The Guardian

Speaking at a global food convention in Milan on Tuesday, the former US president says he prioritised climate change while in office because it would be the issue that ‘defines the contours of this century more dramatically than any other’. His comments come as the Trump administration decides whether to keep the US in the Paris climate agreement

• Trump aides postpone meeting as clashes over Paris climate deal continue

A new study of the man o’ war jellyfish found popular remedies like lemon juice and shaving foam make stings worse. Vinegar followed by heat is most effective

What should you do if a jellyfish stings you? Scientists have found that applying vinegar is the best solution, and that popular remedies including urine, lemon juice, and shaving foam could make the situation worse.

A recent study in Toxins, which investigated the efficacy of various remedies for stings from the Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia physalis) concludes that rinsing with vinegar before applying heat is the most effective treatment. The commonly recommended treatment of seawater and ice was found to cause more harm than good.

Between 1934 and 1940 the UK built 280 miles of cycle paths with Dutch guidance. A Kickstarter campaign to rescue these lost cycle paths needs support

In September 2012 the Google Street View car drove slowly along a road in Twickenham, London. It had to reverse when the driver found three wooden bollards blocking its way. The road was not a road at all, it was a cycleway. A cycleway built in – wait for it – 1937.

Originally surfaced with red concrete, the cycleway has faded to light pink but the granite kerbs are still in situ and, fooling the Street View navigation algorithms, it looks like a narrow road instead of the normal kind of “crap cycle lane” we are so unhappily used to in the UK.

The critically endangered orangutan is under threat from hunting and habitat deforestation. A new book, The Orangutan’s World, is a photographic celebration of this great ape and its rainforest home in southern Borneo

Waltham Brooks, West Sussex The golden reed along the river’s edge vibrates with the pulsing, chattering songs of the warblers

It’s a cold morning, and a glistening coating of frost clings to the green surfaces of the vegetation that is still in the shade. The sun is reaching through the trees, and plumes of mist rise from the river’s surface as it warms.

The golden reed along the river’s edge vibrates with the pulsing, chattering songs of reed warblers and sedge warblers – the sound of a wetland summer. They began to return to Waltham Brooks about a month ago, and now I count more than 30 singing around the reserve. I hear a whirring from a sedge warbler in the brambles next to me, and I turn to watch as it inches up to the top of the bush.

Gemini windpark off the coast of the Netherlands will eventually meet the energy needs of about 1.5 million people, according to its owners

Dutch officials have opened what is being billed as one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, with 150 turbines spinning far out in the North Sea.

Over the next 15 years the Gemini windpark, which lies some 85km (53 miles) off the northern coast of the Netherlands, will meet the energy needs of about 1.5 million people.

Defending decision not to finance mine, Brian Hartzer says coal needed for economy to 2050 can be met by existing mines

The Adani Carmichael coalmine is not needed to support the economy, the Westpac chief executive has said in defence of his bank’s decision not to finance the mine.

On Radio National on Tuesday, Brian Hartzer said Westpac’s decision to set a climate policy, which in effect rules out financing the Adani Carmichael coalmine, was based on its acceptance that climate change should be limited to 2C by 2050.

Friends of the Earth urges other retailers to follow suit after studies show damaging effects of neonicotinoids on bees

All flowering plants sold by B&Q are to be grown without using pesticides that are harmful to bees, the retailer has announced.

A series of scientific studies have shown that bees are exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides in fields and suffer serious harm from the doses they receive. The European commission has drawn up draft legislation to ban the pesticides, citing “high acute risks to bees”.

A new study shows how a switch in a major climate system could accelerate global temperatures to a 1.5C limit, but some scientists are challenging the assumptions

In the Brazilian city of São Paulo, more than 80 experts, including dozens of climate scientists, gathered back in March for a giant planning meeting

As part of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the group from 39 different countries were starting their work on a major report that will tell governments and policy makers what kind of impacts they can expect when global warming reaches 1.5C.

Locals at Dooagh, Achill island, had got used to their sandless beach, which storms in 1984 turned into just rocks and pools. But a freak tide at Easter has brought hundreds of tonnes of sand back to the bay off Ireland’s County Mayo coast

• Irish beach washed away 33 years ago reappears overnight after freak tide

Cross-section of MPs urge £612m pension fund to show greater leadership and “take climate change seriously”

A campaign calling on parliament’s £612m pension fund to divest from fossil fuels has won the backing of 50 MPs from across the UK’s main political parties.

