The researchers stress the importance of combining global efforts to reduce emissions with localised strategies to adapt land management practices and safeguard ecosystems.

The University of Derby�����Ƶ�s Dr Kirsten Lees, who is also co-author of the report, added: �����Ƶ�Peatland resilience is an important area of research, as these ecosystems store vast amounts of carbon alongside providing a range of other services. Restoration of areas which are in poor condition is key to protecting these carbon stores. Our research shows that future changes in climate are a vital consideration when planning restoration projects, to ensure that work is targeted towards areas where peatlands can thrive.�����Ƶ� 

The study argues that these tactics distract from the urgent need to upgrade ageing infrastructure, much of which was built in the 20th century. The companies - 70 per cent of which are owned by foreign investors - have reportedly distributed �����Ƶ76 billion to shareholders since privatisation in 1989, while building up over �����Ƶ56 billion in debt and neglecting vital upgrades.

�����Ƶ�These companies have adopted a playbook of denial, deflection, and distraction, similar to other major polluting industries, to protect profits at the expense of the environment and public health�����Ƶ� added Professor Alex Ford from the University of Portsmouth. 

The paper calls for stricter regulation of industry communications to combat greenwashing and misinformation, and urges policymakers to prioritise transparency to safeguard water security in the face of climate change. The authors also highlight the need for greater investment in sustainable solutions, such as restoring wetlands, alongside modernising sewerage systems. 

�����Ƶ�The financial exploitation of water resources in England raises globally important issues around water security and environmental stewardship,�����Ƶ� added Professor Woodward. �����Ƶ�There needs to be much more careful scrutiny of water company communications and of the organisations and individuals responsible for environmental management.�����Ƶ�

Launching in February 2025, the JUST Centre will work closely with communities in five regions of the North of England (West Yorkshire, West Cumbria, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Tyneside) while also generating comparative research in other regions of the UK.  It will collaborate with partners across local, regional, and national government, business, and civil society to co-produce joined-up solutions to meet climate goals while improving citizens�����Ƶ� quality of life.  

It will use an innovative mix of data science and participatory methods to research and map existing low-carbon living initiatives and generate evidence about what works where, why, and for whom. This will enable researchers to support better government decision-making and demonstrate to all people and communities the real improvements in quality of life that are possible if we link decarbonisation with regeneration.

The Centre brings together a team of interdisciplinary social scientists at the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Lancaster and Newcastle. The Institute for Community Studies at the not-for-profit organisation is the core partner.

Additional partners are Citizens UK, the Local Government Associations for England and Wales, the Scottish Sustainability Network, the British Chambers of Commerce, the NHS Confederation, the Runnymede Trust and the Institute for Government.

Commenting on the announcement, JUST Centre Director and Principal Investigator, Professor Sherilyn MacGregor said: �����Ƶ�To meet the challenge of the climate crisis and the UK�����Ƶ�s net zero targets, we need to decarbonise our economy and do so quickly, but without leaving whole regions or communities behind.  �����Ƶ�Joined-up�����Ƶ� means bridging the gaps between myriad but presently disconnected, evidence-based interventions and policies focused on sustainability and net zero transitions.  

ESRC Executive Chair Stian Westlake said: �����Ƶ�Our centres carry out interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research in the social sciences that seeks to change the world for the better. They allow ESRC to make sustained investments in strategically important areas, giving researchers the freedom to research topics in depth.

�����Ƶ�The climate crisis is one of the most serious challenges the world faces. To successfully transition to a zero-carbon economy, we need to make sure no one is left behind. The JUST Centre will show us how to include everyone as we transform our country and economy, finding new opportunities and putting power in the hands of local communities.�����Ƶ�

Stephen Aldridge, Director, Analysis and Data at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), adds: �����Ƶ�Net zero poses both huge economic, social, and other challenges and offers no less huge opportunities for the UK - nationally and sub-nationally. To tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities, policymakers and others need evidence �����Ƶ� especially evidence on what works and what works most cost-effectively.  

�����Ƶ�The Centre for Joined-Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST) is precisely the institutional innovation we need and one I, my team and my department will work closely with across all policy areas. I look forward immensely to engaging with the Centre.�����Ƶ�

Professor Paul Monks FRMetS, FRSC, FInstP, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said: �����Ƶ�Achieving net zero by 2050 requires a wide-reaching transformation of the UK economy and offers an incredible opportunity for jobs, secure energy and growth all across the country. It will improve our health, our quality of life and our overall prosperity. We must support and empower people to participate in the transition. I welcome the establishment of this research centre and its work to ensure a fair, inclusive pathway to net zero.�����Ƶ� 

An alarming level of microplastic fragments were found to be present throughout the intertidal mudflat sediments within the Medina Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  

Microplastics are particles which measure less than five millimetres, and exist in an array of shapes and forms. They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a variety of sources, including run-off from land-based sources and wastewater discharge from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs).  

Liberty Turrell, who works as a volunteer for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, collected mudflat sediment from 16 sample sites during low tides for her BA (Hons) Geography dissertation. Analysis of the mud under laboratory conditions discovered three different microplastic shapes: fibres, fragments and beads. Microfibre was the most frequent occurring microplastic shape (99% of all microplastics were microfibres) occurring at all 16 sites.  

Microplastics pollution occurs in estuarine sediments around the world - however, the results from the Isle of Wight are particularly alarming. For comparison, the median value of microplastic concentrations found in the Medina Estuary exceeds the values of estuaries studied in China and India by more than two-fold. 

Jamie Marsh, director of nature recovery (Wilder Wight, Solent & Seas) at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust said: �����Ƶ�The estuary�����Ƶ�s mudflats are of significant ecological importance. They support a diverse variety of wildlife providing habitats and breeding areas for a huge array of species including wading birds, crustacea, invertebrates and fish, all of which thrive within the Medina�����Ƶ�s intertidal mudflats.  

�����Ƶ�The discovery of the high level of microplastics, and of microfibres in particular, in this precious environment is truly staggering. Microfibres cause a significant risk to wildlife as they can easily bundle together. The entangled fibres form a clump and pose a great threat to marine species as the bundles act in the same way as larger plastic items by blocking feeding passageways in the gastrointestinal tract. This can obstruct the movement of food, disrupt the digestive process and cause eventual death.�����Ƶ� 

The study also reveals that wastewater discharge from two CSOs with high annual spill rates is a major source of microplastic release into the aquatic environment, and are likely responsible for the immense quantities of fibres reported throughout the Medina Estuary. Dodnor Lane and Fairlee CSO�����Ƶ�s together discharged wastewater into the upper estuary for 2,932 hours in 2023 (over 225 total spill events) according to Event Duration Monitoring datasets published by the Environment Agency.  

