Nature

A carrion crow flies low over tall, dry grasses at Ouaisné Common, Jersey. Its wings are mid-beat, splayed and slightly curved, revealing layered black feathers with a subtle gloss. The bird’s head is slightly tilted, and its beak points forward, giving a sense of focused motion against the soft, blurred background of beige grass.

Crowsight

Crows instinctively recognise geometric patterns, suggesting shared evolutionary intuition.

A sharp silhouette of a praying mantis is shown in profile, perched on a slender twig, with the setting sun forming a glowing, circular backdrop. The mantis’s spiked forelegs are raised in a characteristic pose, while its antennae extend forward. The golden-orange light creates a soft gradient, fading into dark at the edges, casting a dramatic, almost ethereal effect around the insect.

Truing the Sun

Many insects navigate using the sun, adjusting for time, season, and place. They may do so through brain waves and simple maths, revealing nature’s elegant solutions.

A dense bloom of translucent moon jellyfish drifts in greenish-blue water. Their round, bell-shaped bodies and delicate, trailing tentacles create a shimmering, ghostly pattern on the surface. Light reflects off the water, accentuating the jellyfish's almost ethereal appearance as they float in unison.

Where Resistance Grows

Jellyfish blooms fuel bacterial growth, increasing antimicrobial resistance gene spread – a risk to ocean and human health.

A golf course at Newbiggin Golf Club with manicured green fairways and sandy dunes in the foreground. A tractor is maintaining the course while a golfer pulls a trolley nearby. In the background, wind turbines and power lines stretch across the horizon, contrasting the natural landscape with industrial elements.

Greening the Fairway

Golf courses occupy more land than renewable energy – repurposing them could boost solar and wind capacity.

A large airtanker plane drops a vivid red cloud of fire retardant over a smoky, burning hillside in Chelan, Washington. The wildfire, part of the Chelan Complex fire, creeps dangerously close to residential homes nestled at the base of the hills. Thick smoke drifts across the landscape, partially obscuring the scorched terrain. The scene captures the intense effort to protect the community from the advancing flames.

Burned to Earth

Wildfire retardants have been found to contain toxic metals, impacting soil and water.

A schematic representation of an owl hunting a rodent at night, illustrating the interplay of radiometric quantities affecting camouflage. The owl's white underparts reflect light, while the diagram shows arrows representing light from the moonlit sky, ground reflectance, and other radiometric factors, demonstrating how the owl blends into the background. The rodent, depicted below the owl, observes the scene. Various mathematical symbols label radiometric quantities, including sky radiance, ground reflectance, and light interactions.

Beneath the Hunter’s Gaze

Barn owls’ white plumage camouflages them against moonlit skies, enabling stealthy hunting by blending into their background and avoiding detection.

Photograph of a boreal forest in late winter, featuring tall evergreen trees dusted with snow. The ground is blanketed in unbroken white snow, while the trees reach upwards under a clear blue sky. Soft shadows stretch across the snow, creating a serene and crisp winter scene

Drunken Forests

Boreal forests face warming risks as unstable permafrost reduces tree growth, limiting carbon storage.

The image depicts a lush, vibrant Amazon rainforest scene with dense green foliage on both sides of a calm river, which reflects the sunlight filtering through the trees. Sunlight streams in from above, casting a warm, golden glow over the scene, illuminating patches of the water and highlighting the rich diversity of plants and trees. The scene is serene and alive, evoking the natural beauty and tranquility of the Amazon rainforest.

Roots of Renewal

Protecting the Amazon rainforest reduces deforestation, improves air quality, and lowers respiratory diseases, benefiting both biodiversity and human health.

An impressionist oil painting of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The scene depicts a vast, frozen landscape with rugged, cracked ice formations stretching into the distance under a moody sky. The dark sea nearby hints at hidden depths, with subtle warmth suggested beneath the ice. Scattered icebergs catch glimmers of light as the sun begins to set, casting a serene, cold glow over the landscape. The brushstrokes are expressive and textured, creating a dynamic, atmospheric impression of the raw beauty of the Antarctic environment.

Beneath the Shelf’s Skin

Warm water under Antarctica’s ice shelves speeds up melting. A Seaglider study provides insights into this process, aiding climate predictions.

A night scene painted in an impressionist oil style, showing bats flying across a softly lit, moonlit sky. The full moon casts a gentle glow over a textured landscape below, with subtle brushstrokes creating an ethereal, mysterious atmosphere. The bats are mid-flight, their silhouettes highlighted against the illuminated night sky, while the terrain below features shadowed trees and fields, blending in gentle, blurred hues characteristic of impressionist art.

A Map of Echoes

Bats use echolocation for long-distance navigation, creating sound-based maps, with vision enhancing accuracy, showing adaptability in challenging environments.