The Divest Parliament campaign has announced it has secured support from a cross-section of MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, SDLP and Plaid Cymru, who are all urging the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF) to show greater leadership on tackling climate change.

Administrator Scott Pruitt, in choosing not to renew nine members’ terms, has ‘eviscerated’ board of scientific counselors, says chair

The Environmental Protection Agency has “eviscerated” a key scientific review board by removing half its members and seeking to replace them with industry-aligned figures, according to the board’s chair.

Related: Worried world urges Trump not to pull out of Paris climate agreement

Two forest patrollers have been killed and four hospitalised in what is believed to be retaliatory action from illegal settlers in Sapo National Park

Two forest rangers have been killed by a violent mob in a Liberian rainforest after discovering a community illegally settling and hunting in the park, according to authorities.

Related: Another day, another dead wildlife ranger. Where is the outrage? | Sean Willmore

A daring Australian Museum expedition to Balls Pyramid near Lord Howe Island has succeeded in its search for the rare and elusive Lord Howe Island stick insect

A new study finds that explaining the techniques of science denial makes people resistant to their effects

After receiving misinformation from the anti-vaccine movement, including its founder Andrew Wakefield, immunization rates plummeted in a community of Somali immigrants in Minnesota, causing a measles outbreak among their children. It’s a disturbing trend on the rise in America that shows the importance of immunization and the dangerous power of misinformation.

A new paper published in PLOS One by John Cook, Stephan Lewandowsky, and Ullrich Ecker tests the power of inoculation; not against disease, but against the sort of misinformation that created the conditions leading to Minnesota measles outbreak. Inoculation theory suggests that exposing people to the tricks used to spread misinformation can equip them with the tools to recognize and reject such bogus claims.

While travelling across the country’s vast swampland – the Sudd – doing medical assessments, Chandra Gilmore, International Medical Corps’ South Sudan famine response team leader, took photographs and notes

The tragic death of Mike Hall, hit by a car in an Australian road race, left a hole in the world of endurance cycling. Craig Cunningham is one of many he inspired to ride an audax and experience the thrill of these most extreme rides

On 31 March I remember waking and looking at my phone to find an abundance of posts commemorating the life of cyclist Mike Hall. Hall was hit by a motorist in Australia and killed, just hours from completing the Indian Pacific Wheel Race which saw contestants ride across Australia unsupported, with the hardest riders pushing themselves for as much as 20 hours a day.

These incredible achievements aren’t done for giant cheques or coloured jerseys – the tangible rewards are just byproducts of a more personal journey. Such motives didn’t become clear to me until I took the plunge. I only realised the true extent on completing the London Wales London (LWL) audax – a 400km ride with a 27-hour time limit, vicious climbs including Yat Rock. The name alone held gravitas, bringing to mind professional races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the legendary audax events of Paris-Brest-Paris.

Email mix-up blamed after historically significant plant samples incinerated by quarantine officials

Australian biosecurity officials have destroyed historically significant plant samples from 19th century France and damaged the reputation of Australian researchers, the head of the peak herbaria body has said.

In two separate incidents, quarantine officials have incinerated specimens sent to Australian research facilities from overseas.

Zed Seselja says Turnbull government committed to climate change agreement, but if the US pulls out, it would put a question mark over the deal

A leading government conservative has put a question mark over Australia’s continued participation in the Paris climate agreement in the event Donald Trump decides the United States will pull out.

The assistant minister for social services and multicultural affairs, Zed Seselja, one of the government’s up-and-coming conservative figures, told Sky News on Monday that “as it stands” the Turnbull government was committed to Paris agreement, but if the US quit the pact, that would change the nature of the agreement.

Clarach, Ceredigion Some like the smell, others endure it. In my case, the scent of Allium ursinum makes me feel hungry

My route through the beech woods was chosen to avoid the worst of the cold northerly wind that was cutting across the valley. Though the majority of leaves were still to open, the trees broke up the breeze and let me slacken the pace I’d needed to keep warm.

The acoustic of this woodland is softened by its deep, moist leaf litter; outside sounds are dramatically attenuated, letting you focus on the spring birdsong and the occasional creak of high branches stirring in the wind.