Image copyrightSam RobinsonImage caption Etna is usually doing something. That makes it a draw for scientists and tourists
When we arrived in Sicily, we discovered __that we were in luck: Mount Etna had just started to erupt again.
I was part of a BBC team who had come to film a report on volcano monitoring.
Getting to witness an awakened Etna was about as exciting as it gets for a science correspondent. I just didn’t intend to have quite such a close encounter.
The conditions were perfect - blue skies and barely any wind. And as we travelled towards the snow-covered summit, the thunderous booms as Etna spewed magma from its south-east crater reverberated all around.
Media captionRachel Price kept the camera rolling as we retreated
We had come to see a lava flow __that had appeared overnight. A giant stream of rock, glowing red, was oozing down the slopes - and we had been taken there by a scientist from Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, who was monitoring its progress.
Dozens of tourists had also been brought by Etna’s guides to see the spectacle.
The lava was so slow moving it’s not usually considered dangerous, and the fierce heat as the rocks fizzled and crackled preventing anyone from getting too close.
Image caption Clothing was burnt through as the hot rock fragments came down
But about 20 minutes after arriving, a burst of white steam emerged from the lava – it didn’t make much of a noise or look especially threatening – but the guides started asking people to move.
Then, moments later, there was an explosion. The lava had mixed with snow and ice, and boiling rocks and boulders were flung up high into the air. They started to rain down in every direction.
Everyone started to run, pelted with the deadly, hot debris. But it was impossible to see – steam from the explosion had caused a whiteout.
Image copyrightSam RobinsonImage caption People had gone up the mountain to see a new lava flow
I fell as I was trying to get away, trying to cover my head. All I could hear was the thud of rocks hitting all around.
Image copyrightSam RobinsonImage caption We were on Etna to learn about new monitoring techniques
I truly thought that we were going to die. Somehow, our camerawoman Rachel Price kept on filming – her footage is astonishing.
Even when a boiling rock fell into her coat, quickly burning through her clothes and reaching her skin, she kept the camera rolling.
Producer Alison Francis, too, was hit by falling debris – her coat was peppered with burns where rocks had struck, and her hat saved her from a more serious strike to the head.
Amidst the chaos, the sound of an engine rose, and the driver of the snowcat vehicle that had taken us up the slopes started to beep its horn to help us locate it.
Dodging more flying rocks, we got on. A guide screamed in agony from a dislocated shoulder, others were bloody, burned and bruised – but we had all managed to escape.
Image caption We climbed into the snowcat with cuts, bruises and small burns
Badly shaken, I spoke to the volcanologist whose work we had been filming. Bleeding from a hit to the head, he told me it was the most dangerous incident he’d ever experienced at Etna, which he’d spent 30 years studying.
As we took stock and spoke to the medics who had quickly appeared on the scene, it was astonishing to realise that there were no serious injuries or even deaths.
Watching Rachel’s footage back, we can see that we all had an extremely narrow escape. It reminded us just how dangerous these forces of nature can be.
Image copyrightCopernicus Sentinel data (2017)/ESAImage caption Europe's Sentinel-2a satellite pictured Thursday's lava flow from space
Media captionMoment BBC crew caught in Etna eruption
A BBC team and a number of tourists have suffered minor injuries after being caught up in an incident on the erupting volcano Mount Etna in Sicily.
"Many injured - some head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises," tweeted BBC science reporter Rebecca Morelle.
Lava flow mixed with steam had caused a huge explosion, which pelted the group with boiling rocks and steam, she said.
About eight people had been injured, with some evacuated from the mountain by rescue teams, she added.
Image copyrightHeather Sharp
"Bbc team all ok - some cuts/ bruises and burns. Very shaken though - it was extremely scary," she relayed in one of a series of tweets as she ran down the mountain.
The BBC reporter said a volcanologist at the scene told her it was the most dangerous incident he had experienced in his 30-year-career.
Image copyrightAPImage caption Mount Etna is Europe's tallest active volcano
She said a guide had suffered a dislocated shoulder, while a 78-year-old woman had been very close to the blast, but managed to get away safely.
Members of the group ran away from the blast, trying to reach the safety of a snow mobile, she added.
Image copyrightRebecca Morelle
Lava ran into snow - Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent
Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. That makes it a big draw not only for the scientists who want to understand better how these mountains work, but also for tourists who want to be amazed by a spectacular show of fire.
But you do not just wander up the mountain. If you're a reporter, you go with an experienced science team; if you're a tourist, you go with guides who are familiar with the sights and sounds __that spell danger.
But even so, a volcano can often do something __that catches everyone by surprise.
In this case a flow of lava ran into snow, producing superheated steam that sent fragments of rock flying in all directions. Everyone counts themselves lucky to have escaped with just cuts and bruises.
Rebecca Morelle's team was on site filming for a report about advances in volcano monitoring. What happened illustrates just how much we still need to learn about these mountains.
Everyone had been taken from the mountain by a team of rescue workers who were "brilliant", Ms Morelle said.
Media captionFootage from Thursday shows Etna spewing rock into the air
The Catania operation centre of Italy's volcanology institute confirmed that three of its volcanologists had been on the mountain when the explosion took place, and said some had suffered injuries, but gave no detail.
Mount Etna, which is Europe's tallest active volcano, spewed lava up into the sky in the early hours of Thursday morning, for the third time in three weeks.
Image copyrightCopernicus Sentinel data (2017)/ESAImage caption Europe's Sentinel-2a satellite pictured Thursday's lava flow from space
Image copyrightBirdLife CyprusImage caption Acacia bushes provide an ideal roosting spot for migrating birds
British authorities in Cyprus have been criticised for failing to effectively tackle the poaching of songbirds on a military base.
