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New uses for Australia's plant-based oils appear set to give it some new tricks, potentially jolting the local eucalyptus oil industry into high-tech limelight.

Fossils of a sea worm that lived on the ocean floor about 500 million years ago are giving new insights into how early creatures evolved.

Friends of the Earth and local group fight council’s decision to approve UK’s first fracking operation for five years

Anti-fracking campaigners have applied for judicial review of a council’s decision to allow use of the gas extraction technique in North Yorkshire.

Councillors on North Yorkshire county council’s planning committee voted by seven to four in May to give the green light to the first fracking operation in the UK for five years on a site just outside the village of Kirby Misperton, near Pickering.

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Australia (whose flag is pictured on the right) is one of several countries with a big stake in the South Pole. Josh Landis/US NSF/Wikimedia

Earth’s geographic poles have been making a lot of news lately. Canada is looking to make a claim on the North Pole within the next couple of years, arguing that the pole (along with a large slab of the Arctic seabed) falls within the limits of its continental shelf, despite similar existing claims by Denmark and Russia.

The pole, however, seems to have its own view on this. Scientists recently reported that, having drifted towards Canada’s Hudson Bay for many decades, it has abruptly changed direction and is now headed for London.

It comes as a surprise to many people that Earth’s geographic poles move at all. We tend to think of them as stationary, the points where all the lines of longitude meet. Ninety degrees north and south, however, are defined as averages of the poles’ actual positions over a particular period.

If defined as the places where the Earth’s rotational axis meets its surface, the geographic poles are constantly on the move, with a periodic, spiral motion as well as a linear one. This happens because our planet is not, as we might like to imagine, a perfect sphere, but in fact is rather lumpy. Seasonal displacement of air and water on its surface, as well as changes within its mantle, contribute to the shifting of its axis, and hence the movement of the poles.

The distances involved are not large – the linear drift can be measured in centimetres per year – but they are revealing. The North Pole’s lurch towards London, scientists suggest, is a result of recent melting of glacial ice and the emptying of underground aquifers for water supplies.

A century ago humans had barely managed to reach either pole; now, it seems, we have inadvertently managed to move them. Our decisions and actions are more closely connected with these symbolically most remote of places than we might imagine.

Windswept and remote, but still claimed by six countries. Bill McAfee/US NSF/Wikimedia Commons The ‘other’ pole

In humanity’s thinking about the Arctic and Antarctic regions, the South Pole has long been the underdog. Due to the cartographical convention that defines north as “up”, we think of it lying under us, hidden away at the very bottom of the planet.

As I discuss in my book South Pole: Nature and Culture, the place conjures ideas of remoteness, isolation, hostile weather, tragic explorers, altruistic scientists and even extreme tourists. But we rarely consider it in political terms.

The 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which declared the continent a place of peace and science and put national claims on hold, seemed to leave behind the imperial ambitions that produced the “race to the pole” in the early 20th century. And while Antarctica’s potential mineral resources are an ongoing source of concern, the South Pole, sitting atop almost 3km of ice, is not an obvious place to drill.

Now occupied by a large scientific research station, where (among other activities) astronomers use giant telescopes to study cosmological events, the South Pole is often assumed to be a politically neutral place, immune to the clamour going on in the north.

Polar positions

Why, then, should Australians care about the South Pole? Surprisingly, the pole featured in the celebrations that marked the nation’s federation in 1901. A spectacular pantomime entitled Australis, performed in Sydney over the summer of 1900-01, imagined a future in which Australia annexes Antarctica and takes as its capital the “City of Zero” sitting exactly at the pole – a satirical wink to the rivalry at the time between Sydney and Melbourne for the honour.

Although this unlikely future did not come to pass, Australia does indeed have a claim on the pole – or rather, a fraction of it. Although the pole is not the geographical centre of the continent by any means, the various wedge-shaped territorial claims – including Australia’s – meet there, like pieces of a meringue pie with the pole in the middle. The only exception is Norway’s claim, which has an undefined southern limit – ironically enough, given that Norwegians were the first to set foot at the pole.

The scientific base at 90ºS – the United States' Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station – thus sits across six territorial claims. This is a highly strategic position for a nation that recognises none of the existing claims but reserves the right to make its own in the future.

Antarctic territorial claims. CIA World Factbook Connecting Australia to the pole

Australia’s claim to 42% of Antarctica is also, then, a claim (indeed, the largest of any nation) on the South Pole – if it makes any sense to claim a percentage of what is, after all, technically a dot.

