Assessment finds global heating is endangering 96% of coral reefs across 80 countries – a figure scientists say should serve as a ‘wake-up call’

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Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, faces a high risk of ecosystem collapse before 2075 because of global heating, according to an assessment by United Nations nature advisers.

About 24% of the planet’s reefs across more than 80 countries are already critically endangered, the assessment said, but when the expected impacts of global heating were added this rose to 96%.

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© Photograph: Lindsey Kramer/Hawaii Wildlife Fund/IUCN

© Photograph: Lindsey Kramer/Hawaii Wildlife Fund/IUCN

© Photograph: Lindsey Kramer/Hawaii Wildlife Fund/IUCN

Study identifies ‘circadian depression’ as affecting nearly a quarter of more than 11,000 participants

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Australian researchers have identified a new subtype of depression – termed “circadian depression” – linked to disruptions in the body’s internal clock, which they believe is less responsive to traditional antidepressant treatments.

In a study published in British Journal of Psychiatry, involving clinical and genetic data from 11,380 Australians with mostly severe and recurrent depression, researchers identified circadian depression as affecting nearly a quarter (23%) of participants.

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© Photograph: milos-kreckovic/Getty Images

© Photograph: milos-kreckovic/Getty Images

© Photograph: milos-kreckovic/Getty Images

Exclusive: Research confirms official advice about high-risk properties and warns worsening conditions will make more homes unsafe

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Almost every home destroyed in New South Wales during the black summer bushfires of 2019-20 was inside the 100 metre buffer zone used to identify properties most at risk, new research has found.

The findings are an endorsement of the risk maps used by authorities, but the research warns that as global heating generates ever-worsening fire conditions, firefighters may have to extend the recommended distances between homes and vegetation to keep properties safe.

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© Photograph: Christine Tondorf/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christine Tondorf/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christine Tondorf/The Guardian

Com dados sísmicos do Nepal e da China, os investigadores identificaram dezenas de pequenos eventos sísmicos nas semanas anteriores ao colapso de rocha e gelo de agosto e à cheia que se seguiu. Um novo estudo, publicado na revista Seismica, apresenta a primeira análise sísmica completa do que aconteceu durante a cheia catastrófica no Nepal, a 26 de agosto. Mas continua por esclarecer o que fez ceder a encosta. Uma enorme secção de uma encosta dos Himalaias desabou perto da fronteira entre o Nepal e a China, lançando milhões de metros cúbicos de rocha e gelo encosta abaixo. O colapso