Wednesday, 4 November 2026
International edition · English
News, analysis, explainers and guides on the climate and biodiversity crisis. We always separate measured facts, scientific projections and opinion.
71 articles · RSS
With a wingspan of almost three metres and a diet made up mostly of bones, the bearded vulture is one of the most astonishing birds on the planet. After disappearing from much of Europe, it is soaring over its mountains again.
Snow is not just scenery: it is a natural reservoir that releases water when it is needed most. When it snows less or melts earlier, rivers, forests, wildlife and the economy of entire valleys change.
There are still corners of the planet where human presence is minimal and natural processes set the pace: active volcanoes, deltas in the middle of the desert, immense ice fields and rainforests still to be explored.
It lives in twelve countries, roams huge territories above 3,000 metres and is so elusive that many researchers study it for years without seeing it. This is how the snow leopard survives.
Some landscapes that seem eternal today could look very different by the end of the century. We review ten places where scientists are already measuring profound changes, separating what has been observed from what is projected.
In summer, some snowfields in the Alps, the Pyrenees or the Arctic turn pink. It is not dust or pollution: it is microscopic algae with their own 'sunscreen'. And their colour has consequences.
It lives only in the canals of Xochimilco, in Mexico City, never loses its juvenile look and can regrow legs, tail and even parts of organs. While it thrives in labs and aquariums, in the wild it is on the brink of extinction.
Vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered... Behind each label are very specific scientific criteria. We explain how the world's most widely used tool for measuring extinction risk works.
There are only a few dozen of them, they live between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay and since 2020 they have been interacting with the rudders of sailing boats. We review what is known —and what is not— about this unique population.
Polyester fibres above 8,000 metres, particles raining from the sky in remote Pyrenean valleys, plastic in Antarctic snow. The mountains are not safe from plastic, and part of the problem is what we wear.
Its velvety look is not decorative: it is armour against the radiation, cold and dryness of the high mountains. The natural and cultural history of the most famous flower in the Alps.
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