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Scientists: Swiss Glaciers Melted Sharply after Light Snowfall, Heatwave

A drone view shows the Turtmann glacier on a warm summer day, amid climate change, in Turtmann, Switzerland, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
A drone view shows the Turtmann glacier on a warm summer day, amid climate change, in Turtmann, Switzerland, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
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Scientists: Swiss Glaciers Melted Sharply after Light Snowfall, Heatwave

A drone view shows the Turtmann glacier on a warm summer day, amid climate change, in Turtmann, Switzerland, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
A drone view shows the Turtmann glacier on a warm summer day, amid climate change, in Turtmann, Switzerland, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Switzerland's glaciers melted considerably over the past 12 months to log their fourth-largest reduction in ice volume on record, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Wednesday.

A winter with little snow, especially in the northeastern part of the Swiss Alps, followed by heat waves in June, caused the glaciers to lose 3% of their total ice mass, according to this year's report by GLAMOS and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation.

"This is really a lot," said Matthias Huss, the director of GLAMOS, whose reports cover the October-September hydrological year.

Although the ice melt was not as extreme as in 2022 and 2023, when the glaciers lost 5.9% and 4.4% respectively, the trend is clear.

Switzerland has had its worst decade of ice melt on record, with one quarter of glacier volume lost since 2015, Huss added, speaking with Reuters during a visit to the Rhone Glacier in Valais canton.

The Rhone Glacier was the biggest glacier in Europe during the Ice Age, but has rapidly shrunk, losing on average about 1.5 meters in thickness this year.

According to GLAMOS, about one hundred glaciers in Switzerland have vanished between 2016 and 2022, and it says that most could disappear by the end of the century.

"Unfortunately, there is not much we can do to save the glaciers ... They will continue retreating anyway, even if the climate is stabilized today," said Huss.

But if carbon dioxide emissions were to fall to zero globally over the next 30 years, then up to 200 Swiss glaciers at high elevation could be saved, he added.

Swiss glaciers below 3,000 meters above sea level suffered in particular this year. The once healthy Silvretta Glacier in northeastern Switzerland had a huge ice melt following the lowest amount of snowfall for the area since measurements began some 100 years ago, the report found.

Huss also warned that the shrinking of glaciers contributes to the destabilization of mountains. That can trigger avalanches of rock and ice, such as the devastating glacier collapse that destroyed the village of Blatten in Valais in May of this year.

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'Pinprick of Light': Artemis Crew Witnesses Meteorite Impacts on Moon

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
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'Pinprick of Light': Artemis Crew Witnesses Meteorite Impacts on Moon

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

During their historic lunar flyby, astronauts on NASA's Artemis II mission witnessed meteorites striking the rugged surface of the Moon, a sight that has piqued scientists' curiosity.

"That was definitely impact flashes on the moon. And Jeremy (Hansen) just saw another one," mission commander Reid Wiseman reported on Monday while flying around the Moon -- the first such journey by humans in more than half a century.

"Amazed," replied Kelsey Young, the mission's lunar science lead, as she followed the spacecraft from more than 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away on Earth.

"I don't know if I expected to have the crew see any on this mission, so you probably saw the surprise and shock on my face," she said, recounting the strikes at a press briefing the next day.

Among NASA's team in Houston, there were "audible screams of delight" from scientists when the crew described flashes of light caused by meteorite impact, Young said.

The phenomenon is "something that we have not witnessed often," the mission's backup astronaut Jenni Gibbons told AFP.

"They were really high priority science for us, so the fact that they saw four or five was just outstanding."

As the astronauts hurtled towards home, NASA asked them on Tuesday about the meteorite strikes they saw during their nearly seven-hour observation period.

"Were they prolonged? And did you notice any color?" Young asked.

"It's a pinprick of light," replied Canadian crew member Hansen. "I would suspect there were a lot more of them."

"I would say they were a millisecond, like the fastest a camera shutter can open and close," added Wiseman, who said the flashes were "white to bluish white."

"To me there was no doubt we were seeing it, and we were all seeing it," he added.

According to NASA's tally, the team -- which broke the record for the furthest distance from Earth during their flyby -- reported a total of six meteorite impacts on the lunar surface.