Some 1.7 million birds were illegally killed across the Republic of Cyprus in 2016 according to a new report.
More than 800,000 were killed on the British military territory __that extends for around 100 sq km (100 sq miles).
The UK authorities in Cyprus said __that their efforts had helped to halt what had been a rising trend.
Hot spot identified
The study was carried out by the RSPB and Birdlife Cyprus, during the autumn migration season between September and October in 2016.
Within the territory is a spot where nearly half of migratory bird species from Europe, Africa and the Middle East are thought to stop to rest - Cape Pyla.
According to today's report, Cape Pyla is the worst spot in the country for trapping.
The songbirds are sold on the black market to be pickled, roasted or fried and eaten in secret as a local delicacy. Criminal gangs are thought to earn huge sums from the trade.
Image copyrightBirdLife CyprusImage caption The mist nets can hold up to 400 birds and are almost invisible when strung between poles in the bushes.
Along with the British bases, the survey covered the popular holiday destination areas of Famagusta and Larnaca along with Ayios Theodorus - Maroni.
The poachers have found that the most efficient way of trapping birds is to use a "mist net" strung between acacia bushes.
Acacia is an invasive species that spreads like a weed and is the right height and density to make an inviting roosting spot.
Fake birdsong is played from MP3 players hidden in the branches which deceives the birds into thinking it's a safe place. They then fly straight in to the near-invisible net. One net can trap 400 birds. Getting rid of the bushes would make it very difficult to set effective traps.
But today's report criticises the British military authorities for not pressing ahead with plans to clear acacia bushes from the territory. An operation to remove the bushes was stopped after a protest last year when trucks were used to blockade the main road in and out of the base.
Image copyrightBirdLife CyprusImage caption Around 800,000 birds were killed on British territory in Cyprus in 2016 according to most recent figures.
Martin Harper, RSPB Conservation Director said: "This report sadly highlights that the British base is the number one bird killing hotspot on the whole island of Cyprus. Many much loved garden bird species are being trapped and killed for huge profit by criminal gangs. The trappers' brazen prevention of the removal of their criminal infrastructure from MoD land could never be tolerated here in the UK."
According to a spokesman for the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs): "The UK is committed to tackling illegal bird crime and is pleased that the RSPB has recognised a significant increase in enforcement activity that has led to a record number of arrests, equipment seizures, prosecutions and fines. For the second year running we have halted the rising trend in numbers of birds killed."
The spokesman also pointed out that from a force of 142 officers, 11 are dedicated to anti-poaching.
However while some poachers have been hit with fines of up to 17,000 euros, only two or three have ever ended up in prison.
The SBA is limited in what it can do to reduce demand for the songbirds. The songbird dish is called "ambelopoulia" and almost all of the restaurants serving it are found in the Republic. A meal of 12 birds can cost up to £60. A poacher can demand £1 a bird. It is a lucrative, tax-free income.
Martin Hellicar, Director of BirdLife Cyprus said: "While our latest findings clearly show that the worst bird killing hotspot in Cyprus remains on MoD land, we cannot ignore the distasteful fact that the restaurants serving trapped birds operate within the Cyprus Republic. Enforcement against these law-breaking restaurants has been limited - at best - in recent years, and the Cypriot authorities must change this."
The UK government has announced plans to ban microbeads used in cosmetics and cleaning products by 2017.
The small pieces of plastic commonly found in toothpaste, exfoliating body scrubs and other household products and are thought to damage the environment.
Environmentalists fear they are building up in oceans and potentially entering the food chain.
A consultation on how a ban would work will start later this year, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has announced.
A number of cosmetic companies have made voluntary commitments to phase out the use of microbeads by 2020.
How do you know if a product contains microbeads?
Image copyrightThinkstock
Products __that contain the tiny bits of plastic won't necessarily say "microbeads" in the list of ingredients.
Instead, look for the words polyethylene, polypropylene and polymethylmethacrylate - the chemical names for plastics. Nylon may also be listed as well as the abbreviations PET, PTFE and PMMA.
There are several websites listing products __that do and do not include plastic such as Beat the Microbead. It also has a free app where you can check products by scanning the barcode with your smartphone camera.
Many cosmetics brands include information on their websites. Johnson & Johnson which produces face scrubs under the brands Neutrogena and Clean & Clear has committed to phasing out microbeads by the end of 2017.
Proctor and Gamble which owns Crest toothpaste, Gillette and Olay, has also promised to stop using them by next year.
Read more: Why are microbeads controversial?
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee last month said the government needed to step in to protect the environment as soon as is practicable, after it was revealed a single shower can result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean.
Mrs Leadsom said: "Most people would be dismayed to know the face scrub or toothpaste they use was causing irreversible damage to the environment, with billions of indigestible plastic pieces poisoning sea creatures.
"Adding plastic to products like face washes and body scrubs is wholly unnecessary when harmless alternatives can be used."
She said it was the "next step in tackling microplastics in our seas" following the introduction of the 5p plastic bag charge, which was introduced in England in October.
Image copyrightSCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYImage caption Microbeads are used in cosmetics, including toothpaste, to add body and provide abrasion
Professor Richard Thompson, a marine biologist from Plymouth University, welcomed the decision.
He said: "Over 680 tonnes of mircrobeads are used in the UK alone every year. That's substantially more than all of the litter we pick up on our beaches in voluntary beach cleans each year, so it's not a trivial quantity.
