Science & Environment

Spacecraft and specialized telescopes have been studying the sun closely for decades, probing the secrets of its spots, flares and corona. But neither human nor robotic eyes had properly seen the north or south poles of the sun. On Wednesday, the European Space Agency released the first clear images of the sun’s south pole, which were captured in late March …

Gwndaf Hughes Science videographer Never before seen pictures of the Sun’s south pole The first ever video and images of the Sun’s south pole have been sent back to Earth by the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft. The new images will enable scientists to learn how the Sun cycles between periods of raging storms and quiet times. This is …

Over the past two decades, more than 5 million U.S. households from California to Georgia to Maine have put solar panels on their roofs, drawing energy from the sun and reducing their electric bills. But that could soon come to a crashing halt. The big domestic policy bill passed by House Republicans last month would, by the end of this …

Niede Guidon, a Brazilian archaeologist whose work called into question a longstanding theory of how the Americas were first populated by humans, and who almost single-handedly transformed a hardscrabble region of northeast Brazil into the Serra da Capivara National Park, died on Wednesday at her home near the park, in São Raimundo Nonato. She was 92. Marian Rodrigues, the park’s …

As the Trump administration clamped down on the country’s medical research funding apparatus in recent months, scientists and administrators at the National Institutes of Health often privately wondered how much autonomy the agency’s director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, had. After all, the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk’s signature cost-cutting project, helped drive decisions to cancel or delay research grants. Other …

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to weaken a Biden-era regulation that required power plants to slash pollutants, including the emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin that impairs brain development, according to an internal agency document. Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, intends to announce the proposed changes within days, according to two people who have been briefed on the agency’s plans. Mr. …

Kate Stephens and Victoria Gill BBC News science team Getty Images China has built one of the world’s first small modular nuclear reactors, also dubbed ‘mini nukes’ Rolls Royce has been selected to develop and build the UK’s first small nuclear power stations. It is hoped small modular reactors (SMRs) will help meet the UK’s growing electricity demands, be faster …

Jonah Fisher Environment correspondent Getty Images About 3.5 million tonnes of sewage sludge, that’s enough to fill nearly 900 Olympic sized swimming pools are spread of farmers fields in England and Wales each year. Successive governments have failed to deal with the threat posed by spreading sewage sludge containing toxic chemicals on farmers’ fields, a former chair of the Environment …

Esme Stallard Climate and science correspondent Reporting fromUN Oceans Conference, Nice, France Getty Images Unregulated mining in the deep sea should not be allowed to go ahead, the head of the United Nations has warned. “The deep sea cannot become the Wild West,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said at the opening of the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, France. …

A ban on a “destructive” type of fishing that drags large nets along the seafloor could be extended across English waters, the government has said. The proposal would expand the ban on bottom trawling from 18,000km2 to 48,000km2 (around 18,500 sq miles) of the UK’s offshore areas that are already designated as protected. The plan is subject to a 12-week …