First time red warnings issued in UK for three consecutive days; Paris to ban drinking alcohol in public as hospitals reach ‘saturation point’
European heatwave is worst ever and impossible without climate crisis, scientists say
Paris to ban drinking alcohol in public as hospitals hit heatwave breaking point
Scientists said in a study released Friday that human-made climate change was “unequivocally” responsible for the heat that broke records in Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland, while the Netherlands issued its first-ever red alert over heat, AFP reported.
It would have been “virtually impossible” for such exceptional temperatures to occur in June fifty years ago, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/26/2026 - 02:14
06/26/2026 - 02:00
Climate crisis is on show every day when sportspeople do their thing and the rest of us sweat on the sofa
Nothing sharpens the distinction between professional athletes and the rest of us like a week of truly hot weather. While we’re apologetically crying off long-in-the-diary engagements – so sorry, just can’t face it in this weather – elite sportspeople are blinking the rivulets of sweat out of their eyes while squinting under a hot-and-heavy helmet, then doing 22-yard sprints with a couple of kilos of padding strapped to their legs.
As one of nature’s non-athletes, I speak not just with admiration, but with genuine wonder. My experience of the past week has been working out how not to do things, or if forced, doing them half-heartedly because, you know, I haven’t slept. My friends and I message each other the latest innovations in fan strategy (“apparently putting a frozen bottle of water in front of it helps”) and talk about our journeys on public transport as if we’ve just survived the Somme.
Continue reading...
06/26/2026 - 02:00
Emerging research suggests datacentres create a heat island effect, pushing up temperatures in the immediate vicinity by as much as 9C
The community living next to the largest datacentre park in Europe say the scorching summer heat has grown unbearable.
On days like Wednesday, said Nabeel Nawaz, the store manager of a Chaiiwala franchise in the centre of Slough, the heat is like something “pinching your body and burning your skin”.
Continue reading...
06/26/2026 - 02:00
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...
06/26/2026 - 01:53
Julie Elie worked out how zebra finches announce who they are, what they are doing and use individual signatures
A scientist who decoded the dictionary that a bird uses to communicate has won a $100,000 prize for making progress towards a world in which humans can talk to the animals – without being met with a blank response.
Dr Julie Elie at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded the 2026 Coller-Dolittle prize for two-way interspecies communication after working out the 11 core calls in the zebra finch vocabulary and their meanings.
Continue reading...
06/26/2026 - 00:00
Conservationists emphasise importance of protecting nesting sites used by ‘strongly faithful’ red-listed species
Migratory swifts loyally return every year to their nests in buildings, according to a study, underlining the importance of providing the endangered birds with hollow nesting bricks if traditional nest sites are lost to renovations.
The swift, which is on the red list of conservation concern, is one of Britain’s most threatened species, having declined in number by 70% since 1995 because of the loss of nesting sites, often when old buildings are re-roofed or given better insulation. While Scotland this year made the installation of swift bricks – a simple hollow brick – a legal requirement in new buildings, the government in England has repeatedly refused to oblige builders to include a £35 swift brick in every new home.
Continue reading...
06/26/2026 - 00:00
High temperatures make some workplaces dangerous, with economists warning disruption will dent growth
Monique Mosley is used to sweltering conditions at the food factory in Yorkshire where she works, but June’s record-breaking heatwave has made conditions unbearable. “We make hot filled food products and it’s common that we see temperatures in the high 30s,” she said. “Thanks to our union, our employer is offering extra breaks, but not every workplace is the same.”
The latest heatwave to grip the UK and much of western Europe has presented significant challenges to employers and their employees, from sweltering offices, disrupted commutes and school closures to dangerous construction sites where workers are at risk of dehydration, heatstroke and other injury.
Continue reading...
06/25/2026 - 23:00
Study also finds high humidity means people in hundreds of cities are enduring their worst ever heat stress
The heatwave scorching western Europe is the most severe and widespread ever and is only possible due to the climate crisis driven by fossil fuel burning, scientists have said.
Almost half of Europe’s 850 largest cities are also enduring their worst ever heat stress, a combination of temperature and humidity, they found. Muggier conditions mean sweating is less effective at cooling the body, making heatwaves even more dangerous.
Continue reading...
06/25/2026 - 23:00
City plans to triple system of underground pipes that distribute chilled river water, reducing need for individual cooling units
As heatwaves intensify across Europe, most cities are reaching for a familiar fix of more air conditioning. But in 1990s Paris, planning began for a different kind of solution: one of the world’s largest district cooling networks.
The system has 120kms (75-miles) of underground pipes distributing chilled water to museums, offices, hospitals, schools and other public buildings including the Louvre, the Grand Palais, and some luxury hotels and office districts. Instead of thousands of individual air-conditioning units, cooling is produced centrally and shared across the city like a utility.
Continue reading...
06/25/2026 - 12:09
Our schools are a dated mix of single glazing, dodgy pipes and atriums like Kew hothouses. They urgently need retrofitting for a changing climate
This week’s soaring summer temperatures have put a spotlight on our schools and their ability to cope, with one in Hertfordshire telling me that it recorded temperatures of more than 40C. So why are our schools struggling?
Modern schools often have too much glass, and not enough shading or ventilation to keep out the sun’s heat. During the 1950s, the focus on public health (after the creation of the NHS in 1948) meant that schools were designed to bring in more natural light. Windows often have built-in restrictors that stop them being opened too far, or at all, because of student safety concerns. Some schools have glass atriums, which were a common feature of those constructed during the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme in the early 2000s, but which now give the effect of walking into a Kew hothouse.
Harry Paticas is an architect and the founder of Retrofit Action for Tomorrow
Continue reading...
