Environment
Water industry comes under fire as 3.6 billion litres are lost every day
Published: 17 May 2006
Billions of litres of water are gushing out of Britain's crumbling mains network every day as the country faces its worst drought for 100 years
Drought of 1976 brought standpipes and shared baths
Published: 17 May 2006
It was the summer when Demis Roussos and The Wurzels took turns at the top of the charts, England's cricketers were crushed by Vivian Richards' West Indies and when a desperate nation looked each night to BBC weatherman Jack Scott in fervent hope of a downpour.
The Big Question: Why do we have water shortages in a country with as much rain as Britain?
Published: 17 May 2006
Why the sudden concern?
Global warming turns pristine coral into rubble
Published: 16 May 2006
Miles of unblemished coral reefs have been turned to slime-covered rubble because of rising sea temperatures caused by global warming.
Water firm given emergency powers to combat drought
Published: 16 May 2006
More than 600,000 people and thousands of businesses in the suburbs and commuter hinterland south of London face stringent curbs on water use from today after the Government granted their water supplier emergency powers to combat the growing drought in the South-east.
Climate change will be catastrophe for Africa
Published: 16 May 2006
Climate change represents a nightmare scenario for the people of the world's poorest continent.
West's failure over climate change 'will kill 182m Africans'
Published: 15 May 2006
The poorest people in the world will be the chief victims of the West's failure to tackle global warning, with millions of Africans forecast to die by the end of the century, Christian Aid says in a report out today.
Butterfly species come back from the brink of extinction
Published: 15 May 2006
Hope amid the gloom. Six of Britain's rapidly declining butterfly species have started to recover in numbers because of intensive conservation efforts.
Long-haul breaks spell bad news for the climate
Published: 15 May 2006
After the Filofax, the mobile phone, the laptop, the iPod, the taste for sushi and the 4x4, here comes the latest must-have for Britain's affluent young professional class: the weekend far away.
Cork forests at risk from switch to screw-top wine
Published: 15 May 2006
Up to three quarters of the unique cork oak forests of the Mediterranean could be lost within 10 years because of the increasing popularity of the screw-top wine bottle.
Last passage to India for boat that has become an 'ecological wreck'
Published: 15 May 2006
The Great Coral Reef disaster
Published: 14 May 2006
Why global warming is to blame for Britain's hay fever epidemic
Published: 13 May 2006
Global warming is to blame for the rising numbers of Britons suffering from hay fever, in the first direct impact of climate change on human health in this country.
Scientists discover first new primate genus for 83 years
Published: 12 May 2006
It stands just three feet tall, is covered in long brown fur, and communicates using a distinctive honking bark.
Disposable nappies: a looming environmental threat?
Published: 11 May 2006
How to furnish a flat for free
Published: 11 May 2006
Bird 'hotspots' at risk as pressure for new homes and industry grows, RSPB warns
Published: 10 May 2006
Ten major UK sites of national and international importance for their bird populations face major dangers from development, according to a survey from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Listen carefully and you can still hear the nightingale's song
Published: 08 May 2006
Five levels of sound are layered on top of one another. The hissing is the traffic on the M25, London's orbital motorway. The growl is the jets, taking off from Heathrow airport. The rumble is the railway heading for Waterloo. The faint racket is a party at a nearby hotel. And then there is the song; that's the nightingales.
Electronic smog
Published: 07 May 2006
Ice-capped roof of world turns to desert
Published: 07 May 2006
Scientists discover 'most important' blue whale colony
Published: 06 May 2006
Scientists say they have discovered one of the world's most important blue whale colonies off the coast of Chile, where the endangered animals appear to be staying for the summer instead of migrating south to the Antarctic to feed according to their traditional migratory patterns.
Ocean census identifies tiny creatures with a massive role
Published: 05 May 2006
They are the smallest animals in the sea and they form a vital link in the web of marine life but scientists know next to nothing about the zooplankton of the world's oceans.
Global warming fastest for 20,000 years - and it is mankind's fault
Published: 04 May 2006
Global warming is made worse by man-made pollution and the scale of the problem is unprecedented in at least 20,000 years, according to a draft report by the world's leading climate scientists.
Darwin's finches show how man harms evolution
Published: 04 May 2006
They were the birds that were said to have inspired Charles Darwin to formulate his theory of evolution more than 10 years after his famous visit to the Galapagos Islands.
Why London's beekeepers are a growing band
Published: 04 May 2006