"The sooner we can make progress with avoidable, unnecessary emissions, because it's not clear to me at all why we need to cleanse ourselves by rubbing our skin with millions of small, plastic particles. What's the societal benefit there?"
The environment committee's report suggested microplastic pollution could be more damaging to the environment than larger pieces of plastic because its size makes it more likely to be eaten by wildlife and then potentially enter the food chain.
As an example, it said a plate of six oysters can contain up to 50 particles of plastic.
More than 280 marine species have been found to ingest microplastics, but the committee said much more research was needed into plastic pollution because there was huge uncertainty about the ecological risk.
It added there was "little evidence" about the potential human health impacts of microplastic pollution, but said further research was "clearly required".
'Credit to May'
Commenting ahead of the government's move, Greenpeace UK senior oceans campaigner Louise Edge said: "It's a credit to Theresa May's government that they've listened to concerns from the public, scientists and MPs, and taken a first step towards banning microbeads.
"Marine life doesn't distinguish between plastic from a face wash and plastic from a washing detergent, so the ban should be extended to microplastics in any product that could be flushed down the drain.
"If Theresa May wants to show real leadership on this issue, that's the kind of ban she should back."
The US recently became the first country to announce it would ban microbead use in cosmetics, with pressure growing globally to take action.
The European Commission is also currently developing proposals to ban them in cosmetics across the EU, following calls from a number of member states.
Image caption Concentrations of microplastic were greatest near coastal urban areas, the study showed
Microscopic plastic debris from washing clothes is accumulating in the marine environment and could be entering the food chain, a study has warned.
Researchers traced the "microplastic" back to synthetic clothes, which released up to 1,900 tiny fibres per garment every time they were washed.
Earlier research showed plastic smaller than 1mm were being eaten by animals and getting into the food chain.
The findings appeared in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
"Research we had done before... showed __that when we looked at all the bits of plastic in the environment, about 80% was made up from smaller bits of plastic," said co-author Mark Browne, an ecologist now based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"This really led us to the idea of what sorts of plastic are there and where did they come from."
Dr Browne, a member of the US-based research network National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, said the tiny plastic was a concern because evidence showed __that it was making its way into the food chain.
"Once the plastics had been eaten, it transferred from [the animals'] stomachs to their circulation system and actually accumulated in their cells," he told BBC News.
In order to identify how widespread the presence of microplastic was on shorelines, the team took samples from 18 beaches around the globe, including the UK, India and Singapore.
"We found that there was no sample from around the world that did not contain pieces of microplastic."
Image caption The smallest fibres could end up causing huge problems worldwide
Dr Browne added: "Most of the plastic seemed to be fibrous.
"When we looked at the different types of polymers we were finding, we were finding that polyester, acrylic and polyamides (nylon) were the major ones that we were finding."
The data also showed that the concentration of microplastic was greatest in areas near large urban centres.
In order to test the idea that sewerage discharges were the source of the plastic discharges, the team worked with a local authority in New South Wales, Australia.
"We found exactly the same proportion of plastics," Dr Browne revealed, which led the team to conclude that their suspicions had been correct.
As a result, Dr Browne his colleague Professor Richard Thompson from the University of Plymouth, UK carried out a number of experiments to see what fibres were contained in the water discharge from washing machines.
"We were quite surprised. Some polyester garments released more than 1,900 fibres per garment, per wash," Dr Browne observed.
"It may not sound like an awful lot, but if that is from a single item from a single wash, it shows how things can build up.
"It suggests to us that a large proportion of the fibres we were finding in the environment, in the strongest evidence yet, was derived from the sewerage as a consequence from washing clothes."
Image copyrightJon BrackImage caption The report says policy makers and producers must find ways to deal with waste __that can harm the environment
A study has questioned plastic's non-hazardous ranking, as an estimated 150 million tonnes "disappears" from the global waste stream each year.
Researchers outlined measures __that can be used to shed light on the wider environmental impact of waste plastic.
An estimated 150 millions of tonnes of plastic "disappears" from the global waste stream each year, much of it is believed to end up in the environment.
The findings appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"The issue with plastic waste in the environment is that plastic has a non-hazardous ranking," explained co-author Mark Browne, from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"It has the same ranking - at the moment - as food scraps or grass clippings. This is in contrast to electrical goods, which have a hard ranking attached to them.
He added: "As you don't really have a structure to deal with the plastics we use in packaging or products, they find their way into the environment."
Quoting the estimated 150 million tonnes of "lost" plastic, Dr Browne - a member of the research team at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) - said the unaccounted plastic was a concern.
"We cannot account for it in the waste stream," he told BBC News.
"There is a real issue there, both in terms of the quantity and in terms of impacts.
Known knowns
Previous work by researchers at the NCEAS had shown that microscopic pieces of plastic (known as microplastic) were ingested by organisms, having a detrimental impact on their health.
Dr Browne observed: "We know a lot about the sub-lethal impact of bits of plastic but what about the ecological impacts?
"Are there impacts on populations or assemblages? Is this having an impact on ecosystems themselves?"
Dr Browne and his team set about reviewing existing literature to build up an understanding about what was known about plastic waste's large-scale impacts.
"We looked at combining all of the studies to try and find out what the evidence base was.
"What we found was that these types of plastics (from microscopic flecks to plastic nets stretching for hundreds of metres) could cause a whole range of impacts."
However, the team identified that most studies were isolated and did not provide a comprehensive overview needed by policymakers.
Dr Browne suggested that it was necessary to "plug the gap" between the materials' non-hazardous ranking and the scientific evidence that challenged that ranking.
