Feed aggregator

Tracking in the dark: the sovereign will of Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson

ABC Environment - Sat, 2016-07-09 18:07
Aileen Moreton-Robinson has spent her intellectual life exploring racism and power. But it all begins in the bush on Stradbroke Island when her grandfather taught her the skill of tracking. The latest idea to grip her considerable mind is possessive logic and the way it superimposes itself on the land by denying the sovereign will of indigenous people.
Categories: Around The Web

Why won't TV show more women's cycling?

The Guardian - Sat, 2016-07-09 16:52

The two most important bike races in the world are on right now: but you can only watch the Tour de France boys on telly. Meanwhile, fans of the Giro Rosa must check Twitter to follow the girls. Helen Pidd talks to TV networks — and cycling commentator Ned Boulting —to find out why

July is the best month of the year for cycling fans: three glorious weeks of the Tour de France to gorge on, provided you can wrestle the remote from any Wimbledon watchers in your life.

Yet while it is possible to watch Mark Cavendish’s renaissance live on both Eurosport and ITV4, anyone wanting to follow the Giro Rosa has to make do with crumbs posted on social media.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

These urgent bird calls are designed to distract

The Guardian - Sat, 2016-07-09 14:30

South Uist If the oystercatchers had sounded anxious, the new arrival sounds almost desperate, for its call has a panicky breathlessness about it

At the end of a hot summer day what could be pleasanter than a peaceful evening stroll down to the beach? The sun is still warm, there’s just the lightest of breezes, and the only sound to be heard is that of a skylark singing overhead. But we haven’t walked far before an oystercatcher takes to the air, uttering a succession of loud, shrill calls.

Over and over again it repeats its brief, anxious notes as it flies over our heads away across the field, and then returns to make another pass above us. A second oystercatcher a little further away echoes the vocal performance so that our eyes are constantly drawn to one or the other. They accompany us for a 100 metres or more along the track without once letting up. Then they are joined by a lapwing.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Game-changer for new energy technologies

ABC Environment - Sat, 2016-07-09 12:11
These gadgets are programmable, self learning, sensor driven, wifi enabled, and access the internet optimising energy use.
Categories: Around The Web

A game of trap and mouse

ABC Environment - Sat, 2016-07-09 10:30
One was caught in 2010. Just one. A tiny, nine centimetre long mouse, with whiskers like a spray of fireworks and a white, fluffy belly. Since then, none.
Categories: Around The Web

Great Barrier Reef: government must choose which parts to save, says expert

The Guardian - Sat, 2016-07-09 08:15

Professor Hugh Possingham says authorities must confront prospect that some parts of reef are doomed and focus on what to preserve

Governments must decide which parts of the Great Barrier Reef they most want to save and confront the prospect that some of it may be doomed, an expert on conservation modelling has warned.

University of Queensland professor Hugh Possingham said agencies, including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, needed to make tough decisions about which parts of the natural wonder are most worth preserving “rather than trying to save everything”.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Liberal Tories support Sadiq Khan on air pollution | Letters

The Guardian - Sat, 2016-07-09 03:49

Sadiq Khan plans to introduce a new charge for London’s most polluting cars (Report, 5 July). The mayor is right to propose bold action to tackle the public health crisis of air pollution, which causes thousands of premature deaths each year in London. Liberal conservative thinktank Bright Blue is calling for city councils throughout England to be given the powers to set up low-emission zones, so that similar radical action can be taken wherever air pollution is a problem. The government’s current air-quality plan gives low-emission zones to just five other English cities, despite many others being affected by harmful pollution. It also excludes private cars from any charges. The revenue raised by low-emission zones should be used to fund a national diesel scrappage scheme, so that dirty vehicles are taken off our roads for good. Sixty years after the Clean Air Act 1956 was signed into law, the government must urgently address today’s challenge from polluting cars.
Sam Hall
Researcher, Bright Blue

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Whale and winghead sharks move step closer to extinction

The Guardian - Sat, 2016-07-09 00:58

Two predatory species are added to IUCN Red List of endangered species as pressure from fishing sees their populations fall by half in the last 75 years

Whale sharks and winghead sharks have moved one step closer to extinction, after the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) redefined them both as endangered species on the group’s ‘Red List’.

The two predatory species have fallen foul of increased pressure from human activity, especially the fishing industry, with populations of whale sharks – the world’s largest living fish – halving in the last 75 years.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Fracking, remembering the Clean Air Act and rare frogs – green news roundup

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-07-08 23:28

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Should homeopathy be used on animals?

BBC - Fri, 2016-07-08 23:20
The Victoria Derbyshire programme discusses the controversial use of homeopathy by vets as more than 2,300 people sign a petition calling for the treatment to be banned.
Categories: Around The Web

The week in wildlife – in pictures

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-07-08 23:00

A bald eagle, drought-hit alligators, and a feeding leopard are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Artificial stingray is 'living robot'

BBC - Fri, 2016-07-08 22:39
Scientists have designed a robotic stingray powered by light-activated muscle cells.
Categories: Around The Web

Mutant mice become 'super sniffers'

BBC - Fri, 2016-07-08 21:52
Scientists have mutated mice to turn them into "super sniffers", in research aiming to create a new generation of tracker animals.
Categories: Around The Web

Global warming to blame for hundreds of heatwave deaths, scientists say

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-07-08 18:25

Manmade climate change increased the risk of heat-related deaths by about 70% in Paris and 20% in London in 2003, research shows

Hundreds of deaths in the searing European heatwave of 2003 can be attributed to manmade climate change, say scientists.

Researchers calculated that 506 out of 735 heat-related deaths recorded that summer in Paris – the hottest city – were due to global warming.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Vets: Ban the use of homeopathy in animals

BBC - Fri, 2016-07-08 15:51
About 1,000 of the UK's vets sign a petition calling for a ban on homeopathy being prescribed to animals.
Categories: Around The Web

Bumblebee slips tether of the absent spider

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-07-08 14:30

Langstone, Hampshire Parting the ivy I discovered a buff-tailed bumblebee ensnared in an orb web

A frantic buzz emanated from behind the curtain of ivy covering the fence, rising in pitch like an accelerating Vespa scooter. Parting the glossy leaves I discovered a buff-tailed bumblebee ensnared in an orb web.

Researchers have discovered that bees generate a positive electrostatic charge as they fly. This helps pollen grains stick to their bodies as they forage, but has the unfortunate side effect of increasing the likelihood that they will be caught in a web. Spider silk tends to be neutral or negatively charged, which causes an attractive interaction between insect and web.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Part owner of big Queensland coal generator put into receivership

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-07-08 13:34
The part owner of a relatively new Queensland coal generator put into administration after being unable to refinance its debt facilities.
Categories: Around The Web

Energy incumbents fight changes that could accelerate battery storage

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-07-08 13:14
Big generators line up against proposed rule change that could encourage battery storage and reduce wholesale electricity costs. Their opposition to rules that favour new technologies seen in same light as their fight against renewable energy targets.
Categories: Around The Web

Hornsdale Wind Farm starts up at time in South Australia when every MWh matters

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-07-08 13:05
Here's a quick trend in the output of Hornsdale Wind Farm compared with the aggregate output of all wind farms across South Australia..
Categories: Around The Web

AGL Energy’s surprising profit downgrade, as gas prices spike

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-07-08 13:02
AGL Energy’s future in gas is problematic, but the extent of its problems revealed this week is surprising.
Categories: Around The Web

Pages

Subscribe to Sustainable Engineering Society aggregator