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Vets stress that pets pose little to no risk to their owners but recommend keeping cats indoors.

The story of the first women ever to take an active role in a Nasa mission.

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Increased contact with animals likely cause of outbreaks such as Covid-19, say experts, as conservationists call for global ban on wildlife markets

• Coronavirus – latest updates
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Hunting, farming and the global move of people to cities has led to massive declines in biodiversity and increased the risk of dangerous viruses like Covid-19 spilling over from animals to humans, a major study has concluded.

In a paper that suggests the underlying cause of the present pandemic is likely to be increased human contact with wildlife, scientists from Australia and the US traced which animals were most likely to share pathogens with humans.

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Harbour seals struggle to match volume of passing ships when trying to attract a mate

Cruise ships are drowning out the roars of seals that are important for bagging a mate, researchers have found in the latest study to reveal the consequences of human activity on wildlife.

Ships are known to produce low-frequency sounds which can overlap with calls made by marine creatures. But now researchers studying harbour seals say such noise could be taking its toll.

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The US Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) should include a supply-curbing mechanism in its final cap-and-trade design to ensure reliable revenues to invest in fuel sector CO2 abatement, according to a think-tank report released Tuesday.

Northeast power consumption declines due to the COVID-19 are increasing, while California fuel use appears set to dip based on initial state and national data points.

Hungry rats unable to feed off restaurant leftovers are coming on to the streets and nearer homes.

Solar farm developers say the proposed big battery in Darwin is likely too small to do the job required, and urge shift to time of use tariffs for rooftop installations.

The post Solar investors say NT’s big battery in Darwin-Katherine grid is too small appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The CEC hopes governments will maintain the clean energy sector's momentum, after a year of record investment and construction activity.

The post Australia’s record year for investment and generation in renewable energy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Parliament's suspension means the Morrison government's key energy initiatives, including the $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund, are stalled, along with private investment.

The post Morrison’s flagship energy policies – and private investment – stuck in parliamentary limbo appeared first on RenewEconomy.

On my daily walk I can enjoy hearing a bird whose song is the definitive sound of the countryside

Our world is cribbed, confined and bound in as never before. Yet amid all the fear and horror, there is one silver lining, as we reconnect with nature on our doorstep. My Somerset garden is awash with birdsong: chiffchaffs, wrens, robins and a new arrival, the blackcap, all competing to see who can shout the loudest as spring gathers pace. Overhead, buzzards soar and ravens tumble, as delighted as I am to herald the new season.

Related: Wildflower planting on farms boosts birds, from skylarks to starlings

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We might need to ignore climate change right now if only to save our sanity, but it certainly hasn’t been ignoring us. Rod Lamberts, Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University Will J Grant, Senior Lecturer, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

EU carbon prices will resume their downtrend to average €11 this quarter amid an ongoing reduction in power demand and a big fall in the bloc’s 2020 GDP due to the coronavirus, analysts said Tuesday, warning that EUAs could eventually crash to as little as €5 if the crisis persists.

EUAs extended their recent gains into a fourth session on Tuesday, adding as much as 6.6% to hit a new three-week high before retreating to erase the day’s rise as more observers questioned the sustainability of the rally.

Plan for net-zero emissions combined with a new diplomatic effort is Australia’s best chance at saving reef for future generations

The news is overwhelming and exhausting in a way it has rarely been in most of our lifetimes, but if you have five minutes of energy left this is worth your attention. That it hasn’t been reported in most of Australia’s major news outlets doesn’t make that any less the case.

Across nine days last month, Prof Terry Hughes from James Cook University travelled the length of the Great Barrier Reef in a small plane to survey the health of more than 1,000 individual sites. He was joined by an observer from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a government agency.

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California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices declined ahead of utility Pacific Gas & Electric's (PG&E) Tuesday auction, though some participants thought the market was already primed for a retracement amid the prolonged coronavirus outbreak.

The team behind the first image of a black hole reveals something else from that historic picture.

The Northeast US RGGI carbon market will offer more than 16.3 million allowances for sale at its June auction, the 10-state programme announced on Tuesday.

Dirty air increases risk of respiratory problems that can be fatal for coronavirus patients

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Air pollution is linked to significantly higher rates of death in people with Covid-19, according to analysis.

The work shows that even a tiny, single-unit increase in particle pollution levels in the years before the pandemic is associated with a 15% increase in the death rate. The research, done in the US, calculates that slightly cleaner air in Manhattan in the past could have saved hundreds of lives.

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