In their paper, the team wrote: "Studies are required at multiple levels of biological organisation (from molecular and cellular levels through to populations and assemblages) that consider what is causing observed patterns of change to populations or assemblages at contaminated sites."
Dealing with the problem
It was important for policymakers and producers to fill the void in current measures to deal with waste that could harm the wider environment, they added.
"Through this, we shift the focus from traditional endpoints to developing mechanistic understanding of effects of debris at lower biological scales (where most is known) to lesser known and more worrisome ecological and policy-relevant effects."
Dr Browne added: "There has to be a concerted effort to either do the necessary research to find out how large those problems could be."
"If there is research available then it is used in the decision-making process and polices are adapted to take in the types of hazards."
He explained that there were already examples of where the release of plastic products were tightly regulated.
"It is quite interesting that within the medical field… a plastic product, such as an artificial joint, cannot go on the market until it has been adequately tested to determine how safe it is.
"But when it comes to products used in the environment, or could make their way into the environment, we do not see that sort of testing happening."
Dr Browne acknowledged that plastic products were omnipresent in modern society but he called on policymakers and manufacturers to move to an approach that "used science to make the decisions for us".
He added that there were other materials that had long been recognised as pollutants or hazardous, yet systems had been developed to control or manage the risks to the environment.
"The ones they treat most seriously are the ones that can cause impacts on a whole range of assemblages and populations, and there are a whole series of tools available.
"Yet - at the moment - before plastic products are going on the market, these tools are not being used."
Media captionDr Richard Kirby's footage shows plankton ingesting plastic microfibre
A scientist has filmed the moment plastic microfibre is ingested by plankton, illustrating how the material is affecting life beneath the waves.
The footage shows one way __that waste plastic could be entering the marine and global food chain.
An estimated 150 million tonnes of plastic "disappears" from the world's waste stream each year.
Waste plastic in the world's seas has been recognised by the United Nations as a major environmental problem.
"When I saw it, I thought __that here was something, visually, to convey to the public the problem of plastic in the sea," said Richard Kirby, who recorded the footage.
"What intrigues me is that because the fibre has made a loop inside the animal's gut, you can actually see the consequences of something as small as the arrow worm consuming microplastic.
Dr Kirby, a self-styled Plankton Pundit, said that people were familiar with the idea of large marine animals - such as whales, seals and birds - swallowing plastic bags.
"But here we have something where we actually see that at a tiny fibre has caused a blockage in something as small as a Sagitta setosa, a member of the plankton, stopping food progressing down.
"An arrow worm's gut extends for the whole length of its body, so this has stopped anything moving down the gut from about just below its head."
Choking oceans
Although Dr Kirby had witnessed the effects of microplastic on plankton before, this was the first time he had filmed it.
He added that this incident was not an isolated occurrence, saying that the sight of plankton ingesting plastic was a relatively common sight in the sample he had collected from British waters.
The issue of plastic waste in the marine environment has been rising up the political and policy agenda.
The United Nations has estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of waste plastic per square mile of sea.
The international body's environment agency, UNEP, has launched a #CleanSeas campaign.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, the organisation's head, Erik Solheim, said: "It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans."
He added that plastic waste in the ocean was allowing the material to enter the food chain.
Mr Solheim stated: "We've stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop."
The UN estimated that as many as 51 trillion (500 times as many stars estimated to be in our galaxy) particles of microplastic are in the world's seas and oceans.
The widespread presence of plastic in our waters meant that it was a problem for arrow worms, said Emily Baxter, senior marine conservation officer for the North West Wildlife Trusts.
"Their scientific name, chaetognaths, means bristle jaw, and that comes directly back to what they look like," she told BBC News.
"There are about 100 species worldwide. In UK waters they tend to be about one to two centimetres in length.
She added: "They play a really important ecological role in the marine food web. They are voracious predators of other planktonic animals and also represent an important food source for fish, squid and other things that eat plankton.
Dr Baxter said that the video posed a very worrying scenario.
"Even if we stopped producing plastic today this problem is going to continue for a long time. We see it now coming into the bottom of the food chain and potentially affecting the food chain all the way up.
"That problem is not going to go away," she observed.
'Genie out of the bottle'
Dr Kirby said that the "genie was out of the bottle" and that this was visual evidence of the impact of plastic waste in the marine environment.
Previous studies have highlighted the problem of plastic waste in the world's oceans. Researchers have voiced concern over the fact that plastic is listed as non-hazardous waste.
Dr Mark Browne, who has published numerous papers on the effects of plastic waste on the marine environment, said: "Plastic waste is infiltrating the ecosystem at a global scale and this video footage adds to the growing body of evidence showing that polymers are routinely ingested by animals.
"The key question remains: does this material cause ecological impacts and why are governments not using robust science to replace problematic products with safer alternatives?
"This could be done if they tasked ecologists and engineers to work together to identify and remove features of products that (if found as debris in habitats) might cause ecological impacts," he told BBC News.
"Similar approaches are already used to engineer infrastructure ecologically or to make less toxic 'biocompatible' medical devices."
On Friday, The Washington Post reportedly obtained a memo from within the Trump administration about proposed funding for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The memo outlined steep cuts to several divisions, including the elimination of the $73 million Sea Grant research program, cuts to climate research divisions, and more.
But the biggest cut The Post reported was to the agency's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service—NOAA’s satellite division—which would see its budget cut by 22 percent, or $513 million. The operates 16 satellites __that orbit the Earth at a wide variety of altitudes and positions, gathering data __that researchers in both the public and private sector rely on to do their jobs.