Professor of Physical Geography said: �����Ƶ�Research at the University of Manchester has shown that the microplastic contamination of riverbeds is a clear signal that wastewater treatment is not taking place as it should. Effective treatment can remove up to 95% of the microplastic load in wastewater.  

�����Ƶ�Microplastic contamination of the Medina Estuary is a concern because it is an area of ecological importance. The Medina Estuary receives high volumes of untreated wastewater from Southern Water assets and the presence of primary microplastic particles provides a clear link to the wastewater system."

"This research helps to resolve a global critical gap in the current studies of microplastics in estuaries," said report author Liberty Turrell. �����Ƶ�Unfortunately, the results are shocking. The severe contamination of estuarine environments affected by wastewater discharge takes place across the world and sadly this includes the Isle of Wight. The results clearly show that the prevalence and abundance of microplastics found in the intertidal mudflat sediments highlights a severe contamination issue of the Medina Estuary.�����Ƶ�

According to data published by the Environment Agency (2024), there were 464,056 monitored �����Ƶ�spill�����Ƶ� events into waterways by water companies in England during 2023, a 54% increase from 2022. The 29,494 spills into waterways in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by Southern Water lasted a total duration of 317,285 hours (Environment Agency, 2024). Spill events are responsible for the release of huge quantities of microplastics into our waterways. 

The UK�����Ƶ�s new Labour government has made a bold decision. The new minister for local government, Angela Rayner, has announced that the government would for a new coal mine near Whitehaven in Cumbria, which had been approved two years ago by the then Conservative government.

Rayner�����Ƶ�s intervention follows a recent making it harder for new sites of fossil fuel extraction to be approved. Pointing to the implications of the court�����Ƶ�s decision, she argued that there had been an �����Ƶ�error in law�����Ƶ� when Michael Gove, the minister at the time, had given the coal mine the go ahead in 2022.

The mine�����Ƶ�s developers still want to go ahead, and a legal challenge by environmental campaigners is being , with a ruling expected later this summer. But, with its decision to withdraw its defence, the government has confirmed that it understands the need to decisively turn away from new fossil fuel extraction. This is good news.

But to rise to the challenge, the government must do much more. It must now show it understands what it means to decisively put the UK on a path towards clean energy while still recognising the importance of economic and social justice.

One of Keir Starmer�����Ƶ�s pledges prior to becoming prime minister was to reform planning. He used eye-catching language, promising to the existing planning system to take out (those who say: �����Ƶ�not in my back yard�����Ƶ�) ostensibly standing in the way of progress.

In Cumbria, the nimbys have a point

But there is an unfortunate irony in how Starmer�����Ƶ�s position relates to the Cumbria mine. In Cumbria the ostensible were environmental campaigners pointing out that the mine would add into the atmosphere a year if it got the go ahead. They rightly argued that this would be indefensible in the middle of a climate crisis caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Without their intervention, the mine might already be in operation.

The planning system doesn�����Ƶ�t need destroying, as Starmer�����Ƶ�s language would suggest. As one of us (Gareth Fearn) , the challenge centres instead on revitalising planning as a public service, such that a new lease of life can be breathed into it.

In recent years, the UK�����Ƶ�s planning system has been hollowed out due to austerity. Funding for local government fell by and planning departments shrunk as their work was to private-sector consultants. Meanwhile, the amount of work these departments have been expected to do has, if anything, increased.

This is an untenable situation. To achieve a rapid, just transition the planning system needs to be properly supported so that it can proactively steer the net zero transition, and communities can have a real say on development in their areas.

The alternative is that local areas are left at the mercy of speculative developers who will invest in what is most profitable, rather than what most effectively meets public needs. In a context where green industry often offers less return on capital than or high-end real estate, a deregulatory approach risks forcing local areas to choose between high-carbon speculative development or no development at all, as had happened in Cumbria.

Green policies, resources and community power

We want to see Labour take three steps to get the country on the right path. First, the new government must draw a much clearer connection between decarbonisation and planning policy when it this summer. This would remove ambiguities about new fossil fuel extraction and would mean putting in place strong policies for new, green industries like the government has already done with .

Second, Labour desperately needs to provide more resources to local government so councils and regional mayors can use in house planning expertise, rather than relying on expensive, private-sector consultants. This is at odds with chancellor Rachel Reeves�����Ƶ� approach, which seems to covertly embrace and is reliant on the finance and preferences of the assembled to deliver infrastructure with little public control or ownership.

Third, and most importantly, communities need to be empowered to make genuine choices between alternatives. This is especially important for areas like Cumbria, with its long history of coal mining, or Aberdeen with its offshore oil, where green alternatives are as not as culturally embedded as carbon-intensive industries.

Coal in Cumbria has more than economic value. As one of us (Pancho Lewis) argued in , coal is folded into the area�����Ƶ�s history and continues to signal a desirable future for many people. This isn�����Ƶ�t because people aren�����Ƶ�t concerned about climate change. They are. It�����Ƶ�s because coal is a familiar industry which delivered �����Ƶ�proper�����Ƶ�, reliable jobs in the past and, in the context of proposals for a new mine, promised to continue to do so in the years ahead.

The government must respond by working hand in glove with communities to shape a net zero future that is meaningful to them. This is about delivering reliable jobs that people need and rolling out industry which can provide continuity with the past. Doing this requires forward planning and creative thinking, so that the net zero transition .

The new Labour government�����Ƶ�s decision to oppose the mine is good news. But for the energy transition to be successful there need to be opportunities in new industries around the country. This requires a public planning system which is back on its feet and for the public to have meaningful stakes in new projects from local to national government. Labour must rise to the moment.

, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, and , Researcher, Lancaster Environment Centre,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

, and ,

Desert regions in and the have been well studied by archaeologists as the and as routes of along �����Ƶ������Ƶ�. The archaeology of southern Africa�����Ƶ�s west coast desert belt has not received the same attention.

The Namib Sand Sea, part of the Namib Desert, is on the west coast of Namibia. It is a hyperarid landscape of towering dunes, occupying about 34,000km² between the towns of Lüderitz in the south and Walvis Bay in the north. However, there are clues that this environment was not always so dry and inhospitable, suggesting that there is more to be learnt about ancient human life here.

We are part of an interdisciplinary research team of physical geographers, archaeologists and geospatial scientists, interested in the long-term history of deserts and human-environmental interactions.

Our provides a timeframe for the presence of a small freshwater lake that once existed in the Namib Sand Sea. This lake was fed by an ancient river and is surrounded by a rich record of stone tools from the (made between about 300,000 years ago and 20,000 years ago), indicating that people ventured into this landscape and used this occasional water source.

