While many of our articles concentrate on raptors or rare species, the birds we look at tend to duck the more obvious species of waterfowl. In the case of the beautiful smew, a lot of work has gone into investigating every country it migrates through on its long journey across Eurasia. Gathered together by Diego Pavon-Jordan from the Finnish Museum of Natural History and NOWAC, this ornithological group have established valid links between global warming and a switch in an animal’s habits of migration.

Deeply involved in the past, this insight into how the archipelago of Europe survived the terrible disaster of the K-Pg boundary is essential reading- if you are a North American dinosaur, that is!

How clean is your home? Rephrase that now and ask yourself how polluted it is, compared to the fresh air, if your neighbourhood has any. You may be hygienic too, which is another kettle of fish (smelly that is). Whatever your situation, we all become complacent. It is not only the drains, polluted with too much detergent. Your own life, that of children and that of older and sick people is endangered by what you do. Awareness is a very simple science, pure and logical, but we must keep up. New products often turn out to be unexpectedly dangerous, even to the manufacturer. The testing now is rigorous, but simpler science is best.

Need to save money after the spending boom to end them all? Here are 2 sets of opinions on how to pull out the plugs at night – at least.

When dolphins are 'rescued' in various countries, the car given seems to be ill-considered. We are simply looking at the success rate which is reported to be low, in most places. They could even end up in commercial aquarium shows, but they certainly rarely make it back to the sea.

What is killing bees? Chelsea has the answer here.