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Scientists think they have found a smart way to constrain carbon dioxide emissions - just turn them to stone.

Radical new technique promises a cheaper and more secure method of burying CO2 emissions underground instead of storing it as a gas

Carbon dioxide has been pumped underground and turned rapidly into stone, demonstrating a radical new way to tackle climate change.

The unique project promises a cheaper and more secure way of burying CO2 from fossil fuel burning underground, where it cannot warm the planet. Such carbon capture and storage (CCS) is thought to be essential to halting global warming, but existing projects store the CO2 as a gas and concerns about costs and potential leakage have halted some plans.

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Tiny Spanish island takes first delivery of electric vehicles as it sets out to become the first in Europe to banish petrol and diesel cars from its shores

The tiny Mediterranean island of Formentera has taken delivery of six electric cars as part of an ambitious plan to be the first island in Europe to banish traditional cars from its shores.

At 12 miles (19km) from end-to-end and with a population of about 12,000, Formentera is the smallest of Spain’s Balearic Islands. In summer, however, 15,000 cars are in circulation, arriving by ferry or rented on the island.

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Toxic air set to cause as many as 9 million premature deaths a year around the world in the next four decades, with economic costs rising to trillions a year

Air pollution is becoming a “terrifying” problem around the globe, one of the world’s leading economic organisations has warned, and will get much worse in the coming decades if urgent steps are not taken to control the pollution.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Thursday that pollution of our air from industry, agriculture and transport was set to cause as many as 9 million premature deaths a year around the world in the next four decades, and the economic costs are likely to rise to about $2.6 tn (£1.8tn) a year over the same period.

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Wildlife hospital uses washing-up liquid to clean bird that was scavenging for food at factory

A seagull turned bright orange after it fell into a vat of chicken tikka masala.

The bird fell into the container while trying to scavenge meat from a food factory bin on Monday. It was rescued by workers at the site in Wales, and picked up by a volunteer for Vale wildlife hospital, near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

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Understand changes to classification and working with dangerous chemicals in Australia

New low-carbon heating network is first stage of a plan to transform Bristol into a carbon-neutral city by 2050, reports BusinessGreen

Bristol’s newly elected mayor, Marvin Rees, has approved the city’s first major step towards becoming carbon neutral by 2050, giving the go-ahead for £5m in capital funding to build a low-carbon district heating network to serve the city.

The first phase of the heat network, which was approved earlier this week, will supply low-carbon heat to buildings throughout Bristol via a network of underground pipes connected to a number of energy centres, including biomass boilers and gas combined heat and power plants. Over time the city plans to phase out the use of natural gas in favour of renewable alternatives.

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Sixty years on since the introduction of measures to reduce air pollution we’d like to hear your smog recollections

In 1952 the great smog of London saw a week-long pea-souper take over the capital which contributed to the deaths of at least 4,000 people. In response to the disaster, the government passed the Clean Air Act of 1856 aimed at reducing air pollutants.

Recently, the new mayor of London Sadiq Khan unveiled plans to substantially increase the size of London’s clean air charging zone to tackle the capital’s illegal air pollution levels.

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Scientists hope large-scale maps will offer new insight into effects of warming and pollution as previous studies have almost always been done up close in the water

Coral reefs have almost always been studied up close, by scientists in the water looking at small portions of larger reefs to gather data and knowledge about the larger ecosystems. But Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is taking a step back and getting a wider view, from about 23,000 ft above.

Nasa and top scientists from around the world are launching a three-year campaign on Thursday to gather new data on coral reefs like never before.

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Warmest spring on record helps push states’s year-to-date temperature more than 5.5C above average, reports Climate Central

Alaska just can’t seem to shake the fever it has been running. This spring was easily the hottest the state has ever recorded and it contributed to a year-to-date temperature that is more than 10°F (5.5°C) above average, according to data released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

The Lower 48, meanwhile, had its warmest spring since the record-breaking scorcher of 2012.

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Rolling sand dunes of Arabia, thinning glaciers of Greenland and wildfires of Fort McMurray in Canada were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last month

Nasa astronaut Jeff Williams captured this image of the ancient Potidea canal in Greece from the International Space Station. For 2,000 years this canal has connected the Thermaikos and Toronaios Gulfs. Williams posted the photograph on Twitter, saying: ‘Coastal currents and erosion over 2,000 years appear to have displaced the two sides of this isthmus, which may explain the coastline’s misalignment.’

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Huge sections of the UK coastline were too polluted for swimming until EU legal action forced the government to clean up

In the 1980s, the British government tried to claim that the beaches of Brighton, Blackpool, Skegness and many other resorts weren’t used for bathing, to avoid dealing with the sewage, condoms and tampons that polluted them. Of the 27 beaches it agreed were used for swimming, nine were too dirty to reach the minimum bathing standard.

Today, after legal action from the EU and directives on bathing water and urban waste water, 99% of the UK’s 632 designated beaches have been deemed safe for swimming.

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Environment committee report criticises lack of long-term planning and raises doubts whether target of protecting 300,000 homes by 2021 would be met

The government is failing to protect communities at risk of flooding, according to a highly critical report from MPs, who said they were sceptical that the target of protecting 300,000 more homes would be met.

Ministers react after severe flooding rather than planning ahead for the long term, according to the cross-party environmental audit committee (EAC), which said flood defences are not sufficiently maintained.

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Dartmoor, Devon The beetle’s forelimb seemed to give a cheery wave to the world as it scooped at thin air then arced forward

Wider than a thumbnail, almost as thick as a thumb, a black beetle with a shell like polished shoe leather was lumbering along a well-trodden path.

Striking out in slow motion for the grassy edge with a six-legged doggy paddle, this bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) gave the impression of a wind-up toy winding down. Watching this great tank on sticks was akin to seeing the open workings of a mill – a collection of mechanical parts moving in sequence to drive the greater whole.

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Greg Hunt defends conservative government’s actions in torrent of posts to the Finding Dory star

The Australian environment minister, Greg Hunt, has bombarded Ellen DeGeneres with tweets after she appealed to Australia to do more to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

Following news of the death of almost a quarter of the coral on the reef this year, DeGeneres, who plays the fish Dory in the 2003 film Finding Nemo and its upcoming sequel, Finding Dory, released a video message as part of a campaign called Remember the Reef.

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OLD BONES: A 700,000-year-old hobbit has been discovered by a team of Australian-led researchers on the Indonesian island of Flores, shedding new light on human evolution.

The government is failing to do enough to protect communities at risk of flooding and needs to do more long-term planning, MPs say.

Policies and rhetoric around the Great Barrier Reef have rarely matched reality as the natural wonder suffers under the stress of pollution

In late November 2015, as corals across the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef started to bleach white, the game was finally up.

For years, Australians had been told the country’s jewel in the ocean’s crown was on the mend. Only months earlier the coalition government had won a two-year fight to keep the reef off a United Nations list of World Heritage sites in danger.

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Nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson are the names proposed for the four new chemical elements added to the periodic table in January.

Using DNA from three people to create a baby is safe, according to a major research study, by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre at Newcastle University.