The 45th administration has previously proposed deep cuts to NASA’s Earth Sciences division. NOAA and NASA frequently work together to launch satellites capable of monitoring conditions here on Earth. Cutting both programs to the bone would impact not only climate researchers, but the lives of everyday citizens.
Here are 14 things that NOAA’s satellites help monitor, from agriculture to baseball.
They help us see what’s coming.
If you've ever checked the news before a big weather event, you’ve already seen NOAA’s satellites in action. While some images of major storms are captured by NASA satellites, it’s NOAA satellites that are tasked with monitoring weather 24/7 as it’s forming, following everything from blue skies to blizzards.. While the NOAA division that is responsible for much of the forecast—the National Weather Service (NWS)—would only see a budgetary cut of about five percent, the NWS frequently relies on data from NOAA satellites to make their forecasts more accurate.
They help other people see what's coming, too.
The world is a big place. It’s far too large for any one country to monitor all the weather alone. But just focusing on what’s happening inside our national borders isn’t very useful when a Polar Vortex moves down from Canada, or a Hurricane skirts the Bahamas en route to Florida. NOAA’s satellites are part of a global network of countries around the world that cooperate and exchange satellite imagery, dispersing data on ocean temperatures, weather patterns, and more. They even coordinate on responses to natural disasters.
They help farmers.
NOAA satellites don’t just monitor weather. They also monitor agriculture across the country. Data from NOAA satellites is essential in the USDA’s monitoring of plant and crop health. In addition to measuring soil moisture, precipitation, and temperature, NOAA satellites help farmers get information about plant health, vegetation heights, and water supplies (like lake levels) which can help farmers keep their crops healthy, or help them prepare for a bad year.
They give us a better perspective.
NOAA satellites help us get an otherwise impossible perspective on severe weather events. They monitor wildfires from space, helping firefighters get a wider view of whats happening in the inferno they’re fighting on the ground. They also monitor ice conditions in rivers in winter, which can help predict and prevent severe winter floods. Knowing where the ice is and how it's moving allows officials to warn people downstream before the ice dam breaks.
They’re getting better all the time.
NOAA’s latest satellite, GOES-16, can do things that no other satellite can do. On Monday, NOAA showed off one of the satellite's most shocking new features—a lightning tracker that allows forecasters to get an even more advanced view of thunderstorms, giving them a heads-up when a storm is intensifying. The satellite enables forecasters to give the public more warning when a serious storm is about to strike.
They help find faster trade routes.
NOAA’s satellites monitor sea ice, which is rapidly thinning. While that’s not great in general, melting in the Arctic does mean that the Northwest passage, a route between Asia and Europe across the Arctic, is slowly opening up. That means faster trade, but only if shipping companies (or cruise lines) know when the sea ice has receded enough for safe travel. NOAA satellites are ready to give captains a heads up.
They save hundreds of lives each year.
In 2016, NOAA satellites helped save 307 lives. The satellites are part of the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) System, a global network that helps pinpoint emergency beacons on land and sea, helping search and rescue operations rescue people stranded just about anywhere on the planet.
They’re helping baseball teams.
Even Major League teams turn to NOAA to play ball. Last winter, an undisclosed team contacted NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, part of the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service that also oversees satellites. The team was looking for weather data. Even small changes in altitude, humidity, and temperature can change how the ball moves during a game. Sure, it’s a small thing—and not nearly as important as wildfires or storm tracking—but it is the great American pastime.
They can see public health risks before we can.
You can’t necessarily track individual mosquitoes from space. But NOAA can and does track malaria risk using satellites by monitoring vegetation in malaria-prone areas. It can also track the development of algal blooms, which can be toxic to ocean life (and, by extension, to the humans that rely on those fisheries.)
They help keep the lights on.
GOES-16, DSCOVR and the other NOAA satellites aren’t just pointed at the Earth. They’re also watching what’s coming in from space. NOAA is the agency that gives power companies a heads-up if they notice any solar flares or coronal mass ejections streaming off the sun. Solar wind can cause serious issues with power grids on Earth, which is why energy companies rely on NOAA to keep our power-hungry society going strong.
They help us fly safely.
NOAA’s history with flight goes back to the very beginning. Their precursor, the U.S. Weather Bureau, helped the Wright Brothers choose Kitty Hawk as the site for their very first flight. That legacy continues today. Satellites monitor aviation hazards like volcanic ash.
They help us clean up after ourselves.
When the Deepwater Horizon disaster struck in 2010, NOAA’s satellites tracked the oil slick as it spread. Since then, NOAA has continued developing technologies that would make responses to future oil spills even more detailed.
They help us stay hydrated.
While some of the best data on droughts comes from on-the-ground measures of soil moisture, precipitation, and other factors, satellites can help measure the extent of droughts ravaging communities and farmland. NOAA satellites track droughts using multiple measures, including vegetation health.
They help us get the big picture.
The only way to figure out how much the climate is changing is to actually monitor those changes over a long, sustained period of time. NOAA has monitored the Earth from space for decades, observing not only ocean and land temperatures, but also environmental changes like shifting snowpacks, migrating ocean nutrients, the spread of smog-causing aerosols, and rising floodwaters.
For two decades, Wellcome Images has presented awards to the best scientific and medical images __that enter its collection each year. This year's collection is stunning, with portraits, illustrations, and microphotography vying with 3D models and scans for the title of overall winner. Individual awards for these winners and the grand prize winner will be announced on March 15.
These 22 images were selected by nine science communicator experts, but you can have a voice too. Vote for your favorite before August 31, and you'll have a chance to win a print of one of these incredible images for yourself.
