable alternative protein

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Dr Daniel Natusch has eaten python in almost every way imaginable.

“I’ve had it barbecued. I’ve had it in satay skewers. I’ve had it in curries. I’ve had it with Indigenous people in the wilds of the Malaysian jungle,” he said.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Location, extent and strength of recent freshwater events suggest an unusually warm and dry summer over southern Europe this year

Long-range weather predictions are notoriously difficult, but a new paper in the journal Weather and Climate Dynamics suggests that the melt rate of the Greenland ice sheet can predict the next summer’s weather in Europe.

The chain of events is complex and other factors may interfere. But according to Dr Marilena Oltmanns of the UK National Oceanography Centre, lead author of the study, it goes roughly as follows:

Exclusive: The H5N1 virus reached the region late last year and is killing wildlife, with witnesses spotting numerous seal corpses on South Georgia island

The grave of the explorer Ernest Shackleton on South Georgia island has become inaccessible to visitorsdue to bodies of “dead seals blocking the way”, as increasing numbers of animals are killed by bird flu’s spread through the Antarctic.

The H5N1 virus has spread to 10 species of birds and mammals since it arrived in the region last October, with five king penguins and five gentoo penguins the latest to test positive on the sub-Antarctic islands. Those confirmations follow reports of mass die-offs of elephant seals at the end of last year.

Green MP Caroline Lucas says call for investment in gas-fired power plants is election ploy that will jeopardise UK’s net zero target

Green MP Caroline Lucas has accused the government of stoking a culture war on climate issues by calling for more investment in new gas-fired power plants before a general election.

Lucas used an urgent question in the House of Commons to challenge the energy minister, Graham Stuart, on the plans set out on Wednesday, which could see a string of new plants built in the coming years despite the government’s commitment to phase out fossil fuels.

Coalition’s claim of cheap power and quickly built reactors is at odds with real world experience of other countries

We may not yet be entering a nuclear age in Australia, but we would all be best advised to handle the rhetoric around the issue as carefully as we would radioactive waste.

This week opposition leader Peter Dutton said an annual CSIRO report that had included estimates of costs for small modular reactors – which are not yet available commercially – was “discredited” because it “doesn’t take into account some of the transmission costs, the costs around subsidies for the renewables”.

Thousands of farmers have been persuaded by TREES scheme to replace barren monocultures with biodiverse forest gardens

In a world of monoculture cash crops, an innovative African project is persuading farmers to plant biodiverse forest gardens that feed the family, protect the soil and expand tree cover.

Could Trees for the Future (TREES) be a rare example of a mass reforestation campaign that actually works? The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) certainly thinks so and last month awarded it the status of World Restoration Flagship.

But 98% of Europeans live in areas WHO says have unhealthy levels of PM2.5

Air pollution levels have improved in Europe over the past 20 years, research has found.

However, despite these improvements, most of the European population lives in areas exceeding the World Health Organization’s recommended levels. About 98% of Europeans live in areas the WHO says have unhealthy levels of small particles known as PM2.5, 80% for larger ones known as PM10, and 86% for nitrogen dioxide.

See how polluted your part of Europe is

Analysis finds 58 people have died due to cold homes every winter day since 2013 Tory pledge to ‘cut the green crap’

The government’s failure to insulate the UK’s cold and leaky homes is costing thousands of lives a year, according to analysis.

The report from Greenpeace reveals 58 people have died due to cold homes every day on average during the winter since David Cameron’s Conservative government decided to “cut the green crap” in 2013 – drastically slashing support for home insulation.

Coral larvae more likely to settle on degraded reefs bathed in marine soundscapes, Caribbean study shows

Underwater speakers that broadcast the hustle and bustle of thriving coral could bring life back to more damaged and degraded reefs that are in danger of becoming ocean graveyards, researchers say.

Scientists working off the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean found that coral larvae were up to seven times more likely to settle at a struggling reef where they played recordings of the snaps, groans, grunts and scratches that form the symphony of a healthy ecosystem.

Soon it will head back north to the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea where it can breed undisturbed

I opened the windows to the hide and was greeted by a mass of birds. Hundreds of cormorants, gulls, herons, egrets, ducks and waders, all feeding frantically as the rising tide covered up the fertile mud. Overhead, black kites patrolled half-heartedly, occasionally provoking the other birds to take to the wing in short-lived panic, before settling back down to feed or rest.

I witnessed this spectacle at the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Mai Po nature reserve in Hong Kong, justly celebrated as one of the most important wetlands in the world. Either side of high tide, birds gather here in vast numbers against the backdrop of Shenzhen, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, just across the border in mainland China.