Dating the former lake site, Narabeb, makes it clearer when ancient humans would have been able to live here. It draws attention to the Namib Sand Sea as a place archaeologists should study to learn more about far-reaching and deep human connections across southern Africa.

An ancient lake and shifting sand dunes

Today, Narabeb is a landscape dominated by long sand dunes that tower more than 100 metres high over the former lake site. There is no standing water here and the landscape receives little to no rain most years. However, that�����Ƶ�s probably not what our ancient ancestors would have seen here. Away from the lake, they might have seen a relatively flat plain, seasonally covered by grasses, beside a river.

The clue is in sediments at the site: mud layers that were laid down by water. To find out how long ago the lake was at Narabeb, we needed to date these layers.

We used a technique called �����Ƶ� basically, making sand glow to tell the time. Sand grains release a trapped signal that builds up when sand is buried underground, and is reset when sand is exposed to sunlight. Using this technique, we can date when different layers were last on the surface before they got buried. We dated the sand beneath and above layers of mud that were deposited by water. Our results show that the lake was present at Narabeb at some point between 231,000 ± 20,000 and 223,000 ± 19,000 years ago and again about 135,000 ± 11,000 years ago.

Another clue is the shape of the landscape east of Narabeb. It is dune free, reminding us that ancient humans were not the only things migrating in the Namib Sand Sea. Have the dunes been on the move? For how long? And how quickly?

Drilling to the centre of these dunes to work that out remains logistically impossible. Instead, we used .

The modelling suggests that it would have taken around 210,000 years to accumulate the amount of sand around Narabeb (those 110m high dunes). This number is remarkably close to the oldest age for the lake. This suggests that the dunes may only just have been starting to form and that a river was supplying the lake with fresh water, supporting animals and attracting people. The sediments at Narabeb also clearly tell us that a river once flowed where there are now dunes.

The winds have pushed dunes from the south and west to north and east, creating barriers for the river and hindering movement of people and animals along the water course.

Ancient human presence

At we have found tools from an earlier species of the Homo genus. This is part of a growing body of evidence, adding to research in the Kalahari desert in the centre of southern Africa, that suggests to the story of human evolution and technological innovation than has been supposed.

The artefacts from Narabeb fit into the Middle Stone Age type of stone tool technology. Narabeb is a particularly rich site for stone tools, suggesting people made tools here for a long time and perhaps visited the site over many generations.

This research illustrates the need for a comprehensive study of areas that have not been on the map of the major routes of human and animal migration. These might reveal exciting records of diffusion, innovation and adaptation to marginal and changing environments.

Our results also make us think about the dynamic nature of environmental conditions in one of Earth�����Ƶ�s oldest desert regions. It has long been thought that the Namib has been consistently very and not a place capable of containing �����Ƶ�green corridors�����Ƶ� at the times of interest for archaeologists. Now we can challenge that idea.

Future steps

Recent funding from the will allow us to extend our fieldwork, documenting archaeological sites and dating these �����Ƶ�green corridors�����Ƶ� across more of this landscape. along the ancient river course has revealed an expansive artefact-littered landscape. We also need to know more about where ancient populations found the materials they used to make stone tools.

This will allow us to piece together a network of archaeological sites and show where human migration might have been possible in this part of southern Africa. Up to now, it�����Ƶ�s been a gap in the archaeological map.

More work is also needed to understand the shifts in climate that allowed the rivers to flow into the Namib. This Southern Hemisphere, west coast desert has a very different setting to north Africa and Arabia, which have for understanding their periodic �����Ƶ�green corridors�����Ƶ�. Ongoing work with the wider scientific community, including climate modellers, may create a clearer picture of the Namib�����Ƶ�s �����Ƶ�green corridors�����Ƶ�.

, Reader in Physical Geography, and , Professor of Archaeology,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

�����Ƶ�We�����Ƶ�ve been working to restore the moorlands of the Peak District and South Pennines for the last 21 years,�����Ƶ� said Tom Spencer, Senior Research and Monitoring Officer at Moors for the Future Partnership. �����Ƶ�This restoration work is based on scientific evidence and the research with The University of Manchester and the University of Newcastle shows the natural flood management benefits of planting sphagnum and the opportunities for upscaling to extend these benefits, especially considering the increased risk of extreme weather events.�����Ƶ�

"This study is exciting because it shows that small changes over large areas really can stack up to make a big difference,�����Ƶ� said Newcastle University�����Ƶ�s Dave Milledge, who also worked on the study. �����Ƶ�It also demonstrates that it is possible to make changes that are good for carbon storage, for ecosystems and for people downstream, as well as showing that changes in the hills can make a difference further downstream. But we need to remember that different places and different interventions will behave differently - not all peatland restoration will deliver flood risk benefit, nor should it be expected to."

�����Ƶ�These findings are very promising in terms of the potential flood risk reductions that can be achieved by using upstream Natural Flood Management interventions in the peatland headwaters of the catchment,�����Ƶ� said David Brown from the Environment Agency. �����Ƶ�Utilising detailed plot-scale observations and upscaling using the modelling approach has demonstrated what could be possible - the trick now is to continue with the upland restoration.�����Ƶ�

Matthias Honegger, Senior Research Associate at Perspectives Climate Research, said: �����Ƶ�No matter your preference on the long-term role �����Ƶ� if any �����Ƶ� of SRM in managing threats of climate change to human lives and nature, ignoring the topic will not resolve anything. Cautious and deliberate guidance and collaboration on SRM research and its governance are key.�����Ƶ�

Julie Vinders, Senior Research Analyst at Trilateral Research, added: �����Ƶ�The Co-CREATE project takes a neutral stance on Solar Radiation Management (SRM) and rather focuses on defining the conditions for responsible research. This research is crucial to facilitate informed discussions about SRM and prevent hasty or unilateral deployment of a technology that is not fully understood.�����Ƶ�

Dr Peter Irvine, Lecturer at University College London, summarised the project: "Solar Radiation Modification covers a range of different interventions, each with their own potentials, limits, and risks. The Co-Create project will bring together a scientific and technical understanding of these details, with an interdisciplinary assessment of the issues, and stakeholder perspectives to develop robust principles and guidelines for SRM research governance."

�����Ƶ�I hope that people will be attracted to the exhibition by the striking advertising designs, but beyond that also by the biographical details on the ten people we examine and the work they created for the Ship Canal Company and others," added Dr Dodge.

A special event is being held on Saturday 9 September at 12pm to launch the exhibition, featuring contributions from speakers including Dr Dodge who will talk about the exhibition, and about the lives of commercial artist Bert Wilson, and Ken Brady, Manchester Ship Canal publicity chief from 1926; and Mike Ashworth, retired design and heritage manager London Underground, who will talk about commercial advertising in the 'Twenties.  

