As the world heats up, methane released from thawing permafrost and warming tropical wetlands is intensifying climate breakdown. But curbing it is achievable

Controlling methane provides our best, and perhaps only, lever for shaving peak global temperatures over the next few decades. This is because it’s cleansed from the air naturally only a decade or so after release. Therefore if we could eliminate all methane emissions from human activities, methane’s concentration would quickly return to pre-industrial levels. Essentially, humans have released in excess of 3bn tonnes of methane into the atmosphere in the past 20 years. Quashing those emissions within a decade or two would save us 0.5C of warming. No other greenhouse gas gives us this much power to slow the climate crisis.

If the Earth keeps warming, though, reducing emissions from human activities may not be enough. We may also need to counter higher methane emissions in nature, including from warming tropical wetlands and thawing Arctic permafrost. The highest natural methane emissions come from wetlands and seasonally flooded forests in the tropics – such as the Brazilian Amazon forest I recently visited at the Mamirauá sustainable development reserve – and they are expected to rise with warming. Tropical wetlands yield so much methane because they are warm, wet (by definition) and low-oxygen environments perfect for growing methane-emitting microbes.

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Health leaders warn that global response to virus is test case for equity and preparation for future pandemics

A failure to show solidarity with African countries at the heart of the mpox outbreak will put the world at risk and harm preparations for future pandemics, health leaders have said.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared an international public health emergency in the face of rising cases that are spreading beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the virus is endemic.

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Families and campaigners call for meeting with health secretary following inquest ruling over Costa Coffee tragedy

Food allergy campaigners have requested an urgent meeting with the UK health secretary after a teenager with a severe dairy allergy died following an anaphylactic reaction to drinking a Costa Coffee hot chocolate.

The inquest into the death of Hannah Jacobs, 13, who had been severely allergic to dairy products, fish and eggs since she was a toddler, found there had been “a failure to follow the processes” at Costa Coffee, which led to her drink being prepared with cow’s milk instead of soya milk.

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Health non-profit’s affiliate announced changes for September, but staff say abortion access is already limited

In the coming weeks, Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan health center will stop offering core reproductive health services, including abortions after 20 weeks and deep sedation for procedures like abortion or IUD insertion.

The Manhattan clinic currently offers abortion through 24 weeks and is the only Planned Parenthood location in the state that does so. The group has been beset by financial challenges, and plans to close a number of New York clinics in the near future.

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Startups around the world are engaging in clinical trials in a sector that could change lives – and be worth more than £15bn by the 2030s

Oran Knowlson, a British teenager with a severe type of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, became the first person in the world to trial a new brain implant last October, with phenomenal results – his daytime seizures were reduced by 80%.

“It’s had a huge impact on his life and has prevented him from having the falls and injuring himself that he was having before,” says Martin Tisdall, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) in London, who implanted the device. “His mother was talking about how he’s had such a improvement in his quality of life, but also in his cognition: he’s more alert and more engaged.”

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