The Guardian

The latest study on the health benefits of cycling suggests it can cut the risk of cancer and heart disease. It’s also the most fun you can have on your daily commute

It may not be a surprise to see another study suggesting that cycling to work can drastically reduce your chances of getting cancer and heart disease – those who ride bikes for transport already know how good it makes them feel. However, it’s perhaps yet another motivation for those who don’t, to dust off their bikes – and remember some other reasons cycling to work is so great.

In a five-year study of 263,450 UK commuters, published in the BMJ, researchers at Glasgow University found regular cycling cut the risk of death from any cause by 41%, and the incidence of cancer and heart disease by 45% and 46% respectively.

Think of Texas and it’s most likely you imagine rocky, red desert. But each spring the hill country of central Texas is awash with a riot of colour, as millions of wildflowers bloom

Surf Life Saving Western Australia rejects accusations from News Corp that mitigation plan is too timid

Lifesavers in Western Australia say they have seen no evidence that shark culling would be effective in reducing attacks and have hit out at claims their mitigation plan is “timid”.

The Senate inquiry into shark deterrence and mitigation began its hearing in Perth on Thursday.

New project aims to restore what was once Europe’s largest oyster fishery, off the south coast of England

Millions of native oysters are to be put into the Solent, once the site of Europe’s largest oyster fishery.

The five-year project aims first to restore a thriving oyster population to the waters between the south coast and Isle of Wight. Oyster beds provide habitat for many other species and the shellfish filter vast volumes of water – 200 litres per oyster – helping to clean up pollution. Once re-established, significant oyster fishing could resume.

Seaham, Durham Impressions of movement, colour, sound and the scents of spring left an abiding sense of wellbeing

Along the well-worn cliff-edge path from Dawdon to Hawthorn Dene, blackthorn was in full bloom, the air laden with the coconut scent of gorse, and the ground spangled with primroses and dog violets.

Scientists have attached cameras to whales to unlock the mysteries of their lives in Antarctica, revealing where, when and how they feed, their social lives, and even how they must blow hard to clear sea ice and allow them to breathe. Vision: WWF

Report by Adelphi thinktank warns terrorist groups will exploit natural disasters and water and food shortages

Climate change will fuel acts of terrorism and strengthen recruiting efforts by terrorist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, a report commissioned by the German foreign office has found.

Terrorist groups will exploit the natural disasters and water and food shortages expected to result from climate change and allow them to recruit more easily, operate more freely and control civilian populations, argues the report by Berlin thinktank Adelphi.

A hipster brewery in a Sydney suburb has created beer with an environmental message

• How Broken Hill went from mining to drag queens and solar farms

Newtown – Sydney’s grungy inner-city suburb where a seemingly endless string of Thai restaurants is interrupted by body-piercing shops, clothes stores and a growing number of small bars.

It’s a suburb known for its beer-fuelled nightlife and alternative cultural tastes. It’s also one of the most progressive areas in Australia: at the last New South Wales election, the Greens got more than 45% of the primary vote (and almost 60% after preferences) in the seat of Newtown.

While the politicians dither around energy policy, Newtown is teaming up with a pair of hipster brewers to support a solar-powered brewery and beer with a conscience

• Mining the ground to mining the sun in Broken Hill
  

Bank expected to retain offices in London and Edinburgh, as bid from Australian bank Macquarie accepted despite stiff political opposition

The government has agreed a £2.3bn sale of the Green Investment Bank to the Australian bank Macquarie, according to sources close to the process.

The privatisation of the bank was expected in January but signoff was delayed in the face of stiff political opposition and wrangling over the final price.

BBC Springwatch presenter, making a film about Malta’s spring hunt of migrating birds, accused of ‘pushing against’ man

Chris Packham, the naturalist and broadcaster, has been charged with assault and trespass in Malta after confronting hunters he believes had illegally trapped wild birds.

