Within just a 17-kilometre radius in one Indonesian archipelago, there is an explosion almost every hour as locals practise 鈥渂omb fishing鈥�, destroying coral reefs and decimating marine life.

Over 483 days between May 2023 and September 2024, at University College London and his colleagues deployed an acoustic monitoring system at Spermonde Archipelago, south-west of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

As well as being a global coral reef biodiversity hotspot, it is a location where fishers detonate explosives underwater, stunning and killing fish that can then be easily harvested.

鈥淭he sound of bomb fishing is so loud that if you鈥檙e on a dive it can shake you out of your skin,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淵ou feel it more than you hear it. But if you put your head up on the surface, you likely won鈥檛 even see the boat responsible because the sound of bomb fishing travels such a huge distance underwater.鈥�

The recording equipment sat at a depth of 17 metres and was able to detect explosions inside a radius of almost 17 kilometres. The team used AI to analyse their 3650 hours of raw audio. They recorded 3567 explosions, or just over 23 per day while the device was underwater.

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鈥淲e have shown the true extent of this practice in a known hotspot for the first time ever, which we hope will drive action to curb this destruction,鈥� says Williams.

One of the biggest issues is that there is an illegal supply chain underpinning the bomb fishing, usually involving the sourcing of fertilisers and fuses or detonators, he says. 鈥淚n other regions these may be stolen mining explosives or even military explosives.鈥�

Once the fishers have the explosives, enforcement at sea is sparse. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like Whac-A-Mole targeting the bomb fishers. The best approaches should tackle the illegal supply chain that gets the materials needed to make explosives to bomb fishers or sellers of these,鈥� says Williams.

Bomb fishing is a problem across the tropics, and part of the solution is retraining locals in sustainable tourism and reef restoration, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been documented in 34 countries, from South America to the Mediterranean to the East Coast of Africa and South-East Asia.鈥�

, who wasn鈥檛 part of the work, is currently studying at the University of Queensland, Australia, and has worked extensively with Indonesian non-governmental organisations in reefs targeted by bomb fishing. He says he wasn鈥檛 surprised at the scale of the聽problem.

鈥淚 expected the frequency to be high, but studies regarding bomb fishing are relatively scarce because it is notoriously difficult to quantify,鈥� Gotama says.

He says the new method employed by the researchers might help combat the practice. 鈥淚f this acoustic method could be replicated elsewhere, it could help with detecting and quantifying blast fishing and help identify hotspots of activity,鈥� says Gotama.

鈥淭hat could be valuable not only for ecological monitoring, but also for targeting enforcement and evaluating whether management interventions are actually reducing blast fishing.鈥�

Summer 2026 is likely to be the warmest on record in the UK, with repeated searing heatwaves and a severe drought affecting much of the country. In southern England in particular, the landscape is parched and crispy, rivers and reservoirs are running low, and trees are shedding their leaves in a stress response to the dry weather. Much of Europe is baking under similar conditions.

How much longer can we cope without rain? And how long will it take us to recover from such an unprecedented dry spell? With the help of experts from across water, agriculture and climate, we鈥檝e answered your key questions below.

How bad is the drought?

Almost three-quarters of England is now in drought conditions after the driest July in almost two centuries, when barely any rain fell in many places. The National Drought Group 鈥� which includes public bodies, agricultural and environmental organisations 鈥� has described the situation as an 鈥渆xceptionally serious鈥� flash drought, driven by a combination of very high temperatures and exceptionally low rainfall over recent weeks.

It is taking a severe toll on the landscape. Almost 250 wildfires have been reported in biodiversity hotspots this year, wetlands and peatlands are drying out, and trees are dying. Some 22 per cent of rivers are at exceptionally low levels, including the Avon, Wye, Ely Ouse and Exe.

鈥淭he almost completely dry July is exceptionally unusual and add to that the heatwaves, the soils have dried very quickly and river flows have dropped very fast,鈥� says at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

How short of water are we?

The dry, hot weather over July and August has rapidly depleted rivers, reservoirs and underground aquifers, despite the wet winter England just experienced. Reservoir levels in England have fallen to 69 per cent 鈥� 11.6 per cent lower than what would be expected for this time of year. Reservoir storage in the country fell 16 per cent in July, the greatest reduction in raw storage for at least 30 years, the UK government said this week.

