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A new way of mapping temperatures in a city will allow local authorities to consider areas with the most vulnerable people in future heatwave plans. A University of Birmingham research project has highlighted the potential health impacts of heatwaves in urbanised areas. By modelling the 2003 heatwave the researchers were able to identify areas where city centres were up to 7°C hotter than the surrounding countryside in the West Midlands.

Research has uncovered alarming evidence of an underreported wild-meat crisis in the heart of Amazonia. Scientists from Lancaster University and Brazil ed households in two Brazilian 'prefrontier' cities - cities which are surrounded by more than 90 per cent of their original forest cover. They found virtually all urban households in these cities (Borba and Novo Aripuanã) consumed wildlife for food, including fish (99%), bushmeat (mammals and birds; 79%), turtles and tortoises (48%) and caimans (28%).

A class of drug for treating arthritis - all but shelved over fears about side effects - may be given a new lease of life following new research. The new study, led by Imperial College London and published in the journal Circulation , sheds new light on the 10-year-old question of how COX-2 inhibitors - a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) - can increase the risk of heart attack in some people, and suggests a possible way to identify which patients should avoid using it.

A new study has shown that older people living in towns and cities in Northern Ireland are a quarter more likely to be admitted to care homes than people living in rural areas. Researchers from the University of Glasgow found that rural dwellers had greater access to informal networks of care, such as family, friends and neighbours, which decreased their reliance on the care system.

4 July 2014 A collaborative European Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) project that includes researchers from the University of Bristol aims to train high calibre PhD and postdoctoral researchers with a comprehensive understanding of water quality processes, uncertainty issues and decision making strategies for integrated water catchment management.

Soils under Britain's allotments are significantly healthier than intensively farmed soils First study to show that growing at small-scale in urban areas produces food sustainably without damaging soils Authors say planning and policy makers should promote urban own-growing as a sustainable way of meeting increasing food demand An increase in urban allotments could help us meet the rising demand for food throughout the world, without damaging the Earth's soils, according to new research from the University of Sheffield.

The global diversity of plants being cultivated by Britain’s gardeners is playing a key role in the fight to save the nation’s threatened bumblebees, new research has revealed. Ecologists at Plymouth University, in a study published this week, have shown the most common species of bumblebee are not fussy about a plant’s origin when searching for nectar and pollen among the nation’s urban gardens.

Manufacturing areas in the city of Birmingham, which represent only a small percentage of the city's land area, are contributing significantly to urban lighting, according to research carried out by University of Birmingham environmental scientists published in the journal PLOS ONE today (Monday 6th May 2013).

Improving water supplies in rural African villages may have negative knock-on effects and contribute to increased poverty, new research published today [14 November] has found. Rural development initiatives across the developing world are designed to improve community wellbeing and livelihoods but a study of Ethiopian villages by researchers at the Universities of Bristol and Addis Ababa in Africa has shown that this can lead to unforeseen consequences caused by an increase in the birth rate in the absence of family planning.

Researchers have announced the results of the largest ever health and lifestyle survey of cities and conurbations across Europe - including five British urban centres. The research examined and compared the health, life expectancy and lifestyles of the populations of 26 European cities (the Euro-26) and found major differences, not only between cities, but within individual urban areas too.

Urban rivers throughout England and Wales have improved dramatically in water quality and wildlife over the last 20 years. That's the conclusion of one the largest studies of national trends in river health ever undertaken. After decades of pollution, typically from poorly treated sewage and industrial waste, rivers in or near Britain's major urban areas are regaining insects such as mayflies and stoneflies that are typical of fast-flowing, oxygen-rich waters.

Introducing the online game for Londoners which researchers hope will one day influence the shape of the nation's capital. —Daniele Quercia An online game which tests Londoners' ability to recognise parts of the capital has been devised by researchers as the first step in a project to create a "memory map" of the city.

Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor Visitors to urban green spaces in Sheffield feel better in areas they perceive to have greater biodiversity. A recent study, carried out as part of the University of Sheffield´s Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agenda (URSULA) project, examines how people´s feelings of well-being are related to both the numbers of species they think are present at a site, and to the actual number present.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield have created a new online atlas which displays images of the world, but not as we know it. The atlas includes over 200 maps which have been redrawn to show, at a glance, which cities are the largest, how all urban areas compare, and whether many or few people live in the countryside.