Image caption This baby chimp, Nemley junior, was rescued in a police operation in Abidjan
A series of dramatic arrests of notorious wildlife traffickers is being hailed as "one big step" against the illegal trade in baby chimpanzees.
Last weekend one of the most prolific animal dealers in West Africa was found and detained in Guinea.
Prior to the arrest, he had been on the run for four years.
This followed the arrest last month of the dealer's father who was regarded as the key figure in a vast smuggling network spanning the region.
And only a few months ago a year-long BBC News investigation led to the arrests of two traffickers, Ibrahima Traore and his uncle Mohamed, in neighbouring Ivory Coast.
Videos circulating on the black market showed dozens of baby chimpanzees held in a distinctive blue room __that served as their holding centre while buyers were sought.
Chimpanzees as a species are listed as endangered because their populations are dwindling in the face of deforestation and poaching but a collapse in their numbers in West Africa means they are described as "critically endangered" there.
It is against international law to seize or sell the chimpanzees but baby chimps are in big demand as pets for wealthy buyers in the Gulf states and Asia and our investigation revealed a flourishing and secret trade.
Our undercover reporter was offered two of the tiny animals for $12,500 each.
The secret trade in baby chimps
A secret network of wildlife traffickers selling baby chimpanzees was exposed by a year-long BBC News investigation.
The two men arrested in Ivory Coast are known to have links with the pair arrested in Guinea, Abdoul Salam Sidibe and his father Abdouramane, who have been accused of shipping hundreds of endangered animals including chimpanzees.
One of the investigators who worked on the case, Mamadou Saidou Barry of the wildlife organisation GALF, working with the Eagle Network, said the Sidibe family operated in five countries and paid as many as 100 poachers to capture chimpanzees.
"This is not the end," he told BBC News, "It is not the final fight but it is one big step, but it is a never-ending battle against wildlife trafficking. "
Guinea has long been regarded as a hotspot for wildlife trafficking and has even been barred from issuing export permits for any shipments of animals under the CITES convention (Convention on International Trading in Endangered Species).
Nearly two years ago, the official in charge of the CITES office in Guinea, Ansoumane Doumbouya, was arrested and later sentenced to 18 months in prison for selling fraudulent export permits to the Traore and Sidibe families, among others.
Last month he was given a presidential pardon and is now out of prison.
The head of the CITES secretariat, John Scanlon, told us __that he believes that law enforcement can act as a deterrent.
"Once you arrest them, you prosecute them, you incarcerate them, that message starts to get out , that wildlife crime is not high profit-low risk. The risk is I might go to jail."
Mr Scanlon also confirmed that since our investigation, in which we had managed to buy two fraudulent export permits, warnings had been circulated worldwide to look out for potentially forged documents from Jordan and Liberia.
Image caption Nemley Jr meets David Shukman
The permits sold to us were apparently issued by those two countries though the governments of both have denied that the documents were genuine.
In terms of quantity, the illegal trade in chimpanzees is dwarfed by the slaughter of elephants for their tusks or rhinos for their horns.
But capturing a live baby chimpanzee in the jungle involves shooting its mother and many other members of its family as well - up to ten adults are estimated to be killed for each infant chimp seized alive.
The prosecution of the Traores in Ivory Coast is the first ever brought for wildlife trafficking in the country and campaigners say it is evidence of a shift in official attitudes towards the fight against the traffickers.
Dople Claude Soro, chief of staff of the Ministry of Water and Forests, says describes the cae as "important'.
"Those who did these illicit operations - those operations were forbidden and we can see them as a crime. Those people are to be punished."
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The new focus on wildlife crime is seen as potentially offering a chance to turn the tide on the traffickers though with plenty of risks ahead.
The UK's Africa minister, Tobias Ellwood, visiting Ivory Coast, told me that one key requirement was to improve safeguards for wildlife.
"We are seeing a recognition that more needs to be done but this is a massive problem - many of the places like national parks where these animals are to be protected simply don't have the protection."
Estelle Raballand, an expert in chimpanzees, is hoping to win support for the country to set up its first sanctuary for chimpanzees.
She says that if the Ivorian government has decided to make wildlife trafficking a priority, then it follows that there needs to be capacity to care for the confiscated animals.
"You cannot apply the law unless you have a place to put the chimps, "she says. .
And although she is pleased at the recent wave of arrests, she warns that time is running out.
"We're fighting a war of extinction…if we don't do anything and the rate is continuing, pretty much everyone agrees that in 10 years there will be no more wild chimpanzees in West Africa. And that's terrible."
A baby chimp rescued - David Shukman
Image caption Nemley Junior chews a BBC business card
Since the first reports of our investigation into chimpanzee trafficking just over a month ago, many people have asked about the fate of the baby chimp, Nemley junior, who was rescued in a police operation in Abidjan.
At the time, he was thin and nervous and soon suffered a heavy cold. But with expert support he recovered and has since been putting on weight and becoming more active with brighter eyes and an engaging curiosity.
I watched him guzzling a bottle of infant formula and then clambering over the supports of a trestle table before amusing himself by gently slapping my knee.
He has formed a bond with his keepers, especially one called Charles Aby, who has learned how Nemley junior clamours to be held as much as possible, a natural response for an infant who would normally be with his mother for five years.
So Charles goes about his duties at Abidjan zoo with Nemley clinging to his side.
And the tiny chimp is becoming bolder. As I handed out my BBC business cards at the zoo, Nemley reached for one and promptly started to chew it. At the moment, he's thriving, a survivor of the traffickers and a new icon of the fight against them.
