theSIGNAL
ENVIRONMENT
14 August 2026
"The climate is what you expect; the weather is what you get."
Science
Why Britain's Lawns Turn Gold, Not Dead
July 2022 was the driest month ever recorded in England and Wales, and droughts have struck Britain in four of the last five years — yet most lawns recover. The reason lies in grass biology refined over roughly 55 million years of evolution. When moisture disappears, northern European grasses redirect their remaining water inward, protecting the growing tissue buried deep inside the outer leaves. Those outer leaves yellow and die, sacrificing themselves so the plant's core survives. Grasses have used this strategy across conditions far harsher than a British heatwave — they now cover more than 40 percent of Earth's land, from Arctic steppe to tropical savanna.…
- How many consecutive drought summers can even the most resilient grass survive?
Environment
Deadly Fungus Reaches Arctic Bat Caves
In May, two biologists crawling through a limestone cave near Fort Smith, Northwest Territories — roughly 450 miles from the Arctic Circle — found a dead bat coated in white fungus and a second that hissed before retreating into a crack. The culprit was Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the pathogen behind white-nose syndrome, which has killed more than 6.7 million bats across North America over two decades. The fungus rouses hibernating bats prematurely, forcing them to burn fat reserves until they die of starvation or dehydration. Scientists had expected at least another year before it reached Canada's northernmost known bat hibernaculum.…
- Should governments prioritise emergency funding to survey bat populations before white-nose syndrome spreads further?
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"Shattering heat this summer is only a sign of things to come."
Former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government
ASIA · Environment
Typhoon Dolphin: more than a million people evacuated in China as record rainfall dumped on Shanghai
AMERICAS · Environment
Humpbacks return to Rio: the whales are back from the brink of extinction – but will tourism help or hinder?
GLOBAL · Environment
‘Subsidies for fossil fuels ... are pouring fuel on the fire’: your questions on fossil fuel profits and the climate crisis answered
EUROPE · Environment
They cannot even flush their toilets: life in east London blocks where taps often run dry