Mark Beaumont is a man of our time. We are all having to put up with hardship and the adventurer's feats of endurance – cycling around the world and from one end of the Americas to the other – should inspire us to learn to survive with no heating and a limited supply of food. But the Scot is also an eco-warrior, as he showed in Rowing the Arctic (BBC1, Wednesday) when he tried to become the first man to reach the North Magnetic Pole by sea as the ice cap receded with global warming. For all this, it's still hard to warm to him.

Sailing beyond the Arctic Circle is one of the few fast-growing sectors of the cruise industry. More ships are based at UK ports for the summer than ever, with many venturing to Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and beyond. A voyage to the far north is immensely appealing. In one sense an Arctic adventure is the ultimate day trip, because the summer sun will not fall beneath the horizon all summer. And a thousand miles beyond the tree line, tourists can confront some of the world's rawest edges from the comfort of a cruise-ship cocoon. Mountains that no human has ever climbed soar from the ocean. Thick veins of snow trickle from the peaks and fuel the glaciers that gouge through the rock in geology's perpetual power struggle.

Two women were killed by bears that escaped from their enclosure at a Japanese park yesterday.

Symptoms of a mysterious disease that has killed scores of seals off the Alaskan coast and infected walruses are now showing up in polar bears, the US Geological Survey has said.

Britain's only pandas have run out of time to mate as their limited breeding season drew to a close.

The only pandas in the UK have now been brought together as the female has been judged ready to mate.

An earless baby bunny that was a rising star on Germany's celebrity animal scene had his 15 minutes of fame brought to an abrupt end when he was accidentally stepped on by a television cameraman.

Fantasies from the wild frontier

Willem Dafoe might be seared into our collective imagination for his baddie roles, but as the actor tells Geoffrey Macnab, he's also portrayed Jesus, starred with Mr Bean, and is currently playing a pin-headed Martian. Just don't mention the Birds Eye ads...

The tour leaders of an expedition in which a British student was mauled to death by a polar bear have been cleared of blame by a criminal inquiry.

Potter's science paper to be presented to society that rejected it in 1897 because she was a woman

An opposition activist has been jailed for 10 days in Belarus for organising a protest involving cuddly toys.

Visitor numbers at Edinburgh Zoo are up 200% thanks to the recent arrival of giant pandas.