Image copyrightESAImage caption One of the big attractions of 2B and the other Sentinels is the free and open data policy
One of the key spacecraft in Europe's new multi-billion-euro Earth observation (EO) programme has launched from French Guiana.
Sentinel-2B carries a large camera to image all land surfaces and coastal waters in visible and infrared light.
It joins an identical spacecraft, Sentinel-2A, already in orbit.
The duo will be flown on the same path but 180 degrees apart so __that they can provide a complete map of Earth - clouds permitting - every five days.
The Sentinels constitute the space segment of the European Union's Copernicus environmental monitoring programme.
A suite of sensors is being lofted over the next few years to gather critical information on the state of the planet and to acquire the data needed to inform and enforce EU policies.
Applications range from urban planning and air-quality monitoring to tracking deforestation and glacier retreat.
Image copyrightCopernicus Sentinel data/ESAImage caption The biggest use of Sentinel-2 data is in agriculture
Sentinels 2A and 2B are, in many senses, the centrepiece of this effort because their free and open picture resource will almost certainly find the widest use.
"To say they are the 'heartbeat' is a good way to describe them because they take the images __that are most easily understandable," Josef Aschbacher, the director of Earth observation at the European Space Agency (Esa), told BBC News.
The lift-off aboard a Vega rocket occurred on cue at exactly 22:49 local time, Monday (01:49 GMT, 02:49 CET, Tuesday).
Ejection of the satellite happened about an hour later, roughly 775km above the Earth.
Controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, were waiting to pick up a signal and begin early operations.
"We will slowly acquire the reference orbit (786km altitude) over the next two weeks," explained Bianca Hoersch, Esa's mission manager for the Sentinel-2 spacecraft.
"Then we have the commissioning phase; that takes us to early June. At that point we should be producing lots of data, and after a short ramp-up, around the October timeframe, we should be in full constellation readiness."
Image copyrightCopernicus Sentinel data/ESAImage caption Musa Bay, Iran: Inland and coastal waters are also targeted
The cameras on the Sentinel-2 pair are designed to see colour features as small as 10m across.
Together, they will be producing something like four terabytes of data daily. It is a prodigious volume that will lean on the assistance of a laser relay link.
For a 10-minute spell on each orbit, the spacecraft will each fire their images not down to Earth but higher into the sky, to a geostationary satellite that will then bounce them to the ground.
Thousands of users have registered to have access to the pictures. Downloading them from the various distributed servers has been made easier by chopping the "scenes" up into more manageable chunks.
"With Sentinel-1A, we had at the beginning huge products that were 8GB to 9GB per file, which were really hard to access and download," said Dr Hoersch.
"In September, we switched to single tiles, a product of 100km by 100km, and I think that has led to an explosion in data access. We've had 2.7 million products downloaded in the last two months."
Image copyrightESAImage caption Artwork of Sentinel-2: The European satellites are part of a multi-billion-euro programme
Sentinels are designed to fly in pairs to shorten the revisit time to any one point on Earth.
Sentinel 1 is a radar platform and has its duo fully operational in orbit since last year. Sentinel 2 is the next to complete its pairing; Sentinel 3, which carries predominantly ocean sensors, should have an orbiting pair aloft come next year.
Sentinels 4 and 5, which study the atmosphere, and Sentinel 6, to measure ocean height, have no presence in orbit yet.
But even though the programme is still to complete its initial roll-out, the EU and Esa have already begun to discuss how to extend it.
In this future-scoping, Sentinel 7 is envisaged to be a constellation of satellites that monitors carbon dioxide; Sentinel 8 could be a thermal infrared sensor, useful for understanding phenomena such as drought; and Sentinel 9 might be polar mission, either to study the extent and thickness of ice surfaces or two provide better weather imaging and communications at high latitudes.
"But I should stress that all these candidate missions are a work in progress and will have to be consolidated through an extensive consultation process, both on the user side and on the technical side," said Dr Aschbacher.
"And we also have to put together a whole scheme, not just on content but but also in terms of cost and funding."
Using Sentinel-2 data to make maps
Image copyrightCopernicusImage caption Space imagery can be used to make density maps for urban planning - in this case, Munich
Agriculture: Gathering crop statistics and yield assessments
Video games and basketballs are awesome and all, but let's not pretend they inspire the same awe for the world as your best buddy science. Remember when you were a child and you’d build your own volcano in the kitchen? How about the magic of growing your own multi-colored crystals? It blew your mind. This weekend, introduce your kids to the seriously cool stuff: let them play with robotics, excavate "dinosaurs," or learn the basics of physics.
Find our ideas below. Go on. You won't regret it.
With all our product stories, the goal is simple: more information about the stuff you're thinking about buying. We may sometimes get a cut from a purchase, but if something shows up on one of our pages, it’s because we like it. Period.
Caution: This article contains descriptions __that may be disturbing to some people.
Recently, in an undisclosed place and time, police wandered onto a grisly and unusual scene.
That day, a 53-year-old man had been renovating his cottage alone when he stopped answering his phone. His family, growing worried, called the police, who showed up at the man's door.
Inside, they found his corpse lying between two metal sawhorses, badly burned. But there was no evidence of fire anywhere else in the house, and no sign of an electrical malfunction, leading investigators to wonder whether the man had been burned elsewhere and then hidden in the cottage. But a closer look indicated __that this death was much more unusual. The case is detailed in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology.
Seventy percent of the man's body was covered in first-, second-, and third-degree burns, his clothing and hair singed, while other parts appeared untouched. There was an especially bad burn on his left foot, and the skin was broken on his right thumb, which also showed a yellow discoloration. His airways did not contain soot. Instead, he bore evidence of heart failure.
