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Eggs are tiny wonders, but even wonders can go wonky sometimes. We look at everything from double-yolkers to eggs with no shell at all. Maggie J. Watson, Lecturer in Ornithology, Ecology, Conservation and Parasitology, Charles Sturt University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A decline in the number of diesel cars would not jeopardise CO2 targets – in fact it would make them cheaper to achieve

The UK Society of Motor Manufacturers blamed February’s rise in the average new-car CO2 emissions on an “anti-diesel agenda [that] has set back progress on climate change”. Petrol v diesel cars is often presented as a trade-off between health-harming air pollution and climate-harmful CO2. Diesel cars do more miles to the litre than petrol, but this exaggerates the difference in CO2 emissions since one litre of diesel contains more energy and more carbon than one litre of petrol. If fuel were taxed on energy and carbon, rather than volume, then the tax on diesel would be 10 to 14% greater than that on petrol.

The International Council on Clean Transportation points out that petrol engines and petrol-hybrids have improved faster than diesel and will continue to do so. They conclude that a decline in diesel cars from around 56% to 15% would not jeopardise EU CO2 targets. Instead, it would make the targets cheaper to achieve since petrol engines cost less to make and have simpler exhaust clean-up. The future might be electric cars (or better yet for public health: cycling, walking and public transport), but in the short term new petrol cars, instead of diesel, might help both climate change and air pollution.

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Women in the Church, Indigenous Christianity, The Stations of the Cross, and working for peace and against nuclear war.

One-third of species are vulnerable to extinction, a crisis ravaging swaths of creatures, conservationists say in call to fund recovery plans

An extinction crisis is rippling though America’s wildlife, with scores of species at risk of being wiped out unless recovery plans start to receive sufficient funding, conservationists have warned.

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What's behind the snapping sound when we crack our knuckles? Scientists have the answer.

He blames green campaigners for delays, but believes industry will eventually take off in UK

David Cameron has told US oil executives of his frustration that the UK has failed to embrace fracking despite his best efforts, and hit out at green groups for being “absolutely obsessed” with blocking new fossil fuel extraction.

His bullish pro-fracking comments at a US oil industry event this week came almost 12 years since Britain’s former prime minister hugged a husky to burnish his green credentials.

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Every spring, ponds around the UK start stirring and frogs come out of their winter slumber to mate. Here’s a unique perspective on an event that’s been happening since the age of the dinosaurs

Click here to view the 360° video.

If you’re viewing on mobile you’ll need to download the YouTube app for the full 360° experience.

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From potential issues of capacity to accessibility, readers share their concerns on the reality of recycling using deposit return schemes

Cash in exchange for returning a used drinks container sounds like a good idea, but how much of an impact will it have in our fight against reducing waste?

On Tuesday the government unveiled a bottle and can deposit scheme covering glass, metal and plastic drinks containers in England. By returning bottles and cans consumers will receive a small cash sum, however retailers are responsible for recycling the items.

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Britton Hayes was on safari with his step uncle in Tanzania when a cheetah entered the vehicle.

Ultimately the only thing that matters: we need to cut carbon pollution as much as possible, as fast as possible

In September 2017, a team led by the University of Exeter’s Richard Millar published a paper in Nature Geoscience, which was widely reported as suggesting that the Paris climate agreement’s aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures is still technically within our reach. Many other climate scientists were skeptical of this result, and the journal recently published a critique from a team led by the University of Edinburgh’s Andrew Schurer.

The debate lies in exactly how the Paris climate target is defined and measured, which has not been precisely established. Millar’s team used the UK Met Office and Hadley Centre global surface temperature dataset called HadCRUT4, which begins in 1850 and estimates global surface temperatures have warmed about 0.9°C since that time. The team thus calculated the remaining carbon budget that will lead to an additional 0.6°C warming.

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Thomas Egli’s parents honeymooned on Gili Trawangan, a beautiful island in the Indonesian archipelago. Three decades later, the Swiss photographer went to see it for himself – and found it buckling under the weight of tourism

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The Environment and Energy and Agriculture Ministers jointly announced a short-term, non-statutory Independent review to help unpack the issues farmers are facing and find practical ways to help them more easily understand and interact with the...

The Environment and Energy and Agriculture Ministers jointly announced a short-term, non-statutory Independent review to help unpack the issues farmers are facing and find practical ways to help them more easily understand and interact with the...

Exclusive: Ministers will now back a target of 65% by 2035, meaning ambitious rhetoric is being supported by firm action, say experts

The UK has reversed its opposition to tough EU recycling targets and will now back a goal of recycling two-thirds of urban waste by 2035, the Guardian has learned. The nation’s recycling rate has stalled and it is set to miss its current target of 50% by 2020.

The prime minister, Theresa May, and environment secretary, Michael Gove, have both made high-profile pledges to act on the plastic pollution that is devastating the oceans and littering the land, which May called “one of the great environmental scourges of our time”.

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Every spring, ponds around the UK start stirring and frogs come out of their winter slumber to mate. Here's a unique perspective on an event that’s been happening since the age of the dinosaurs

Continue reading...

The under-sea cable linking Tasmania's electricity market to that of the Australian mainland has been accidentally damaged during maintenance work, taking it out of action until mid-April.

Turnbull's plan for the National Energy Guarantee depends on fooling three key constituents: his own party, as a leaked email reveals; the mainstream media; and the industry itself. The evidence suggests he is half way there.

BNEF report highlights highlights falling costs of solar, wind and battery storage, which together are mounting an unprecedented challenge to fossil fuel power.

Industry-backed report finds doubling Australia's projected EV uptake to 2030 would deliver a $2.9bn boost to GDP, 13,400 new jobs, and save drivers an average of $800 a year.

Business customers pay about half what households and small businesses pay in Australia, and their costs are about middle of the road compared to other major economies.