Councillor John Hacking, Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure at Manchester City Council, said: "The exhibition gives a fascinating insight into the world of commercial advertising in the last century, whilst at the same time showcasing the significant impact the Manchester Ship Canal had on Manchester's fortunes and its importance to the city."

The exhibition has been supported by Archives+ at Manchester Central Library, The University of Manchester and the Manchester Geographical Society and will be on display until 15 January 2024.

Book a place at the free launch event on 9 September . More information about the exhibition can be found .

Dr Jen O�����Ƶ�Brien and Dr Jennifer Silverthorne are among the new fellows named in the Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship Scheme, which recognises individuals who have made a tremendous impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession in higher education. 

Dr O�����Ƶ�Brien is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, as well as the University�����Ƶ�s Academic Lead for Sustainability Teaching and Learning. She is an Inaugural Fellow of the Manchester Institute of Teaching and Learning and leads the �����Ƶ�Informed and Inspired�����Ƶ� Challenge for Sustainable Futures. A Development Geographer by training, Jen is interested in the intersection between innovative pedagogy and independent field or applied research aiming to inspire and equip learners to ethically address challenges of sustainability, inequality and social justice to make a difference. She directs the University Living Lab, which links applied research needed by organisations with students who can undertake it for their assessment to effect change.

Jen leads Manchester�����Ƶ�s �����Ƶ�Creating a Sustainable World�����Ƶ� course, which is run through the University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL). The first of its kind in the world, the course - which is available to undergraduates and postgraduates from across the University - uses the UN�����Ƶ�s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to equip them with the skills to make positive social change and reflect critically about sustainability. It has been recognised by the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings, which ranks Manchester first in the UK and Europe and second in the world for its contribution to the SDGs.

Dr Jennifer Silverthorne is a Reader in Clinical Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacy and Optometry who leads a team of clinical academics, senior NHS pharmacists and placement tutors providing clinical education. Her commitment to inclusive practice in the classroom, programme design and assessment has changed the University�����Ƶ�s approach to Pharmacy teaching and influenced the practice of colleagues. Her reach into the sector through work with professional, statutory and regulatory bodies has transformed Pharmacy education to deliver a highly skilled, reflective and progressive workforce fit for the future.

�����Ƶ�I�����Ƶ�d like to congratulate Catherine, her team, Jen and Jennifer for their well-deserved awards,�����Ƶ� said Professor April McMahon, the University�����Ƶ�s Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students. �����Ƶ�Being acknowledged in this way is a huge achievement, and it recognises their dedication to teaching, and to our colleagues and students.

�����Ƶ�I�����Ƶ�d also like to thank them for their overall outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning provision at our University. I am sure they will continue to drive forward even more positive change in the future.�����Ƶ�

An independent panel of senior higher education leaders, representing the four UK nations, assures the quality of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence and recommends winners.

"Every year as we select the NTFS and CATE winners, we are in awe of these extraordinary and gifted people who are teaching with such professionalism, passion and commitment in higher education - this year was no different,�����Ƶ� said Professor Becky Huxley-Binns, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Hull, and Chair, UK Teaching Excellence Awards Advisory Panel 2023. 

�����Ƶ�These awards are incredibly important in recognising and celebrating these people and in sharing 'what works' so that colleagues can build on their expertise too and students can enjoy the benefits of great practice in teaching and learning.�����Ƶ�

The awards ceremony will take place in Birmingham on Thursday 28^th September. 

The team used radiocarbon and luminescence dating techniques to establish that some walls in these ancient channels were built over 3000 years ago.

Indigenous Engineering: These walls trapped fertile silts during the Nile's annual inundation, and crops could be grown on this reclaimed land without artificial irrigation.

Radiometric dating suggests that this form of landscape engineering was first undertaken by the region�����Ƶ�s indigenous Nubian communities, as well as the inhabitants of towns established later by the ancient Egyptian state.

Continuity: �����Ƶ�From speaking with farmers in Sudanese Nubia, we also learnt that river groynes continued to be built as recently as the 1970s, and that the land formed by some walls is still cultivated today,�����Ƶ� Dr Dalton said. �����Ƶ�This incredibly long-lived hydraulic technology played a crucial role in enabling communities to grow food and thrive in the challenging landscapes of Nubia for over 3000 years.�����Ƶ�

Monumental Barrages: The researchers also identified much larger stone walls within the Nile, some up to five metres thick and 200 metres long �����Ƶ� barrages which would have directed river flow and aided boat navigation through treacherous Nile rapids. 

Dr Dalton said �����Ƶ�these monumental river groynes helped to connect the people of ancient Egypt and Nubia by facilitating the long-distance movement of resources, armies, people and ideas up and down the Nile.�����Ƶ�

Dr Neal Spencer, Deputy Director at the Fitzwilliam Museum (University of Cambridge) and Director of the Amara West Research Project, notes �����Ƶ�this study shows how interdisciplinary research can provide insights into enduring traditions, technologies and agricultural practises within Nubia, balancing the inherently biased information in the ancient Egyptian textual record�����Ƶ�.

Water companies in England have in wastewater treatment and sewerage infrastructure to keep pace with increasing populations and more intense rainfall. To take pressure off their sewer networks, companies allow huge volumes of untreated wastewater and sewage to be dumped into our rivers and coastal waters.

In the absence of effective regulation since the Environment Agency�����Ƶ�s monitoring just over a decade ago, dumping sewage in rivers has contributed to a spectacularly profitable business model. Sewage pollution incidents �����Ƶ� many of which were legal �����Ƶ� increased over five years and countless urban rivers are now effectively extensions of the sewerage network. Our rivers are running out of time.

Only 14% of rivers in England have �����Ƶ�good�����Ƶ� ecological status and this figure could fall to just 6% by 2027. In February 2023, campaigns to save Britain�����Ƶ�s rivers were launched by , and .

Water companies are under unprecedented scrutiny from the media, politicians, activists, university researchers like me and the wider public. Politicians know the sewage dumping scandal could cost seats at the next general election.

This is why is now demanding �����Ƶ�every company comes back with a clear plan for what they are doing on every storm overflow, prioritising those near sites where people swim and our most precious habitats�����Ƶ�.

Mapping sewage

Thames Water recently launched an interactive of 468 sewer overflow locations. The map updates every ten minutes, and shows in near real time where the company is discharging untreated wastewater and sewage to rivers.

In the middle of January 2023, after rainfall, about one third of the Thames Water sewer outfalls were discharging and another third had done so within the previous 48 hours. The map has also confirmed that many sewage discharges take place during dry weather.

The Thames Water sewage discharge map for Sunday 15 January 2023. Red shows an overflow that has polluted a river within the previous 48 hours. Orange shows an overflow that is currently discharging. A green tick indicates no current discharge.

