Curiosities Curiosity
Did you know that snow is not actually white?
A snowflake is made of ice, and ice is transparent. So why is snow white and glaciers blue? The answer lies in how light bounces and is absorbed.
Environment
News, analysis, explainers and guides on the climate and biodiversity crisis. We always separate measured facts, scientific projections and opinion.
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News News
A new mountain gorilla is born in Virunga: 17 births in the park so far in 2026
The baby, a male, was born on 17 October to the female Ruzuzi. It is the Bageni family's fourth birth of the year and the park's seventeenth; Virunga is home to a quarter of the world's mountain gorillas.
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News Explainer
The 2026 El Niño shapes up as one of the strongest on record: what it could mean for snow and the mountains
The equatorial Pacific is much warmer than normal and forecast centres point to a very strong, perhaps historic, El Niño. We explain what it is, what is expected and what it could mean for the snow season.
News Feature
Longyearbyen, the Arctic town where melting ice is already polluting the water and cracking homes
At 78° north, Svalbard's main town is living Arctic warming first-hand: tap water unfit to drink, homes made uninhabitable by thawing permafrost, avalanches and tour guides changing their routes.
News News
UN calls Nepal's glacier flood a 'defining moment' for the world
A wall of water more than 100 metres high swept through 60 kilometres of valley in seconds. Two months on, the UN's project services agency calls it one of the most destructive and deadliest climate-related disasters and urges rich countries to keep their promises.
News News
Swiss glaciers lose 5.5% of their volume in 2026: almost a fifth of the ice gone in five years
Little winter snow, heatwaves from May to September and the 0 °C isotherm above 4,000 metres for 76 days: the result is the second-worst year for Swiss glaciers since measurements began.
News News
International Snow Leopard Day: the 'ghost of the mountains' is still at risk
Today is International Snow Leopard Day, created to protect the great cat of Asia's mountains. We look at how many are left, what threatens them and what works to protect them.
News Analysis
Swiss glaciers chain together years of record losses: what the measurements say
Measurement campaigns by the Swiss glacier monitoring network document the biggest losses since records began. We explain what the numbers mean and why they matter beyond Switzerland.
News Feature
Blatten, the Swiss village buried by a glacier: what we know and what it teaches
In May 2025 a huge flow of ice, rock and mud almost completely destroyed the village of Blatten, in the Lötschental. A preventive evacuation avoided a far greater tragedy. We look at what happened and why it is a warning for the whole of the Alps.
News Explainer
The wolf loses protection in Europe: what changes, what does not and why it divides rural areas
Europe has lowered the wolf's level of protection after years of debate between farmers and conservationists. Does that mean it can be hunted? What happens in Spain? The answers, without slogans.
News News
The Iberian lynx passes 2,400 animals: the story of an exceptional recovery
At the start of the century fewer than a hundred were left. Today the Iberian lynx numbers more than 2,400 and is no longer listed as Endangered on the Red List. This is how it was achieved and what could still go wrong.
News Explainer
2024, the first year above 1.5 °C: what it does and does not mean for the Paris Agreement
The European Copernicus service ranked 2024 as the warmest year on record and the first to exceed the 1.5 °C threshold. Have we already broken the Paris Agreement? Not exactly. Here is why.
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