Critics say the Trump administration is trying to rewrite and whitewash history by removing and altering scores of signs on public lands
Jerry Bransford, a former US National Park Service (NPS) ranger, has always had a deep connection with the land he grew up on – and the land hundreds of feet below it. His great-great-grandfather, Materson “Mat” Bransford, was one of the earliest explorers of Mammoth Cave in south-central Kentucky, the largest known cave system on the planet.
But for decades, Mat wasn’t paid for his work. Enslavers rented him out for $100 a year to a man who wanted to turn the site into a tourist attraction – what would later become Mammoth Cave national park.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/02/2026 - 08:00
07/02/2026 - 06:30
More than 100 million people could be affected in week leading to 4 July, with increased risks of droughts and wildfires
Meteorologists are anticipating a tumultuous summer that could rank as one of the US’s hottest ever.
New data released on Tuesday showed the first six months of the year were the hottest ever measured for parts of eight western states.
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07/02/2026 - 06:01
Authorities say rainy season getting deadlier, with Ghana reporting 13 dead and floods hitting Benin, Togo and Nigeria
Floods in Côte d’Ivoire have killed 59 people since May, the communication minister told a cabinet meeting in Abidjan.
There are fears the toll could further rise as rescue teams continue to search for victims during the rainy season, which runs from May until July, the minister, Amadou Coulibaly, added.
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07/02/2026 - 06:00
An eight-month expedition will set off soon from Norway on a mission to find new species before the climate crisis and pollution changes the northern ocean for ever
Six scientists and six crew will travel next month to Kirkenes, a remote Arctic town in Norway near the Russian border, to begin an odyssey to one of the most inhospitable, inaccessible and least-studied regions on Earth. There, they will climb onboard a futuristic, floating laboratory – the French-built Tara polar station.
They will enter a harsh and isolating environment: months of complete darkness and temperatures as low as -50C (-58F). Arriving in Norway on 14 August, they will await good conditions and an icebreaker to open a route for them before setting off on an eight-month voyage, overwintering through long, intense polar nights onboard a 26-metre-long, 16-metre-wide vessel built to be frozen into the pack ice, which will drift slowly over the north pole to Greenland.
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07/02/2026 - 05:28
Retailer says sharp rise in fan sales over the latest heatwave weekend left stores scrambling to source stock
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The boss of Currys has said supplies of air conditioning and fans are “tight” ahead of another UK heatwave, expected next week, after a boom in sales sent retailers scrambling to source new stock.
Alex Baldock, chief executive of the electrical goods retailer, said cooling kit had been “flying off the shelves” during June’s record heat in England. Sales of fans were up nearly 3,000% over the most recent heatwave weekend compared with a week earlier, while air conditioning sales increased 330%.
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07/02/2026 - 00:00
Reasons for increase not clear but experts say it could be welcome sign marine ecosystem is becoming healthier
The Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast have long drawn fans of the natural world keen to catch sight of the resident guillemots and puffins.
But as recently as last week, another much bigger black-and-white animal has been delighting wildlife spotters. Orcas have been appearing more regularly than ever before.
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07/02/2026 - 00:00
Wildlife at risk as demand for cropland and water grows to feed 50% rise in farmed animals, campaign alliance says
The number of mammals and poultry farmed worldwide has increased by half in the last two decades, research shows, and the amount of cropland used for feeding livestock has increased by about a quarter.
These increases are putting rising pressure on natural systems, threatening wildlife and plant species and adding to the climate crisis.
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07/02/2026 - 00:00
Poaching and wildfires have driven the country’s jaguar population to a critical level, and until now even rescued animals faced life in captivity
A tentative paw emerged from a steel cage on to the sandy riverbed deep in the Bolivian rainforest. Then, another. Slowly, the female jaguar looked right, left and right again, as if waiting to cross a busy road. Then, muscles stiff from the long journey, it strolled away and disappeared into the undergrowth.
Yaguara had been in captivity since August 2024, after being orphaned as an eight-month-old cub amid Bolivia’s worst recorded wildfire season. As the fires raged, burning more than 10% of the country’s surface area, authorities handed the cub over to a team of veterinarians from the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY), a wild-animal rescue centre.
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07/01/2026 - 14:37
Many seabirds are starving to death as a marine heat wave lingers off California and fish seek deeper, cooler waters
Within minutes of walking on a San Diego beach, marine ornithologist Tammy Russell found the feathered carcasses – one after another.
Some were mixed in with washed up kelp. Others were under rocks.
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07/01/2026 - 11:31
As bird flu reshapes agriculture, small farms operate under strict rules. Just a single case could tank their business
Joshua Beebe often starts his day by cleaning the tires of trucks and cars entering his poultry farm.
“We spray them off and scrub them with a brush. It’s a precaution; the goal is to eliminate as many potential avenues for a pathogen to enter as possible,” said the owner of Tardif Poultry Farm, located in the Connecticut countryside east of Hartford.
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