Planet Earth stories
Painting underwater pictures with sound
Silent marine robots that record sounds underwater are allowing researchers at the University of East Anglia to listen to the oceans as never before.
10 Apr 2018
Tags: Animals, Antarctic, Marine life, Oceans, Robotics, Technology
Skin of the Earth
Exploding populations are challenging the world to keep more people fed using less - and less good quality - land.
22 Mar 2018
Helping species on the move
Meet the software for working out where species will thrive in future, as global warming pushes them north seeking cooler places and key habitat is lost.
8 Mar 2018
How cities draw the heat
It is 15 years since the UK sweltered in the record-breaking 2003 summer heatwave. While the sunshine was welcome to many, it also brought deadly consequences, with more than 2,000 people across England and Wales dying in the stifling heat
22 Feb 2018
Secrets of sudden death of 200,000 antelopes in Central Asia
In May 2015 the sudden death of more than 200,000 saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan baffled the world.
18 Jan 2018
Tags: Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Disease, Ecology, Health, Microbes
On the way to plastic-free oceans
Four days since leaving port, Dr Katsiaryna Pabortsava reaches her destination. She's in the middle of the North Atlantic, thousands of miles from land, and she's looking for microplastics.
8 Jan 2018
Tags: Biodiversity, Marine life, Microplastics, Oceans, Pollution, UK
Our changing Arctic
The Barents Sea is a wild, dark, stormy old ocean. Who would want to be out there on a ship in January?
17 Nov 2017
Seals and our shores
Our relationship with seals has changed significantly over the years but now, more than ever, the focus is on ensuring that our survival does not threaten theirs.
15 Nov 2017
Tags: Animals, Fish, Marine life, Sustainability, UK
Where does bad air come from?
Auchencorth Moss is one of Scotland's distinctive moorlands, this precious habitat is now providing valuable information for scientists working to combat air pollution in cities and towns across the country.
13 Nov 2017
Tags: Atmosphere, Farming, Pollution, UK
Your tropical food trolley
Tropical climates in the depths of Asia, Africa or South America might seem a world away from the checkout queue in your average Scottish supermarket or corner shop. But if your basket contains chocolate, coffee, bananas or rice, you can almost guarantee that what you eat comes from far warmer places thousands of miles away.
10 Nov 2017
Good pointers
When you open up the mapping app on your smartphone, a little blue dot appears showing where you are. Out one side, a little shadow shows which way you're facing. Type in your destination and it leads the way. It knows if you pause and it knows when to tell you to turn.
7 Nov 2017
Tags: Geology, Mapping, Technology
Solving the mystery of Shetland's tsunami sands
Shetland's wild, rugged landscape has long fascinated scientists, but for one British Geological Survey marine geologist, it's the seabed around the islands that have ignited his interest.
6 Nov 2017
Scotland seen by satellites
The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology has used the latest satellite technology to launch new digital maps showing the differences of the UK countryside. The maps show the UK's most built-up, most wooded and most farmed counties.
1 Nov 2017
I'm a puffin scientist
The future looks brighter for the colourful puffins on the Isle of May off the coast of Fife in Scotland.
27 Oct 2017
Tags: Birds, Marine life, UK
X-rays of Scotland's seabed reveal how Ice Age ended
Scientists have X-rayed sediment cores taken from the seabed around the coast of North West Scotland and Shetland to solve the mystery of what happened to Scotland's ice sheet at the end of the Ice Age.
27 Oct 2017
Tags: Climate, Environmental change, Geology, Ice, Oceans, Technology, UK
Meet your inner lizard
An ancient little lizard-like creature from the Scottish Borders is the missing ancestral link between human beings and the fish we evolved from millions of years ago.
24 Oct 2017
Tags: Evolution, Palaeontology, UK
What do you think is the biggest question on Earth?
This 17-19 November at 'UnEarthed. Explore the world at your feet', about 100 NERC-funded scientists are engaging the public with the biggest questions on Earth.
20 Oct 2017
Tags: Natural resources, Public engagement, UK
UK's most wanted...
You've probably heard of the harlequin ladybird and you've certainly seen a grey squirrel, but what about others that might be on their way?
22 Sep 2017
Microplastics in the bellies of creatures living at the bottom of the ocean
Around half of marine creatures living at depths of more than 2,000 metres in the North Atlantic could be eating microplastic material, marine scientists have discovered.
18 Sep 2017
Tags: Biodiversity, Marine life, Microplastics, Oceans, Pollution, UK
30 years of healing the ozone layer
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The signing of the Montreal Protocol was a landmark political event. The treaty is the first in the history of the United Nations to achieve universal ratification. Environmental science made it happen.
11 Sep 2017
Biodiversity detectives!
Take a look at some of the amazing techniques scientists use to follow nature's clues.
8 Sep 2017
Down in the bottom of the deep blue sea
Deep sea covers most of our planet and yet we know more about the surface of the moon than its dark depths.
15 Aug 2017
Tags: Antarctic, Biodiversity, Fish, Genetics, Marine life, Oceans, Reefs
Uncovering changing climate in the UK's seas, coasts and oceans
Climate change is having important effects on UK seas and coastlines and these have been brought together by the UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) in their report published today.
28 Jul 2017
Making clean growth happen
How cutting-edge environmental research supports the growth of the UK economy.
21 Jul 2017
Green and Black Ambassadors
In early 2017 NERC funded 18 projects to engage the UK public with environmental science around challenging issues.
17 Jul 2017
Tags: Public engagement, UK