Our domestic politics, such as the recently announced Australian Antarctic Strategy, which confirms our continued interest in the region and includes plans for greater access to the continent’s interior, are thus inextricably connected to the site sometimes described as the last place on Earth.

While the South Pole may not be subject to the contemporary claim-making that besets its northern cousin, this symbolic heart of Antarctica remains a deeply political place and one that Australians – both those keen to maintain our claim and those who believe that all territorial claims there are misplaced – should know and care about.

This is the first in a series of articles on Australian science and diplomacy in Antarctica. Look out for more in the coming days.

Elizabeth Leane receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

European commissions’ opposition to a proposed global ban will spell the beginning of a mass extinction of African elephants, warn officials from 29 African states

Wildlife officials in nearly 30 African states say they are appalled by an EU decision to oppose a comprehensive global ban on the ivory trade.

In a position paper released on 1 July, the European commission said that rather than an all-encompassing ban it would be better to encourage countries with growing elephant numbers to “sustainably manage” their populations.

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Council grants planning permission to controversial Druridge Bay coal mine, as campaigners vow to fight on, reports BusinessGreen

Green groups have responded with outrage to the decision yesterday by Northumberland County Council to approve controversial plans for a new opencast coal mine near the Northumberland coast.

The council voted in support of plans from developer Banks Group, which would see 3m tonnes of coal, sandstone and fireclay extracted from a surface mine at Highthorn, near the village of Widdrington.

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The Lixão do Jóquei is one of the largest open landfills in Latin America. Under a 2010 federal law, all solid waste in Brazil should be put in modern landfills that have been lined to stop toxins soaking into the soil. Jóquei, which does not meet those requirements, is scheduled to be closed this year, but hundreds of people still make a dangerous living from scavenging amid its mounds of trash

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Volcanic ash threatens world’s largest colony of chinstrap penguins that are currently trapped on a small island in the sub Antarctic, say scientists

One of the world’s biggest colonies of penguins is at risk from a volcano that has erupted on their small sub-Antarctic island in a British overseas territory.

British scientists fear that Mt Curry’s eruption could have a serious impact on the 1.2m chinstrap penguins and nearly 200,000 macaroni penguins based on Zavodovski, one of the South Sandwich islands.

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Conservationists are devastated after the first two chicks born in captivity to one of the world’s rarest birds die at a wildfowl centre in Gloucestershire

An attempt to breed one of the world’s rarest birds in captivity has failed after the only two chicks which hatched died, conservationists said.

Efforts to breed critically endangered spoon-billed sandpipers, named after their unusual beak, from the world’s only captive population seemed to have yielded results, with seven eggs laid and two chicks hatching.

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Set in the future, Cut The Sky is the latest production from Broome's Marrugeku Company and it explores what happens when we neglect 'country'.

Australia’s economy may have ridden on the sheep’s back but the colonies’ first export was actually Eucalyptus oil. From a small batch of oil distilled from Sydney peppermint gum sent to England by First Fleet Surgeon-General John White, an industry grew around the use of the oil for medicinal and industrial purposes.

As demand grew around the world, Australia dominated the global supply. But as the 20th century progressed, cheaper production from plantations in Spain, Portugal, South Africa and China drove Australia’s market share down to less than 5%.

Today the global market for Eucalyptus oil sits at around 7,000 tonnes each year, with a slowly growing demand and price. In fact, Australia is now a net importer of its own iconic oil!

But a range of cutting-edge new uses for plant-based oils appear set to give this old dog some new tricks, potentially jolting the local eucalyptus oil industry out of its sleepy niche and into the high-tech limelight.

What’s in the oil?

Eucalyptus oils are a cocktail of aromatic compounds called terpenes. The oil that is sold in pharmacies and supermarkets is dominated by one compound called eucalyptol that instantly gives it a recognisable medicinal scent. This oil is sourced from about a dozen species.

There are many other types of oils from Eucalyptus. Oil from the lemon-scented gum, for example, is full of citronellal, which is used in perfumes and insect repellents. What makes a specific oil valuable are the commercial uses for the major terpenes found in that oil.

Eucalyptol is a flammable terpene. Carsten Kulheim Jet fuel grown on trees

Powering a modern jet aircraft with anything other than fossil fuels is a big ask. Renewable ethanol and biodiesel might do fine in the family SUV, but they just don’t possess a high enough energy density to cut it in the aviation industry.

Certain terpenes commonly found in oils from eucalypts, such as pinene and limonene, can be refined through a catalytic process, resulting in a fuel with energy densities in the same league as JP-10 tactical jet fuel.

