Geography
June 2026
Globally significant volcanic event formed Giant’s Causeway, scientists find
Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average
April 2026
- The big ideaDo stronger borders ever work?Leaders have thrown up walls and barriers throughout history – but their effects are unpredictable
March 2026
- The Audio Long ReadFrom the archive: Are we really prisoners of geography? – podcastThis week, from 2022: A wave of bestselling authors claim that global affairs are still ultimately governed by the immutable facts of geography – mountains, oceans, rivers, resources. But the world has changed more than they realise
By Daniel Immerwahr. Read by Christopher Ragland
January 2026
The Oak and the Larch by Sophie Pinkham review – are Russia’s forests the key to its identity?
How billions of trees left their mark on an empire’s psyche – shaping ideological and literal battles up to the present day
December 2025
- Best books of 2025The best science and nature books of 2025From the threat of superintelligent AI to the dangers of overdiagnosis; plus the evolution of language and the restless genius of Francis Crick
September 2025
- Brief lettersSimple solution to Sainsbury’s shopliftingBrief letters: Supermarket staff | Recycling tech | Brylcreem on tap | Missing Tony Benn
August 2025
Putting maps of the world in perspective
Letters: All statesmen should have a proper globe in their offices, writes Dr Ian S Evans; plus letters from Mark Everett and David Cockayne
April 2025
- Observer book of the weekThe North Road by Rob Cowen review – the poetry and pain of Britain’s backboneA beautifully written study of our longest numbered route, the A1, is full of rich asides and haunting explorations, conjuring the visual pleasure of a road movie
March 2025
- Indigenous affairs reportingFrom Meanjin to Warrane, Apple Maps adds more than 250 Indigenous placenames in AustraliaApp to also show land borders for Indigenous protected areas and reserves following similar updates in Canada and the United States in 2023
December 2024
Gorge-ous: the world’s grandest canyons – in pictures
As the governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, petitions to have the state’s Owyhee Canyonlands made a protected natural monument, we take a look at canyons from across the globe
November 2024
Why geography lessons are the key to climate awareness
Letter: Studying geography can help students meet the challenges of climate change, writes Steve Brace
September 2024
The hardest thing about moving is not the people you leave behind – it’s the paths you’ll never walk again
After 14 years, it’s time to leave the woods and fields that have meant so much to me. I know I’ll see my friends again – but what about the spot where I first saw a kingfisher?
August 2024
An epidemic of falls on the ‘mean streets’ of Athens
- Other livesEdward Derbyshire obituary
May 2024
- Other livesJohn Adams obituaryOther lives: Professor of geography at UCL who was an expert on risk and the social implications of a hypermobile world
April 2024
Lost orchards and blossom flourish in placenames across England and Wales
Geography students are losing access to nature as fieldwork falls
February 2024
Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds
Collapse in system of currents that helps regulate global climate would be at such speed that adaptation would be impossible
December 2023
Iceland volcano in Reykjanes peninsula erupts after weeks of activity – video
Reykjanes is a volcanic and seismic hot-spot south-west of the capital Reykjavik.