It is a sign of the impact of climate change, which is expected to bring drier, hotter summers to the UK. This year shows that even a wet winter isn鈥檛 enough to carry the UK through an extremely hot, dry summer. 鈥淐urrently the situation is that we鈥檙e just simply using too much water,鈥� says at the University of Oxford. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not replenishing at the same speed as we鈥檙e using water.鈥�

But great progress has been made in improving water storage, infrastructure and the industry鈥檚 response to drought in recent years, says at the Open University. This means the water industry is better equipped to deal with drought than it was in 1976, even though the weather has been hotter and drier for a longer period than 50 years ago. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more severe than 1976 in terms of heatwaves and repetition of heatwaves, but the status of the water-supply system is currently not as bad as it was in 1976,鈥� he says.

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How are trees, plants and wildlife coping?

You may have noticed the crunch of dry leaves underfoot in recent weeks. That鈥檚 a sign stressed trees are going through a 鈥渇alse autumn鈥�, where they shed their leaves and even branches in an effort to keep their main stem alive. Some will not make it through 鈥� the 2022 heatwave killed 400 trees at Kew Gardens in London. Younger trees are at greater risk, as newly planted trees need 50 litres of water per week during the summer months for the first three years after planting.

Meanwhile, low river levels are causing algal blooms in rivers, and hard, dry soils make it impossible for animals such as badgers and hedgehogs to dig for food. Fierce wildfires have swept through nature reserves, destroying habitats and killing wildlife.

Unfortunately, this is the third drought in five years for England, and ecosystems are already stressed and weakened by these previous events. That makes it more difficult for them to recover from this extreme summer.

When will it next rain?

The intense heat of this week will give way to cooler temperatures next week, according to the Met Office, the UK鈥檚 national weather service. Although temperatures are expected to be closer to average for this time of year, whether rain will fall in the areas under the most stress is far from certain. Forecasters have struggled this year to accurately forecast rain, with wet weather often failing to materialise.

Even if rain showers do arrive next week, it is unlikely to be enough to alleviate the drought, in a blog post this week. There鈥檚 also the not insignificant risk of a dry, hot September, with long-term forecasts currently favouring drier weather.

What happens if there鈥檚 no rain the next few weeks?

Water companies will prioritise maintaining household water supplies above all else, but other sectors, such as agriculture or commercial businesses, are likely to face increasingly tight restrictions over the coming weeks if the drought continues.

Hosepipe bans 鈥� known as temporary use bans 鈥� are already in place across much of the country and can reduce consumption by 5 to 10 per cent. At least one water company 鈥� Southern Water 鈥� has applied to the government for a drought order. That would give it powers to introduce a non-essential use ban that restricts certain commercial activities such as car washing, window cleaning and watering commercial premises. Other water companies have signalled they will follow suit if the situation doesn鈥檛 improve in the next few weeks. Water companies can also apply to take more water from rivers and aquifers to maintain supply, but this threatens wildlife and habitats.

The next step up is an emergency drought order, which needs to be approved by the environment secretary. This would allow water companies to impose rota cuts on household and commercial customers, as happened in 1976 when mains water to households was curtailed and standpipes were installed in streets.

However, this is highly unlikely to happen this year, says Collins, as water companies would deploy all other possible measures first. 鈥淧ublic water supply is always the priority, no matter what happens,鈥� he says.

Is there a threat to food supply?

Farmers are already warning that yields of some crops will be significantly lower than normal this summer because of the drought. Wheat yields are expected to be down 14 per cent compared with the average, and potato yields are expected to be 10 to 15 per cent lower than average. Meanwhile, harvests of fruits such as apples are also expected to be lower than usual, and the fruit smaller in size. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a think tank, it could be the worst harvest on record for UK farmers, with drought-related yield losses potentially costing arable farmers 拢390 million in lost revenue.

The situation is made worse by the fact that much of Europe is also sweltering under hot, dry conditions, meaning food production across the continent is also likely to fall this year. Together, that is likely to push food prices up for consumers into the autumn, particularly for fruit.

Farmers in England are struggling to adapt to heat and drought extremes because the weather is still so changeable, says at Rothamsted Research. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not like the Mediterranean, where you get predictably hot, dry summers every year,鈥� he says. Paul鈥檚 research is focused on breeding crops and developing treatments to boost yields in both wet and dry conditions. 鈥淭he solution isn鈥檛 to breed drought-tolerant crops that only do well under droughts,鈥� he says.

What could water companies be doing to save water?

Over the longer term, England needs to get better at storing water from its wet winters to tide it over during the summer months. This means building new reservoirs 鈥� a costly, time-consuming endeavour 鈥� and expanding water-transfer schemes to transport water from wet regions to dry ones. Even more radical plans are being explored, from building desalination plants to artificially injecting more water into underground aquifers during winter months.