Thames Water is the first water company to make such data across its entire region available to the public. The map highlights the staggering scale of the pollution problem and adds to a growing body of evidence showing that water companies are routinely using overflows to and other pollutants such as as an alternative to treatment.

We know when sewage was dumped �����Ƶ� but not how much

But as a geographer and geomorphologist who specialises in rivers and has taken a , I know there is something missing in the data. Sewage discharges to rivers are recorded by sensors known as event duration monitors. These measure the of any flow, but are rarely set up to measure the volume of that flow.

This leaves the data open to manipulation. Was an �����Ƶ�event�����Ƶ� 100 litres or 1 billion litres? 1 billion might sound far-fetched, but next to Twickenham Stadium discharged over 1 billion litres of sewage directly into the River Thames on each of two days in October 2021.

So a water company could in theory reduce the duration and frequency of discharge events �����Ƶ� turning the above map from red to green �����Ƶ� but still increase the total amount of sewage dumped into rivers.

The absence of reliable baseline data on sewage dumping is a major problem and research has shown that water companies have not reported the .

The Environment Agency has a poor record of sewage pollution data scrutiny and several water companies are now routinely declining environmental information requests. How can we address the biodiversity crisis and make rivers safe for recreation if we don�����Ƶ�t have reliable data on the volumes of pollutants pumped into them?

People need accurate information on what is happening to their local rivers so they can identify the and hold water companies to account. The Thames map is therefore a welcome step towards increasing transparency in the water industry and rebuilding trust, but it does not go far enough.

We need sewage volume data

In July 2022, United Utilities, which serves north-west England, announced a to upgrade wastewater treatment infrastructure on several rivers by 2025. The company states this will reduce the discharge of untreated wastewater and sewage into the region�����Ƶ�s rivers by �����Ƶ�more than 10 million tonnes a year �����Ƶ� the equivalent of 4,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools�����Ƶ�.

This is a remarkable admission of sustained sewage dumping on a colossal scale. It appears water companies can provide volumes when it suits them.

Water companies in England have been unwilling to calibrate their event duration monitoring sites to estimate sewage volumes. Yet they routinely collect very accurate data on the volumes of drinking water supplied to millions of homes, in order to calculate water bills.

The 2021 Environment Act requires them to make near real-time data about the frequency and duration of sewage discharges publicly available no later than 2025. But if the government�����Ƶ�s plans to reduce sewage dumping are to be realised, we still need to know wastewater discharge volumes.

The Environmental Audit Committee made such a recommendation in its landmark , but the government argued it was too expensive. If Thérèse Coffey is serious about tackling this scandal, she must reverse that decision.

, Professor of Physical Geography,

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The UK government recently launched �����Ƶ������Ƶ�, a campaign aimed at providing �����Ƶ�simple, low or no-cost actions that households can take to immediately cut energy use and save money�����Ƶ�. The campaign speaks to persistent calls to increase the assistance provided to households across the UK.

Rapid energy price rises have pushed millions into fuel poverty, with an estimated . For many, independent advice on safely reducing energy use and accessing financial assistance can make a vital difference in confronting the combined cost of living and energy crises.

Trustworthy advice goes far beyond a few short-term behavioural �����Ƶ�hacks�����Ƶ� �����Ƶ� some of which have been �����Ƶ� to also include deeper measures to upgrade the UK�����Ƶ�s .

To meet its climate change targets and protect households from rising energy costs, the UK must rapidly insulate millions of homes and . But installing such measures is often complicated and there is limited information, guidance or support. The UK can�����Ƶ�t decarbonise its energy system without increasing the help available to households from trained energy experts.

Reducing the UK�����Ƶ�s carbon emissions should go hand-in-hand with tackling fuel poverty. housing, heating systems and appliances are key drivers of fuel poverty, and people living in well-insulated, low-carbon homes are more likely to have affordable energy bills. While advice alone will never solve fuel poverty, when combined with other measures it can make a . Advisers can point people towards appropriate government aid and or help arrange debt repayment plans, or insulation and heating upgrades.

We know what works

Academic and policy experts, , have undertaken extensive research on integrated energy advice in the UK and beyond. Numerous across the UK and similar countries provide a useful testbed for understanding what works.

Research has shown there are , such as how energy advice is communicated, who is providing it, and how it is framed. The most effective forms of energy advice are those that are , primarily via in-person, community-based and context-sensitive work.

Yet energy advice provision in the UK remains fragmented and insufficient, with across the country. Organisations such as Citizens Advice do brilliant work, but they don�����Ƶ�t have the resources to provide widespread, personalised advice.

NEAS to meet you

One thing that might help is the establishment of a National Energy Advice Service. Akin to the efforts involved in building the UK�����Ƶ�s National Health Service back in the 1940s, it could provide widely accessible, free support for anyone who needs it. With dedicated funding from utilities or government, the service could help integrate , it could reduce skills shortages and help address both fuel poverty and the transition to net zero.

What does this mean in practice? People wanting to improve the energy performance of their home would be able to access a single advice line, or a website. This could either lead to an adviser visit, or advice could be provided remotely if more appropriate. The advice would allow a household to identify the best options in light of its budget and other circumstances, and any support or subsidy schemes that might be available. Perhaps most importantly, people could be pointed towards certified sellers and installers of relevant materials.

The advice service could also work directly with government agencies, the NHS and community groups to seek out and approach those who might benefit from energy efficiency upgrades. This could be done at the neighbourhood scale, through area-based targeting, community retrofit coordinators, , or other local initiatives. Any households or businesses who sign up would be advised on support schemes and energy upgrade options.

Everyone should have access to state-of-the-art energy measures, regardless of their income or other forms of disadvantage. The service must not be restricted to those with the confidence and resources to take the initiative.

So there is a strong case that this would promote energy justice. By integrating financial subsidies, and working with trustworthy installers and companies, a national-level advice service could help promote equitable access to low-carbon energy for all.

, Professor of Human Geography, ; , PhD Candidate, Low-Carbon Energy Transitions, , and , Senior Lecturer in Geography,

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implemented since 2010 have not been substantially reversed or retracted in recent years. In fact, they have often been levelled at the most marginalised social groups.

In 2019, cuts in total expenditure on welfare and benefit payments alone were expected to total . And now, growing numbers of people in the UK are struggling with everyday costs of living, while a further of cuts to public funding were announced in the government�����Ƶ�s November 2022 budget.

All of this shows how keenly economic policies are , in the mundane: eating, heating, caring, shopping and travelling. And perpetual and cumulative cuts like those we have seen made in recent years to welfare, education, social and healthcare services shape daily lives and social relationships. The effects continue, across time and generations. They also worsen existing relating to , race, class, age and disability.