Ground crews are now working to match these observations with data from a satellite orbiting the Moon, said Young, adding that the majority of the sightings took place during a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun.

"I'm personally... surprised they would see that many, although they (had) been trained to look for them," said Bruce Betts, chief scientist at the Planetary Society.

According to Betts, the descriptions will allow scientists to "get some idea of the frequency of impact" as well as the size of the projectiles.

One question was what size an object needed to be to create a flash visible to the astronauts, Betts said.

"It's not a piece of dust, but it's not a meter-size boulder, either."

The observations raise questions and show that the "daily flux of meteors should be monitored more closely in the future before a lunar base is established," said Peter Schultz, Professor Emeritus of Geological Sciences at Brown University.

On Earth, smaller objects "burn up high in the... atmosphere due to friction" before they reach the ground, noted Betts, which is not the case on Earth's natural satellite.

"There is more of a challenge on the Moon," he said.

Varieties

Greece to Ban Social Media for Under 15-year-olds

FILE PHOTO: Instagram app icon is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Instagram app icon is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Greece to Ban Social Media for Under 15-year-olds

FILE PHOTO: Instagram app icon is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Instagram app icon is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Greece will ban access to social media for children under 15 from January 1, 2027, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.

"We have decided to go ahead with a difficult but necessary measure: ban access to social media for children under 15-years-old," he said in a video posted on TikTok.

"Greece is among the first countries in the world to adopt such a measure," the prime minister said, adding that he would put pressure on the European Union to follow suit.

Mitsotakis said he used social media to make the announcement so he could address teenagers and children directly: "I know that some of you are going to be angry.... Our aim is not to keep you away from technology but to combat addiction to certain applications that harms your innocence and your freedom."

"Science is clear: when a child is in front of screens for hours, their brain does not rest," he said.

Australia in December became the first country in the world to require TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other top sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, or face heavy fines.

Indonesia began enforcing a social media ban for users under the age of 16 in March, and has already issued summons letters to Google and Meta over their failure to comply with the law.

Austria announced last month it would soon ban social media for children up to the age of 14, with a plan to present a new law "as early as this summer."

Spain and Denmark have also announced their intention to introduce a digital age of majority for social networks.
 

Varieties

11-Year-old UK Girl Turns Marsh Trees Into Quirky Characters

There are currently 16 trees in Hackney Marsh's which feature stories
There are currently 16 trees in Hackney Marsh's which feature stories
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11-Year-old UK Girl Turns Marsh Trees Into Quirky Characters

There are currently 16 trees in Hackney Marsh's which feature stories
There are currently 16 trees in Hackney Marsh's which feature stories

Visitors taking a stroll along the River Lea in Hackney Marshes may spot a series of signs fixed to the trees, each sharing an eccentric, whimsical tale.

An 11-year-old girl is behind the notices and over the past year has spent her family walks inventing backstories for each tree.

Niovi's project, called the Talking Tree Collective, now features characters.

Among them is Humble Dick. His story reads: “In the war of 1952 between the local gang of sting nettles and a group of young saplings over a patch of scrubland, the brave Professor Humble Dick the Fourth was the last shoot standing.”

Other characters include Bernard the litter picking tree who is described as a “descendant of a legendary environmentalist lineage” inspired by nature documentaries.

Niovi told BBC London “it started like a year ago when we walked around the marshes and we saw funny looking trees. We would make stories for them and then we eventually gave them personalities and names.”

Each tree's backstory comes from its appearance - for example, if a tree has a dent, she will imagine how it might have got it.

What started as a simple game during family walks with Coco the dog has since grown into a small, unofficial literacy trail.

The signs are anonymous, attributed only to the “Talking Tree Collective,” leaving their author a mystery until Niovi came forward.

Her father, Doug, helped her make the signs but leaves most of the creativity to Niovi.

Doug said: “I've mostly been consigned to laminating and printing, so I leave the imagination to Niovi. I think news is pretty tough at the moment, so it's nice to do something which is a bit more joyous.”

The signs are expected to remain in place for a few weeks, giving passers by a brief glimpse into Niovi's world.