Peter de Kruijff

The year has barely started and extreme weather events are already in the headlines. Here are some more big environment issues to keep an eye on.

New research shows numbats are overheating in high summer temperatures, and scientists suggest climate change could make things worse.

You might have heard that mining metals needed for the renewable energy transition could harm the environment, so what's actually happening?

Snot bubbles, tree-hugging and flyby belly dipping are just some of the ingenious ways Australian animals keep cool during a heatwave.

Antarctica's chinstrap penguins could get the same benefit of longer periods of snoozing by taking microsleeps during nesting season, according to a new study documenting one of the most extreme examples of incremental sleep in the animal world.

Last week, the planet appeared to briefly breach a climate threshold set by world governments for the first time. Experts say it is just another sign of how much the planet is warming.

New Zealand researchers say changing weather dynamics could be influencing the formation of larger holes in Antarctica's ozone layer, but others debate the new study's findings.

Tracks of 125-million-year-old avian footprints discovered by a volunteer fossil hunter are the earliest-known sign of birds in Australia and the southern hemisphere, researchers say.

Rising temperatures are already skewing sea turtle clutches towards having more female than males, but new research suggests heavy metal pollution could be too.

Come along on a trip to Exmouth Gulf as researchers hunt for one of the ocean's most cryptic creatures.

Researchers in China have reported the live birth of a monkey chimera using a stem cell technique previously only successful with rats and mice. So what does this mean?

Large Australian companies will soon have to disclose climate risks but there are concerns that legal avenues will be closed off to combat greenwashing.

Scientists have dropped sausages made out of cane toads to deter vulnerable wildlife in the Kimberley from eating the pest. Unfortunately, the snags don't appear to be working, but there's another plan afoot to protect the Pilbara.

It could take hundreds of years — if not thousands — to reverse decline to ocean fish habitat if warming's not kept below climate targets, according to new research.

Most regional police cars in WA will have new satellite technology to provide constant communications access by the end of next year.

A large dish once used to assist NASA missions from Carnarvon in Western Australia is being refurbished so it can track satellites in geostationary orbit around Earth. 

American multinational Chevron says it will accept recommendations made by the Fair Work Commission to resolve a pay dispute between the company and unions at two of the world's largest gas projects in the Pilbara. 

The evaporative salt and gypsum mining operation, run by one of Carnarvon's largest employers, could be changing hands for just the second time in more than 50 years.

Large bommies made of a stony coral known as porites underpin the World Heritage reef system. It's hoped they can help scientists predict how a warming world will affect the reef's health.

Indonesian restrictions on northern Australian cattle have been lifted, providing relief to pastoralists who want to see export ships organised quickly to clear a livestock backlog.

After hearing a scream, Eric Krins and Maree Pearson did not hesitate to rush to the aid of the 67-year-old woman at a remote WA beach.

The detection of a parasite native to north-west waters has halted development of an oyster industry in Carnarvon, with Australian food company Harvest Road removing its baskets and infrastructure as a result.

It took firefighters longer than expected to cool down 180 damaged gas cylinders and release their contents before reopening the road.

Regional leaders are up in arms following an electoral boundary review set to combine the seats of Moore and North West Central into one electorate, stretching from the Wheatbelt to the Gascoyne.

The beaches around Exmouth and Cape Range National Park are a haven for sea turtles.