My during the 2008-09 UK economic recession revealed how memories and intergenerational relationships are key to understanding what it means to get by in times of recession and crisis. For instance, upbringing, living through previous recessions, debt and hardship are central to how people respond to economic downturns. These experiences, family histories and memories are often shared across generations in a way that influences younger people about financial issues.

Policies that aim to tackle poverty and economic inequality need to go beyond a focus on �����Ƶ�the household�����Ƶ� because this is not the only (or even the predominant) framework for how social relationships are built. Instead, people live within and across households that intersect based on kinship, friendship, intimacy and more. These are the main mechanisms that people use to .

Further research shows how austerity can be experienced as a �����Ƶ������Ƶ�, affecting the things people can do, afford and dream about, including having security at home and work. It even extends to whether or not people are able to make decisions about . Suffice it to say, economic policies have more than momentary effects, they ripple across people�����Ƶ�s lives �����Ƶ� and that of their children �����Ƶ� even if their circumstances improve.

A life of its own

Taking this further, shows how austerity policies also have their own life. In the UK, this started with the early dismantling of the welfare state alongside diminished investment in deprived and post-industrial areas from the 1980s onwards. have of the UK. So, while the current era of austerity arose from the recession following the global financial crisis 14 years ago, it is more deeply embedded in certain parts of the country.

We can get an idea of by listening to their stories. Yusuf, for example, spoke to me about the instabilities he currently faces at work and how that has affected his life choices. �����Ƶ�There�����Ƶ�s no job security or stability,�����Ƶ� he says. �����Ƶ�There�����Ƶ�s not enough trade [as a mechanic] anymore like there used to be years ago.�����Ƶ� As a result, Yusuf does not think he could afford to have children.

Employment opportunities and local industries across northern England (where my research was carried out), had already been hit hard by years of . But adding austerity to the mix meant these factors culminated in multi-faceted forms of insecurity and uncertainty for Yusuf. His lack of job security is then linked to being unable to afford to have children �����Ƶ� a to the one he had imagined.

Even if austerity cuts were reversed today, the long-term effects for Yusuf and countless others could continue for generations. Economic policies should be implemented alongside forecasts of what their effects will be for future generations. Researching these future outcomes, as well as past and current experiences, will highlight the unevenness of austerity measures. This will help to ensure that austerity policies and the devastation they cause do not become normalised, condemning many more generations to their long-term negative effects.

, Professor in Human Geography,

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More than 96% of Norway�����Ƶ�s electricity is generated by water power, and a network of tunnels, dams and reservoirs has been constructed to take water from glaciers to hydroelectric power stations - as glaciers shrink further, this source of supply will decrease.

Another problem is that Austerdalsisen has been a major tourist attraction in Norway, but the distance and time needed to reach it now are greater than they were just a few years ago which may deter future tourists. A loss of income from tourism could therefore have an unwelcome effect on the economy of the area close to the Arctic Circle.

Wilfred�����Ƶ�s book - which he published at his own expense to draw attention to the effects of climate change - has been very well received by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, the authority responsible for observations of snow and ice in the country.  

�����Ƶ�Norway�����Ƶ�s largest glacier: 150 years of change�����Ƶ� can be purchased .

�����Ƶ�This booklet offers great insight into the diversity of life experience amongst older people and some practical and effective research methods,�����Ƶ� said Virginia Tandy, Director of The Creative Ageing Development Agency. �����Ƶ�It also highlights the central importance of social connection and agency to ageing well.�����Ƶ�

Creating Age-Friendly Cities is a key theme under The University of Manchester�����Ƶ�s Global Inequalities Research Beacon and a for the UK Government. The is working to make the region age-friendly, and developing a rich understanding of older lives is pivotal to this task.

�����Ƶ�Assessing the threats to habitat and biodiversity posed by rising sea levels is a key research priority for our times �����Ƶ� we need to better understand these processes in both the past and the present,�����Ƶ� said Professor Jamie Woodward, who is an author of this study. �����Ƶ�This research shows how sea level rise can transform coastal landscapes and degrade important ecosystems.�����Ƶ�

As the highest point in the Peak District (636m / 2,087ft), this new extension takes the NNR to 1,082 hectares in size (equivalent to 1,000 international rugby pitches), in recognition of the scientific research this area provides to help tackle the climate and nature emergencies.

The extended area includes an �����Ƶ�outdoor laboratory�����Ƶ� (consisting of scientific monitoring equipment such as dipwells, gauging weirs, and vegetation monitoring quadrats), created in 2010, which has enabled comparisons to take place between the impact of restored peatland against an unrestored control plot, providing valuable data to help improve understanding of the value of peat in natural flood management.

Three organisations, the National Trust, The University of Manchester, and Moors for the Future Partnership, have been studying the effects of this restoration work and the benefits that can help tackle climate change, creating a healthier habitat which attracts different wildlife associated with peatlands to help increase levels of biodiversity.

Professor Tim Allott from The University of Manchester explains the importance of the control area: �����Ƶ�The control area has been central to our scientific understanding of restoration on the site �����Ƶ� as without it we would not have been able to properly assess the impact of the restoration work in slowing the flow of water on hillsides and reducing flood risk downstream.  It also provides a 'museum' of the past damage on Kinder Scout. 

�����Ƶ�By simply standing within this small remaining �����Ƶ�island�����Ƶ� of bare peatland, you get a dramatic sense of the scale of transformation of this iconic landscape by looking across the newly restored, vibrant, and diverse habitat which surrounds it.�����Ƶ�

Craig Best, General Manager for the Peak District at the National Trust says: �����Ƶ�When we started caring for Kinder in 1982 the mountain was a barren moonscape of bare peat, degraded by human activity over the centuries due to pollution, historical land management practices, high visitor numbers and climate change.

�����Ƶ�However, following almost 40 years of restoration work with our partners and volunteers, the NNR is being transformed into a plateau of healthy peat bogs rich in vegetation such as cottongrass, and sphagnum moss while creating a strong habitat for wildlife such as mountain hare, upland birds like the golden plover, and the vital invertebrates that make up the basis of the food system.  This work will continue alongside the activity on the extended area.�����Ƶ�    

Techniques trialled to help restore the peat bogs included covering bare peat with rich moorland vegetation and blocking gullies to help keep the moors wetter, which have helped increase the amount of carbon that can be stored as well as helping improve water quality as it filters into streams and reservoirs.

Monitoring data collected over the past decade, using the �����Ƶ�outdoor laboratory�����Ƶ� in the new area of the NNR, shows this work has reduced erosion of peat by 98 per cent within 18 months of revegetation. It also revealed how different combinations of restoration work has made a significant impact in slowing water flow from the moors to the valleys, to help mitigate flooding[1].