Taking a look around at the steel beams that protruded from the central area of the cottage to the outside of the house, and the metal tools scattered about the man, the investigators put two and two together. These burns weren't caused by fire. Instead, a lightning bolt must have travelled down the beams, arcing across the metal tools. The electricity entered the man's body through his left foot, and exited through his right thumb after passing through his heart.
Meteorologists confirmed a thunderstorm had passed through the area a few hours earlier, right around the estimated time of death.
Flash of insight
Death by lightning is rare. Death by lightning while indoors is even more rare.
Eight million flashes of lightning streak across the sky each day, but only about 35 Americans a year are killed by lightning strikes. The vast majority of those strikes happen while the victim is outdoors. Indoor lightning strikes, when they do occur, are usually related to using a phone during a storm, and they're rarely deadly.
When a storm's coming, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you go indoors and stay away from electronic equipment, corded phones, and water. And if you live in a house with exposed steel beams, it might be worth staying away from those as well.
Image copyrightXiujie WuImage caption The skulls provide insights into the predecessors of modern humans in the region
Two skulls found in China shed light on the ancient humans who inhabited the region before our own species arrived.
We know __that Europe and western Asia was dominated by the Neanderthals before Homo sapiens displaced them.
But remains belonging to equivalent populations in East and Central Asia have been scarce.
It's unclear if the finds are linked to the Denisovans, a mysterious human group known only from DNA analysis of a tooth and finger bone from Siberia.
Prof Erik Trinkaus, one of the authors of a study on the remains in Science journal, said it was not possible to say at this stage whether the ancient people from Xuchang were connected to the Denisovans.
"The issue here is the patterns of variation and the population dynamics of 'archaic' populations during the later part of the Pleistocene," Prof Trinkaus, from Washington University in St Louis, told BBC News.
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) originated in Africa some 200,000 years ago before expanding out across Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas after 60,000 years ago. As they spread across the world, they displaced the existing populations they encountered, such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans - but some limited interbreeding occurred.
The partial skulls from China are between 105,000 and 125,000 years old and lack faces. But they show clear similarities to and differences from their Neanderthal contemporaries in the west.
Ancient links and common trends
"There's a certain amount of regional diversity at this time, but also there are trends in basic biology __that are shared by everybody. And the supposed Neanderthal characteristics show that all these populations were interconnected," Prof Trinkaus explained.
Prof Trinkaus, Zhan-Yang Li, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and others found that the specimens show some characteristics, like a low, broad braincase, that link them to even earlier humans from the same region, who lived in the Middle Pleistocene.
Image copyrightScienceImage caption Xuchang 1 has a "remarkable" brain size
But some features of the skull that were more pronounced in earlier humans, such as the bony ridges over the eyes and a bony prominence at the back of the skull called the nuchal torus, are not as marked in these specimens. Erik Trinkaus says this represents evidence for a process of "gracilisation" - a reduction of bone mass through evolution - that was common to other human groups at the time.
And the two specimens from Xuchang have comparatively large braincases - reflecting a trend towards larger brain sizes across the Old World - Europe, Africa and Asia.
DNA solution?
One of the ancient Chinese skulls - Xuchang 1 - is at the high end of the scale. Prof Chris Stringer, from London's Natural History Museum, who was not involved with the study, said the individual had a "remarkable brain size, up there with the largest known Neanderthal and early modern examples".
As regards any potential relationship with the Denisovans, he said: "Unfortunately, the skulls lack teeth so we cannot make direct comparisons with the large teeth known from Denisova Cave, but another similarly-dated fossil from Xujiayao in China does have Neanderthal-like traits in the ear bones, like Xuchang, and does have large teeth, so these may all represent the same population.
"From genetic data, the Denisovans are believed to have split from the Neanderthal lineage about 400,000 years ago - about the time of the Sima de los Huesos early Neanderthals known from Atapuerca in Spain. So one might expect some level of Neanderthal features in their morphology, added to by evidence of some later interbreeding with the Neanderthals.
"We must hope that ancient DNA can be recovered from these fossils in order to test whether they are Denisovans, or a distinct lineage."
The skulls were found during excavations at Lingjing, Xuchang County in Henan Province, between 2007 and 2014.
Image copyrightChristine CassidyImage caption Red Squirrels face pressure for food
Volunteers are being sought to survey 120 woods in Northern Ireland for a protected mammal.
They are being asked to help gather information about red squirrels.
Experts claim that, without intervention, the animals could be extinct with 35 years.
Grey squirrels out-perform reds for food and carry a disease __that can kill them. They have spread rapidly since their introduction a century ago.
The volunteers will be trained to monitor feeders and set up camera traps to record sightings as part of a conservation programme.
And they will be asked to report greys in areas which are currently strongholds for reds.
Workshops are being organised by Ulster Wildlife in March to train the volunteers.
The data gathered will contribute to the work of Red Squirrels United, a UK-wide network set up to protect the endangered species.
Image copyrightCraig ShuttleworthImage caption Map showing spread of grey squirrels
Conor McKinney from Ulster Wildlife is leading the project in Northern Ireland.
He said numbers of red squirrels had "declined dramatically" since greys were introduced to Ireland in 1911.
"To ensure __that future generations can continue to enjoy these special animals, we need volunteers to help us monitor squirrels in their local area, so we can target our conservation efforts," he said.
Reds are currently found in the Mournes, south and west Tyrone, parts of County Londonderry, the Glens of Antrim and Fermanagh.
Experts believe there are only about 140,000 red squirrels left in the UK.
The project is being supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Image copyright Sam Robinson 
