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Blue Planet III features cloudier footage to prove authenticity amid AI boom

BBC series deliberately uses ‘more organic’ shots to assure viewers animals are not AI-generated, producers say The David Attenborough-narrated series Blue Planet III deliberately includes cloudier, less polished footage to counter AI fakery and assure viewers it is “authentic”, its producers have said. Nearly a decade after Blue Planet II shone a light on plastic pollution, and 25 years since the first Blue Planet aired, the hit BBC series is returning with more animal behaviour and cutting-edge technology, including the world’s first underwater CCTV camera – dubbed “stonefish” cam. Continue reading...

The Guardian Environment · 10/23/2026

US households pay 62% more for water than they did a decade ago, study finds

For-profit water corporations, federal cuts and climate crisis are ‘supercharging water rate hikes’, study co-author says US households are paying 62% more for drinking water than they did a decade ago – outpacing inflation, grocery prices and household incomes, according to a new study. Food & Water Watch, a Washington DC-based non-profit, analyzed 2025 billing data from the 500 largest community water systems in the US, which together serve about 155 million people, or 45% of the country’s population. The analysis compared current rates with data from a similar Food & Water Watch survey conducted in 2015. The study does not include wastewater or storm water charges, which are often billed separately from drinking water service. Continue reading...

The Guardian Environment · 10/6/2026

Life uses 4 DNA letters. Scientists just made 8 work

Researchers at UC San Diego have demonstrated that a key cellular enzyme can accurately read an eight-letter genetic alphabet, doubling the four letters used by all known life on Earth. Detailed imaging revealed that RNA polymerase handles synthetic DNA letters in surprisingly similar ways to natural ones. The finding brings scientists closer to building expanded genetic systems that could perform entirely new biological functions.

ScienceDaily Plants & Animals · 9/5/2026

Wildfire raging south of Paris could have been set deliberately, says minister

The interior minister has said the fire near Paris could have been set deliberately and two people have been arrested.

BBC Science & Environment · 7/13/2026