Craig added: �����Ƶ�Kinder has a rich history and was the backdrop to one of the mass trespass activities 90 years ago which led to open access to moorland and the creation of National Parks paving the way for millions of visitors to be able to escape city living and pollution to enjoy some of our most inspiring landscapes and connect with nature.   

Commenting on the new declaration, Oliver Harmar, Chief Operating Officer at National England said: �����Ƶ�National Nature Reserves were established to protect some of our most important habitats, species and geology, to provide 'outdoor laboratories�����Ƶ� for environmental science and opportunities for people to enjoy nature. 

�����Ƶ�They are at the heart of our ambition to create a Nature Recovery Network, full of wildlife-rich sites that are bigger, better and more connected.  I�����Ƶ�m pleased that this vision is very much alive at Kinder Scout, with the expansion demonstrating the power of collaborative action to drive nature recovery, including vital peatland restoration to capture and store carbon.

�����Ƶ�Kinder Scout also holds a special place in our national history as the backdrop to the very creation of our National Parks and National Nature Reserves.  Today, NNRs, like Kinder Scout, are great places to be inspired and get hands on with nature �����Ƶ� they�����Ƶ�re free, open and available to all.�����Ƶ�

[1] The monitoring work on the Kinder Scout plateau undertaken by Moors for the Future Partnership and the University of Manchester represents a decade of data that has proved invaluable in understanding natural flood management (NFM) techniques. Since 2016, this monitoring has been financed under the EU Life-funded MoorLIFE 2020 project and has shown that:

·       Revegetation of bare peat led to a 98% reduction in erosion of peat into the streams, within 18 months.

·       A combination of revegetation, gully blocking and dense sphagnum planting led to a 65% reduction in peak flow (the time it takes for water to reach the valleys) during storm events, 10 years after initial revegetation (and five years after sphagnum planting).

·       A combination of revegetation and dense sphagnum planting led to a 2 hours 40 minutes delay in delivery of peak flow during storm events. These NFM benefits increases in bigger storms.

The project is funded by the UK�����Ƶ�s Natural Environment Research Council.

Fig 1: Twenty-year record of maximum daily fire weather index values recorded over England - the top three days with highest values are highlighted. Generated using Copernicus Emergency Management Service historical fire indices dataset.

• Even if the world stays on track to meet the global goal to limit warming to 1.5°C, more than 3,000 of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods �����Ƶ� more than six million people �����Ƶ� will regularly be exposed to �����Ƶ�very hot weather�����Ƶ� of 27.5°C for five or more days during the summer months. If temperatures rise to 3°C, then the same areas will be regularly exposed to dangerously hot temperatures of over 30°C.   
• Overall, nearly half (48%) of neighbourhoods �����Ƶ� or 28 million people �����Ƶ� in England will be exposed to �����Ƶ�very hot weather�����Ƶ� at 1.5°C of warming. This increases significantly if global temperatures rise by 2°C and 3°C to affect 60% (34 million people) and 81% (46 million people) of neighbourhoods, respectively.    
• Global temperature rise of 3°C would put 50% of neighbourhoods �����Ƶ� or 30 million people �����Ƶ� at risk of �����Ƶ�dangerously hot weather�����Ƶ� where temperatures hit 30°C or more for five or more days during summer.   

Friends of the Earth is calling for the 3,000 most vulnerable neighbourhoods to be prioritised for publicly-funded adaptation projects and greater efforts to reduce planet-heating greenhouse gases.  

�����Ƶ�Extreme heatwaves and health alerts like we�����Ƶ�re seeing this week will become much more frequent and severe due to climate change" said Mike Childs, head of research at Friends of the Earth. �����Ƶ�To prevent the most dangerous scenarios becoming a reality, all countries, including the UK, must make greater efforts to prevent runaway climate breakdown.�����Ƶ�

Global temperatures are already 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. Under the Paris Agreement, governments have agreed to limit warming to 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic climate change.  

According to based on current climate pledges, the world is heading towards 2.4°C of warming, but these commitments are not being met. The UK government�����Ƶ�s advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change, of the policies in its Net Zero Strategy are credible.  

More detail on the research is available

A collaborative research project between the Universities of Manchester, Utrecht, and Durham, and the National Oceanography Centre has revealed for the first time how submarine sediment avalanches can transport microplastics from land into the deep ocean.

The study also revealed that these flows, the largest on earth, are responsible for sorting different types of microplastics – burying some, and moving others vast distances across the sea floor.

These findings may help predict the location of future seafloor microplastic hotspots, which in turn could help direct research into the impact of microplastics on marine life.

Over 10 million tons of plastic pollution is exported into the oceans each year. It is thought that around 99% of this is stored in the deep sea, often prefentially accumulating in submarine canyons.

However, it was previously not known how plastic pollution gets to the deep sea from land. The new research, published in , has shown that microplastics can be moved by gravity-driven sediment flows, which can travel thousands of kilometers over the seafloor.

Quartz sand was mixed with microplastic fragments and fibers and released in a flume tank that was designed to simulate real-world flows. University of Manchester researcher, Dr Ian Kane, developed techniques to analyse the sediment carried within these flows and deposited on the seafloor, and the samples were analysed in The University of Manchester Geography Laboratories.

Concentrations of microplastic fragments were concentrated in the lower parts of the flow while microplastic fibres were distributed throughout the flow and settled more slowly. The larger surface to volume ratio of fibres is thought to be the reason they are more evenly distributed. The high concentration of microplastic fibres in sand layers at the base of the flow is thought to be because they get more easily trapped by sand particles.

Dr Ian Kane said: “This is in contrast to what we have seen in rivers, where floods flush out microplastics; the high sediment load in these deep ocean currents causes fibres to be trapped on the seafloor, as sediment settles out of the flows."

Studying the distribution of different types of plastic on the seafloor is important because the size and type of plastic particle determines how toxins build up the surface, as well as how likely it is the plastic will enter the gut of any animal that eats it, and what animal may eat it.

These experiments show that sediment flows have the potential to transport large quantities of plastic pollution from nearshore environments into the deep sea, where they may impact local ecosystems. The next steps for research will involve sampling and monitoring deep-sea submarine canyon, to understand how robustly these experimental findings can be applied to natural systems and the effects on deep-sea ecosystems.

The paper can be viewed at:

Researchers from The University of Manchester and the (NOC) are racing to understand how microplastics are transported to the deep-sea floor in an effort to combat the growing ecological problem.

An estimated 8.3 billion tons of non-biodegradable plastic has been produced over the last 65 years. Much of this is not recycled and is disposed into the natural environment. Plastic has a long environmental residence time and accumulates in sedimentary systems worldwide, posing a threat to important ecosystems and potentially human health as it re-enters the food chain.

