Planet Earth stories
Burying carbon for good - Is the Southern Ocean up to it?
Adding iron to the Southern Ocean may not have the climate benefits that advocates of geoengineering have hoped for, a new study suggests.
15 May 2014
Tags: Climate, Environmental change, Geoengineering, Oceans
Podcast: The storms that hit southwest England
This week in the Planet Earth podcast, Gerd Masselink and Paul Russell of Plymouth University talk about the work they're doing to assess the impacts of some of the worst winter storms on record on the communities and coastlines of southwest England.
13 May 2014
Breakthrough in understanding swarming potato blight spores
Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding how microbial spores, which caused the infamous Irish potato famine are so successful at infecting plants.
13 May 2014
Tags: Biodiversity, Biology, Earth system, Environmental change, Microbes, Plants, UK
Global warming making wet winters more likely
Wet winters are now more likely in southern England than they would be without global warming.
30 Apr 2014
Tags: Atmosphere, Climate, Environmental change, UK, Weather
Smelly plants could be natural pest control
Bombarding whiteflies with smells from different plants may stop them damaging crops, say scientists trying to understand traditional organic farming techniques.
30 Apr 2014
Podcast: River pollution and its effects on birds
This week in the Planet Earth podcast, Steve Ormerod of Cardiff University and John Clark of the RSPB explain why toxic chemicals banned long ago are still causing problems for Eurasian dippers and their chicks.
29 Apr 2014
Soil doctors
A collaboration between scientists and food suppliers is improving how we manage one of the most crucial ingredients for growing vegetables. Sue Nelson met Karl Ritz, Robert Simmons and Guy Thallon outside Cranfield University's National Soil Resources Institute, to find out about Soil for Life.
25 Apr 2014
Tags: Ecology, Farming, Fungi, Natural resources, Soils, Sustainability
New critter discovered on whale carcass
A new species of bug, similar in appearance to the common woodlouse, has been found plastered all over a whale carcass on the floor of the deep Southern Ocean.
22 Apr 2014
Podcast: Tackling air pollution
This week in the Planet Earth podcast, Ranjeet Sokhi and Kevin Douglas of the University of Hertfordshire explain why scientists are calling for greater controls on so-called non-exhaust emissions to combat Britain's air pollution problem.
15 Apr 2014
Tags: Atmosphere, Podcasts, Pollution, UK
Podcast: Measuring methane above the Arctic
This week in the Planet Earth podcast, Michelle Cain of the University of Cambridge and Stéphane Bauguitte of the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements explain how and why they're measuring methane in the atmosphere above the Arctic - a region that's warming twice as fast as anywhere else on our planet.
1 Apr 2014
Tags: Arctic, Ice, Natural resources, Podcasts, Pollution