The Environment Agency predicts there could be a shortfall of 5 billion litres per day in water supply across England by 2050 if more isn鈥檛 done to limit demand and increase supply.

How long will it take for the drought to end?

In the eyes of the public, a few days of rain is enough for the drought to be over. But it takes landscapes and wildlife far longer to recover from such an extreme dry spell. The flash drought that developed last year across England only ended in autumn when weeks of above-average rainfall arrived.

Hydrologists will be watching closely for a wet autumn and winter this year, which will help to recharge rivers and groundwater ahead of next summer. A strong El Ni帽o now underway in the Pacific Ocean could increase the chances of a wetter start to winter for the UK, although El Ni帽o鈥檚 influence on UK weather is indirect and difficult to predict.

However, a dry winter could leave the UK vulnerable. 鈥淎 dry winter would make us worried about next spring and summer,鈥� says Watts. That would put the country in a vulnerable position and raise the threat of emergency drought orders being introduced.

Our memories may persist even when half of the brain connections that store them are wiped out, according to a study in dormant mice. The 鈥渞emarkable鈥� discovery tells us more about how memory works and could one day reveal ways to improve it.

鈥淢emories may be harder to break than we thought,鈥� says at Boston University, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the study. 鈥淭his absolutely, substantially advances our understanding of how memory works.鈥�

When we experience a stimulus, neurons in our sensory organs, like our eyes, transmit electrical signals to our brain. Neurons then process this information by firing electrical signals to each other via junctions called synapses.

These neurons, called engram neurons, encode information into a memory by forming new synapses and strengthening existing ones. Recalling a memory .

Many scientists think a memory persists as long as the specific pattern of synapses on the engram neurons encoding that memory is maintained. This is partly based on experiments that have used drugs or genetic tools to , says at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan.

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But recent studies suggest a memory persists in location or number. This has called into question 鈥渨hat鈥檚 necessary and sufficient to have a memory preserved鈥�, says at Yale University.

To address this, Tanaka and his colleagues took inspiration from hibernating animals. 鈥淯nder hibernation, brain activity seems to drop significantly,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut studies in natural hibernators show that somehow those animals, after arousal in the spring, seem to remember their friends and the location of food they hid before hibernation.鈥�

By examining how memory is retained during hibernation, a situation in which the brain changes dramatically, the researchers hoped to unpick basic principles by which the mammalian brain stores memories long term. 鈥淭he [researchers] very cleverly and creatively get at the question of memory by using hibernation as a way to poke and prod at the brain,鈥� says Ramirez.

They applied weak electric shocks to the feet of mice 鈥� which don鈥檛 naturally hibernate 鈥� while they were in a chamber that smelled of alcohol, creating a fearful memory associated with that scent. The next day, the mice froze in fear upon being placed in the same chamber, without receiving shocks.

The researchers induced an artificial state of hibernation in about half the mice for two days. This was done by injecting them with drugs that slow metabolism and placing them in a dark chamber.

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Five days later, mice that had artificially hibernated still froze when placed in the alcohol-smelling chamber. This was despite brain scans revealing that more than half of the synapses within the engram neurons in their hippocampus 鈥� a brain region crucial for memory 鈥� disappeared during hibernation. 鈥淒espite massive brain remodelling during hibernation, the memories were retained,鈥� says Tanaka.

Dragoi says the findings are relevant to people, since prior research has shown that our brains store information very similarly to mice. 鈥淚t tells us something about how our mammalian brains may work,鈥� says Ramirez.

The team also found that the hibernating rodents鈥� brains retained synapses that clustered closely together on the surface of engram neurons, while those outside these clusters disappeared. This suggests that clustered synapses specifically are crucial for retaining memory in the brain, says Tanaka.

Non-clustered synapses that were wiped out by hibernation reappeared within a day post-hibernation, indicating that, while clustered engram synapses are necessary to retain the information within memories, the non-clustered synapses may be important for accessing memories, he says.

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鈥淭his study is a聽remarkable聽step forward because it addresses a long-standing puzzle in memory research: how the brain retains long-term memories,鈥� says at Vrije University Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

The team is exploring the molecular pathways through which clustered engram synapses store information and plans to dig into how non-clustered ones reappear, says Tanaka.

Targeting such pathways with drugs could even reveal ways to prevent or slow memory impairment, says Ramirez. 鈥淚t gives hope that even in instances where information seems to be lost in the brain, whether it鈥檚 amnesia or Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, memory may nonetheless persist.鈥