New research published in the journal reveals that microplastics often accumulate on the deep sea floor in the same place as diverse and dense marine life communities. This is because the same submarine sediment flows that transfer vital oxygen and nutrients needed to sustain life, also transport microplastics from urban rivers to the deep-sea floor via pathways such as submarine canyons.

Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic debris including, microbeads, microfibres and plastic fragments, which enter river systems from multiple sources including, industrial effluent, storm water drains and domestic wastewater.

The ‘’ has caused an increase in public concern with the impact of plastic in our oceans and its effects on marine life. Despite this only around 1% of the plastic in the ocean floats on its surface, most of the rest sinks down to the seabed. Due to their small size microplastics are incredibly hard to track.

Microplastics have been found to pervade the modern day seafloor across the full range of marine environments. These light and highly mobile particles are delivered to the coast by rivers, wind and ice and to the sea surface from shipping and marine industries. The relative abundance of microplastics in submarine canyons and deep-sea trenches suggests that delivery of microplastics to the seafloor is strongly controlled by gravity currents, and by settling from the surface through water columns.

The paper’s lead author, Dr Ian Kane from The University of Manchester, said: “Microplastics have been found in nearly all environments on our planet, yet we only have a very limited idea of how they are transported; particularly in the deep sea. There is now a pressing need to get more data to link hotspots of marine pollution with transport processes, and determine the ultimate fate of microplastics in the deep sea”.

NOC scientist, Dr Mike Clare, who is an author on this paper, said: “Ocean currents and other near-seafloor flows appear to control where the sinking plastic ends up. It’s essential that we develop a basic understanding of the processes that control the distribution of microplastics, so that we can better understand where and how these tiny fragments and fibres enter the food chain through seafloor marine life”.

Microplastic fragments show an affinity with areas where macroplastics and marine litter are common, while microfibers have a wider distribution and are likely to be transported easily by bottom currents. The role of redistribution by bottom currents is not well understood but it is likely that microplastics can be easily distributed far from direct input points such as major rivers.

The implications of ingested microplastics on fishing stocks as well as directly for human health are as-yet poorly understood, now a concerted research effort is required on multiple fronts. Researchers hope some of the suggestions from studies such as this will contribute to addressing this global environmental crisis to address these and other societal and economic implications.

Previous research from The University of Manchester discovered that UK rivers are also densely contaminated with microplastics in the first detailed catchment-wide study of its kind in the world.

New research charts the history of the  and its impact on global sea levels throughout history to present day.

Scientists from The University of Manchester, , and the  have used extensive reflection seismic surveys to image the structure of the Earth beneath the seafloor off the coast of northwest Greenland.

Writing in the journal  the study provides the first insight into millions of years of geological history of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet. This is the first study of its kind and provides an unprecedented insight into the dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet over the last 2.7 million years. By understanding the structure beneath the seafloor scientists are able to reconstruct what the Greenland Ice Sheet was doing and how it impacted the ocean environments around it.

This work shows that on at least 11 occasions during this time the Greenland Ice Sheet became so large that it extended over 120 km beyond its present-day margin during peak glaciation. During intervening warmer periods the ice sheet melted back to near the present-day coastline, resulting in significant global and regional sea-level rise. These findings are important to help how the Ice Sheet might evolve in the future in response to ongoing and future climate warming.

Dr Andrew Newton, jointly affiliated with both The University of Manchester and Queen’s University Belfast said: “This is an important result because it shows that over the last 2.7 million years the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has been highly dynamic, even when temperatures outside the ice ages were not as warm as today. This means that we can expect the ice sheet to directly respond to rising temperatures across the Arctic, which it is already doing.”

Professor Mads Huuse, The University of Manchester said: “By understanding how it changed in the past we may be able to get a better idea of how the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets might change in the future. The information generated from this work can also be used to test the accuracy of numerical models that are used to project how climate might evolve in the future as it warms.

“The better these models are at recreating our observations of the past, the more confidence we can have in what they project for the future. Better climate models are essential for future planning and mitigation of the consequences of climate change, in particular the contribution to sea level rise of melting ice sheets.”

The Greenland Ice Sheet was also a topic in the recent David Attenborough-narrated docu-series Our Planet, by Netflix. The team captured jaw dropping footage, showing the scale and impact of millions of tonnes of ice collapsing into the sea.

A new project has repaired, photographed and shared online forgotten maps of Manchester’s slums, which had been overlooked for the last 130 years.

The maps from the early 1880s provide information on the age of dwellings and the use of other buildings, and help us to visualise the dense physical layout of some of the city’s most notorious slums such as Red Bank, which was described by Friedrich Engels as “utterly uninhabitable” when he wrote about Manchester in the 1840s.

The maps had been overlooked by historians, urban geographers and other scholars for the last 130 years, as they were bound into reports by the city’s Medical Officer of Health who used his influence to improve the physical living conditions and wellbeing of Manchester’s citizens.

The reports were not widely distributed and the maps were printed on lightweight paper, folded in as inserts – consequently, many of the maps were in a fragile state.

Geographer Dr Martin Dodge worked with experts from the University of Manchester Library to carefully conserve, photograph and digitise the maps, as part of a wider project to make little-known maps and plans of Manchester publicly available.“I first stumbled over a handful of the maps when researching for an exhibition on the history of Manchester,” said Dr Dodge. “They were intriguing visually, but hard to make sense of as they had been separated from their source.

"I found that the set of more than 30 maps were published in volumes of important but now quite rare Medical Officer of Health reports written by John Leigh. A set of these reports, luckily, is held in the Manchester Medical Collection in the University Library archives.”

The maps provide detail of the city centre area in a key period of change towards the end of the 19th century. While there are many available maps showing streets, there are few sources for land use - and in particular, the age of buildings and the quality of housing. The restored maps fill a gap between the survey in 1850s published by Joseph Adshead, and the 1904 map of housing condition in Manchester and Salford by campaigner Thomas R. Marr. In some respects, they are comparable to Charles Booth's London poverty mapping in the 1890s.

Reports containing the maps have also been digitised, providing grim and detailed statistical accounts of the mortality experienced in Victorian Manchester. The cause of death, occupation, age and sex is recorded for individuals in each sanitary district, along with their address and the date of death.

“The maps were printed on poor quality paper, which had been folded and bound into reports as inserts,” said Special Collections Librarian Donna Sherman. “Over time, the paper had become brittle and would tear and deteriorate along the creases when consulted. Our map conservator repaired the fragile maps, which were then carefully photographed by our expert photographers. Our Imaging Services team then uploaded the digitised maps to our online map collection.”

The maps can be viewed at .