This is the most dangerous time for our planet | Stephen Hawking

We can’t go on ignoring inequality, because we have the means to destroy our world but not to escape it. As a theoretical physicist based in Cambridge, I have lived my life in an extraordinarily privileged bubble. Cambridge is an unusual town, centred around one of the world’s great universities. Within that town, the scientific […]

Great Barrier Reef valued at $56bn as report warns it’s ‘too big to fail’

Deloitte Access Economics report says reef underpins 64,000 jobs and contributes $6.4bn to economy each year. A new report has valued the Great Barrier Reef at $56bn and warns of vast economic consequences for Australia unless more is done to protect it. The Deloitte Access Economics report says the world heritage-listed reef underpins 64,000 direct […]

Satellite Eye on Earth: May 2017 in pictures

Vesuvius in Italy and volcanoes in northern Tanzania, lights going out in Syria, and flooding in Sri Lanka are among images captured by Nasa and the ESA this month. A vertical view of Vesuvius in southern Italy, taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the International Space Station. The Proxima mission […]

Natural disasters push 26m into poverty each year, says World Bank

Study finds floods, storms and droughts cost global economy $520bn a year and highlights need to tackle climate change. Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and other extreme natural disasters push 26 million people into poverty each year and cost the global economy more than half a trillion dollars in lost consumption, the World Bank has said. A […]