The BBC Springwatch presenter and naturalist will appear before magistrates on Thursday morning on the island of Gozo after being charged with “attempting to use force” and “pushing against” a Maltese man.

Doug Derwin is investing up to $2m to persuade Tesla’s CEO to speak out against US climate change policies and resign from groups advising Trump

Luxury car owners may seem like an unlikely target for organizing a political resistance movement, but to Doug Derwin, it’s all about the make: Tesla.

Derwin is investing up to $2m in an effort to persuade Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, to speak out against Donald Trump’s climate change policy and resign from his positions in groups advising Trump on business and manufacturing jobs. On Monday, Derwin launched the website ElonDumpTrump.com laying out his argument that Musk’s role in the administration is inconsistent with his role as a leader on climate change.

The first ever camera trap survey in the previously inaccessible Karen State hill forests has recorded a wealth of globally threatened mammals living in south-east Asia’s last great wilderness

Walkhampton, Dartmoor A shepherd on his quad bike remarks on the contrast with last week’s rain, wind and mud

From the western edge of Dartmoor, heat haze obscures views towards familiar territory in the Tamar Valley. Up here, by Lowery Cross, in sight of glittering ripples on Burrator Reservoir, ponies graze among dazzling yellow gorse; drab turfy banks are starred with a few violets, and the sound of chiffchaff echoes from coniferous plantations.

Nearby, a bridge, rebuilt in 2015, is part of the footpath and cycleway on a section of the long-defunct Plymouth and Dartmoor railway; across the bridge and via the gently sloping trail, Princetown is seven miles away, twice the distance that a crow might fly.

Humane Society applies for lethal shark control programs to be listed as ‘threatening’ under conservation act

Environmentalists are attempting to list shark culling and the use of drum lines as threats to endangered species under federal law.

Humane Society International has applied for lethal shark control programs in in New South Wales and Queensland to be listed as “key threatening processes” under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Five environmental groups point to ‘trophy’ hunting – largely by Americans who travel to Africa – among key threats to animals

Conservationists have lodged a formal request for the US government to list giraffes as endangered in a bid to prevent what they call the “silent extinction” of the world’s tallest land animal.

A legal petition filed by five environmental groups has demanded that the US Fish and Wildlife Service provide endangered species protections to the giraffe, which has suffered a precipitous decline in numbers in recent years.

19 April 1913: Author and wildlife illustrator Ernest Thompson Seton gives a lecture in London about his first job as a ‘wolver’

Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton opened his last lecture at the Aeolian Hall, London, on Thursday with the hollow call of a wolf’s rallying cry, the reality of which sent a perceptible shudder over his audience. One realised as he told in illustration of his subject, “Animal Heroes,” the story of the French wolf which was killed in the mountains of Gévaudan, what terror “the beast” must have inspired in the hearts of the 40,000 peasants who turned out to round up this hero-murderer of a hundred children.

Environment minister says federal government ‘would welcome any proposal to protect human life first’ after attack on surfer Laeticia Brouwer

The federal government would consider any strategies to prevent further shark attacks off Australia’s coast, following the death of teenager surfer Laeticia Brouwer.

“In light of the recent shark attack the commonwealth would welcome any proposal to protect human life first and foremost,” the federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, told the West Australian.

Unlikely coalition of fossil fuel firms, environmental groups and Republicans are calling on president to stay despite his pledge to ‘cancel’ agreement

Donald Trump’s aides have abruptly postponed a meeting to determine whether the US should remain in the Paris climate agreement, with an unlikely coalition of fossil fuel firms, environmental groups and some Republicans calling on the president to stick with the deal.

Trump’s top advisers were set to meet on Tuesday to provide the president with a recommendation ahead of a G7 meeting in May. However, a White House official said the meeting had been postponed due to conflicting schedules. It is unclear when it will now take place.

From Harrogate to Tokyo cherry blossom is in full bloom at the peak of spring