An international team of scientists conducting a periodic assessment of Earth's systems found that seven of nine defined 'planetary boundaries' have been crossed, according to the report. These boundaries cover areas such as climate, biodiversity and freshwater that researchers consider critical to maintaining a stable environment for human life.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust revealed that a technician's mistake on August 18 overwrote its maternity records database while attempting to copy a radiotherapy database for reporting purposes. The error used outdated instructions meant for another system, and a setting that should have been updated was missed, causing the maternity database covering September 2011 to November 2022 to be wiped instead. While clinical notes, test results and observations were largely recovered, the trust says it cannot restore full logs showing who accessed maternity records during that 11-year period.
Three copies, two kinds of media, one off-site. The rule is old because it keeps surviving the specific ways people actually lose files.
Following a glacier collapse that triggered floods killing over 1,400 people and leaving 6,000 missing, Nepal is preparing to seek $20 million from the UN's Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, citing new research linking abnormally high July-August temperatures to the disaster. Nepal joins 119 other countries awaiting decisions on applications to the fund, which has only reviewed four claims since accepting them in late 2025, with no funding yet disbursed and the next board meeting not scheduled until December.
Researchers are urging governments and conservation groups to establish protected areas designed specifically for insects, arguing that existing wildlife reserves largely fail to address the unique habitat and life-cycle needs of these species. Current conservation frameworks tend to prioritize larger, more charismatic animals, leaving insects vulnerable despite their critical ecological roles.
A clinical psychologist and public-health researcher describes how coastal communities in Kenya and elsewhere are experiencing psychological and social fallout from climate change, including anxiety, substance abuse, gender-based violence and eroding cultural traditions tied to livelihoods like fishing. The author argues these non-economic losses—identity, belonging, intergenerational knowledge—are rarely captured in climate policy discussions, and calls for new tools to measure them ahead of COP31 negotiations in Antalya and Climate Week NYC 2026.
Amazon Web Services has confirmed that customer data hosted in its Bahrain and United Arab Emirates regions was permanently lost following Iranian drone strikes on data centers six months ago. AWS said one of three UAE availability zones and all three Bahrain zones suffered damage beyond what its backup systems could withstand, and it remains unable to restore access to some resources.
The author recounts a childhood incident in which a family photo archive stored solely on an external hard drive was wiped after the drive was reformatted for use with a set-top box. The photos were eventually recovered, but the episode became a lasting lesson about the fragility of single-copy data storage.
Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company known for Ozempic and Wegovy, is rebranding itself as simply 'Novo' starting this week. The move shifts the company's public identity toward a shorter, more casual name as it markets directly to consumers rather than solely to healthcare providers.
The Guardian gathered reader accounts describing how GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro have reshaped family dynamics, with many users hiding their use out of shame. Several described feeling they had 'cheated' at weight loss, straining relationships with partners, children and friends who didn't know about the medication.
A growing number of children and teenagers with obesity or type 2 diabetes are being prescribed GLP-1 medications, drugs originally developed for adults. Physicians and researchers say long-term safety and developmental effects of these treatments in younger patients remain largely unstudied.
A personal essay from someone who lost their father to suicide outlines lessons on how coworkers can support grieving colleagues, drawing on the difficulty of deciding who to tell at work. It cites 2024 data showing nearly 50,000 Americans died by suicide, making it the country's 10th leading cause of death. Research cited estimates each suicide touches 135 people, adding roughly 6.6 million new suicide-loss survivors annually, many of them coworkers.