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Police diver adopts dog rescued from icy lake
Anak Krakatau: Indonesian volcano's lost stature
Fireworks banned on the Galapagos to protect wildlife
Vital ecosystems in tidal flats lost to development and rising sea levels
First global coastline survey shows 16% of tidal flats lost between 1984 and 2016
Coastal development and sea level rise are causing the decline of tidal flats along the world’s coastlines, according to research that has mapped the ecosystems for the first time.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Queensland used machine-learning to analyse more than 700,000 satellite images to map the extent of and change in tidal flats around the globe.
Continue reading...Country Breakfast Summer Feature
Trump administration to consider rolling back Obama-era mercury rule
Move is part of a series of regulations pursued on behalf of coal interests, decisions scientists say are detrimental to public health
The Trump administration will reconsider the reasoning for restrictions on toxic mercury pollution from coal plants that is linked to developmental delays in children, it was announced on Friday.
Continue reading...Fisherman survives falling overboard by clinging on to nets
Nathan Rogers was dragged along by fishing boat for five miles before it crashed in Newlyn, Cornwall
A fisherman survived falling overboard after he clung on to nets on the side of his boat for more than an hour.
Nathan Rogers was dragged along by his fishing boat for five miles before it crashed into the south pier in Newlyn, Cornwall, on Thursday afternoon.
Continue reading...Madagascar pochard: World's rarest bird gets new home
World's rarest bird gets new home in Madagascar
'Have you beetled?': the battle to save one of UK's rarest species
Wormwood moonshiners live on one rare plant and only emerge at night. A battle is on to save them
The smell of aircraft fuel wafts on the wintry breeze as torches flit across rough grassland. A patch of derelict-looking ground beside densely packed housing and Mildenhall US airbase is an unlikely place to find one of Britain’s rarest species.
But this little Suffolk meadow used mainly by dog walkers is the only known place in Britain where the wormwood moonshiner lives, an elusive beetle which emerges one hour after sunset to devour the seeds of a virtually extinct plant.
Continue reading...Revealed: US-style industrial farms receive millions in subsidies
The Guardian and Bureau of Investigative Journalism establish that intensive farms in the UK received nearly £70m in two years
The operators of industrial-scale livestock farms have received millions of pounds of public funds in the last two years, the Guardian can reveal, despite concerns over the spread of US-style factory farming across the British countryside.
Data analysis by the Guardian and Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found that recipients of almost £70 million in subsidies in 2016 and 2017 include individuals and companies running:
Continue reading...Anak Krakatau: How a tsunami could wipe out the last Javan rhinos
The best science long reads of 2018 (part two)
Irukandji warning: deadly jellyfish will be 'fired up' by north Queensland's big wet
Tiny creatures prefer calm, warm waters – with risk of stings increasing after rainfall
Irukandji jellyfish may be elusive during far north Queensland’s big wet but they’re set to come back in big numbers when the sun comes out.
After they forced the closure of two northern Queensland beaches last weekend, including Ellis Beach near Cairns when a teenage girl was admitted to hospital with stings to her upper body, no irukandji have been spotted in swimming areas since.
Continue reading...Open water swimming all year round
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‘It’s God’s plan’: the man who dreams of bringing intensive chicken farming to Africa
A US mega-farm, a Christian backer and Africa’s oldest industrial chicken producer are bringing the world’s super birds to reform central Africa’s food market and feed the poor
On the evening of 7 August 2018, a KLM charter flight left Amsterdam, landing 11 hours later at Kilimanjaro airport in northern Tanzania. Its young occupants were nodded through immigration and driven 50 miles to their new home, close to some of Africa’s most famous game parks.
These were no tourists hoping to see lions in the nearby Serengeti. The 2,320 little cockerels and 17,208 hens on the plane were a flock of European-bred pedigree Cobb 500 chickens, the world’s most popular breed. Their destination: a remote 200-hectare mega-farm under construction in the windy foothills of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro.
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