They can communicate with each other about threats, summon help from predatory killers – and some can even count – but does this mean plants are conscious?Last month, at a gathering at New York University, a group of prominent biologists and philosophers widened the perimeter of a very exclusive club. They declared that there is “a realistic possibility”...

Science Advances report also finds people of color and low-income residents in US disproportionately affectedUsing a gas stove increases nitrogen dioxide exposure to levels that exceed public health recommendations, a new study shows. The report, published Friday in Science Advances, found that people of color and low-income residents in the US were...

Even products marketed as ‘organic’ may be toxic, say campaigners, with risks for the wider ecosystemGardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as “organic”, experts fear, as they call for tighter regulation on products that poison the invertebrates.Earthworms may appear humble, but Charles Darwin thought...

Tebay, Cumbria: It’s been a tricky season, especially with the wet start to the year, but this remarkable device changes everythingIn his book The Hill Shepherd, written in 1977, Edward Hart says that “the hill shepherd works effectively with the very minimum of equipment”. I was thinking about this quote as I laced my Gore-Tex boots and pulled on my...

More frequent heatwaves mean bees are unable to thermoregulate their hives – further endangering a species already in declineBumblebee nests may be overheating, killing off broods and placing one of the Earth’s critical pollinators in decline as temperatures rise, new research has found.Around the world, many species of Bombus, or bumblebee, have suffered...

For 30 years, Brian McNeill hunted the world’s second-biggest fish from small boats off the wild west coast of Ireland. Now the species has made a recovery so rapid it has astounded scientistsThe ambush was simple. A spotter on a hill would scan the sea and when he saw the big black fins approach, he would shout down to the boatmen. They would ready...