Around The Web

Northern Territory government insists no report about resulting combustion and emissions exists, despite investigating McArthur river mine

An Australian mine owned by the global trading firm Glencore mistakenly dumped 63 truckloads of dangerous waste material in the wrong place, where it combusted and sent sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

The scale of the incident, which occurred at the remote McArthur river zinc-lead mine in Australia’s north, was kept out of the public eye. The Northern Territory government ordered an investigation but refuses to release any details, claiming no report exists because the findings were delivered verbally.

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Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry offer a scientist's guide

The Andrews Labor Government will invest $30 million to help Victoria’s farmers manage energy costs through improved efficiency and new technology.

French parliamentarians have passed a law banning fossil fuel extraction. President Macron says he wants France to lead the world with switch to renewables

France’s parliament has passed into law a ban on producing oil and gas by 2040, a largely symbolic gesture as the country is 99% dependent on hydrocarbon imports.

In Tuesday’s vote by show of hands, only the rightwing Republicans party opposed, while leftwing lawmakers abstained.

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Monitoring network Traffic says smuggling of undocumented ivory into China could undermine enforcement of imminent ban

Japan’s failure to prevent illegal ivory exports could undermine China’s forthcoming ban on its domestic ivory trade, conservation groups have warned.

Inaction by Japan’s government has allowed the smuggling of large quantities of undocumented ivory overseas, mainly to China, according to a report released in Tokyo on Wednesday by the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic.

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Rome's new Christmas tree is being ridiculed by residents of the Italian capital after it began losing its pine needles. The sickly tree has been compared to a toilet brush and is nicknamed 'Spelacchio', meaning mangy or balding. The city hall has promised to investigate why the tree was brought over from Austria in such bad shape 

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Vandals 'took a hammer or rock' to a 115 million year old fossil, breaking off sections of its toes.

A pod of 28 bottlenose dolphins is found to be permanently living off the south-west coast of England.

A group of 28 bottlenose dolphins has been identified that live in the shallow waters around St Ives in Cornwall, but sometimes travel to Devon and Dorset

England’s only resident population of bottlenose dolphins has been identified by researchers.

Experts analysed thousands of sightings and photographs from the south west of England between 2007 and 2016. They identified 98 individual bottlenose dolphins and were able to define a distinct group of 28 that were resident throughout the year.

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Exclusive: medical campaigners wanting to preserve antibiotics for human use praise supermarket for reducing their use in production of meat, eggs and dairy

Marks & Spencer has become the first supermarket chain in the UK to publish details of the use of antibiotics in its farm supply chain, in a step towards reducing the use of vital human medicines in livestock-rearing.

On Wednesday, the company disclosed on its web site information on the quantities of antibiotics used on livestock by the farmers that supply its meat, eggs and dairy products. This will be updated regularly to show progress towards cutting the use of the drugs, which are also prescribed to treat human diseases.

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St Dominic, Tamar Valley In wooded valleys sunbeams filter through the trees, illuminating moss, picking out a spiral of gnats, side-lighting a flock of sheep

Interludes and flashes of sunshine bring sparkle and colour to the drab midwinter landscape around home. Before streaks of orange brilliance mark the sunrise, a blackbird chortles and pitches into the remains of ripe fruits on the Kousa dogwood; blooms of the camellia Cornish Snow glow beside dark foliage and yellow spikes of fragrant mahonia; and another blackbird is prospecting myrtle berries.

Southwards, beyond the vacated pastures opposite, first light catches plumes of steam and smoke rising from the wood-chip boiler that warms glasshouses growing acres of alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies) to be picked throughout the year.

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The year that storage takes hold in 2018? And what about electric vehicles, smart cities, and the underlying case for wind and solar?

At the end of 2017, Australia is starting to (slowly) address our energy problems. But it's also clear the federal government has abdicated leadership and responsibility. Alan Pears, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

AEMO has been a breath of fresh air in 2017. It's a shame that while AEMO is looking forward, the AEMC is looking the other way. Leadership matters.

There are four key steps to ensure that climate policy remains a recipe for business as usual, and the Australian government has followed them to the letter.

BHP has flagged ending its association with international coal lobby groups, but appears to be more forgiving of the Minerals Council and other Australian organisations.

Mating call of the Gulf corvina, which is under threat from overfishing, sounds like ‘a really loud machine gun’

A species of Mexican fish amasses in reproductive orgies so loud they can deafen other sea animals, awed scientists have said, calling for preservation of the “spectacle” threatened by overfishing.

An individual spawning Gulf corvina, say the researchers, utters a mating call resembling “a really loud machine gun” with multiple rapid sound pulses.

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Is it a tree, or a coal washing machine? What magic carbon abatement technology was depicted in the federal government's 52-page climate policy review?

Victorian network operator AusNet Services has again succeeded in taking part of a Melbourne street completely off grid – this time for a total of 9 hours, powered only by home solar and battery storage systems.

What are holidays for? What ethical considerations ought to constrain trips to remote and overseas communities? Is tourism just the latest manifestation of the colonial impulse?