Turpentine from pine trees is another potential source of these terpenes, but pines grow more slowly than eucalypts.

As a pure fuel, or as an additive to standard aviation fuels, the potential exists to carve out a renewable slice of the enormous aviation fuel market, if the volume of terpene production can be increased to economically competitive levels. Current plantations produce up to 200kg of oil per hectare per year, but by selecting the best genetic stock it is estimated that yields could be more than 500kg per hectare.

Graphene from terpenes

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of the physical properties of graphene, a two-dimensional carbon grid or film, less than one-millionth of a millimetre thick yet more than 100 times stronger than steel.

In fact, a square metre of graphene can support the weight of a house cat, but weighs less than one of its whiskers. Production value in 2012 was US$9 million and growing fast, and new ways of producing graphene are keenly sought.

Terpinene-4-ol, which is found in Eucalyptus and its close relative tea tree, is an ideal starting material for the direct production of high-quality graphene. This method is scalable and sustainable, potentially providing the solution to the growing demand for graphene and opening up further innovative uses for Eucalyptus oil.

Australia’s advantage

Worldwide, more eucalypts are grown for the production of pulp, paper and timber than any other type of tree. However, all of that global production comes from just over a dozen of the almost 800 Eucalyptus species that occur naturally in Australia, and mostly from a limited ancestry. This means the existing plantations lack genetic diversity and they also lack diversity and variability of oils.

This is where Australia’s advantage lies. We have the choice of 800 species growing in every imaginable ecological niche and possessing vast genetic diversity. For example, within a single species the amount of oil found in leaves can vary 30-fold among wild individuals, which can contain as many as six different major oil variants.

Australia has a veritable smorgasbord of variation from which to select plants with high yields of the right oil for new commercial purposes.

Ecologically a good alternative

Growing eucalypts for oil can provide benefits beyond the commercial value of the terpenes. Several Eucalyptus “mallee” species, which happen to be prolific oil producers, are purposely planted in wide rows on agricultural land to combat dryland salinity and prevent soil erosion.

Mallees are known for their bushy form, which is best described as a “ball of leaves”, and can be re-harvested for oil every 1-3 years. This puts them in the rare class of being renewable oil crops with added ecological benefits.

Ramping up oil production would still require large, dedicated plantations. A frequent criticism of biofuel crops is that land suitable for food production is diverted to fuel production, in turn pushing up food prices. But many eucalypts can grow well on marginal land that is not used for other agricultural purposes, skirting this issue altogether.

With the right genetics from the right species grown in the right places, the humble Eucalyptus oil may be on the verge of an ecologically sustainable renaissance.

David Kainer receives funding from the Australian National University and Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

Carsten Kulheim receives funding from Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and Australian Research Council.

Australian solar farm developer ESCO Pacific says it has received planning consent for the development of a 135MW solar farm at Ross River near Townsville.

Wenlock Edge Each flower on the spike is a little pink cutout of a figure, perhaps an effigy of a person our news never mentions

Up on the Windmill there are more pyramidal orchids than I’ve ever shaken a stick at. Singly or in stands of up to 50 in a stride, they scatter across the hill meadow. Their name suggests the sacred geometry of the Egyptians or Incas, but they appear as blobs of absurd colour.

From lilac purple, through cerise to baby pink Anacamptis pyramidalis flowers are domed or conical and have the foxy scent of a rebel. Their leaves are largely lost in a meadow thatch where bees and moths are taking refuge, slow to emerge; a few dithery grass moths and a bumble or two lift the spirits.

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A few weeks ago, Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk boldly predicted that his electric car and storage company would be the world’s first trillion dollar company. He's still a long way short of that dream, but will the first death from a driver using Autopilot make that goal impossible to achieve?

Two new wind farms to be built in Victoria after winning state tender and side-stepping utility capital strike on large scale renewables.

New Zealand's Trustpower wins planning approval for 300MW wind farm near Dundonnell, in Victoria, and could begin construction next year.

NASA's Juno spacecraft enter the orbit of the solar system’s largest planet, in a groundbreaking mission that highlights the capabilities of solar technology.

New wind turbine design likely to encounter some headwinds, adding a new level of aesthetic concern to the issues faced by tall wind turbines.

We are fast approaching a tipping point in the switch from fossil fuels to renewables. This transformation will not be orderly, and will produce significant winners and losers.

The UK solar industry broke a new record in June, generating 23.9% of UK electricity demand, according to the UK Solar Trade Association.