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The debate about helmet use is too often toxic, puts off new riders and obscures more important issues, argues the founder of Vulpine

Let me begin with a story.

Last night I walked into a pub and spotted a guy with two empty pint glasses in front of him. He had a lovely fresh third pint poised at his trembling lips. Fantastic, just what I was looking for.

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LAND MANAGEMENT: The use of fire by Aborigines to modify their environment had little if any impact on the natural erosion processes that shaped parts of south-eastern Australia, a new study has found.

Luke Downes captured this footage of ‘Snapper Jr’ casually floating towards swimmers at Kewarra beach near Cairns. While filming, Downes offered the crocodile a friendly greeting, but Snapper Jr didn’t stick around for long. Never fear, a wildlife expert has claimed that there are worse things in the water to worry about in that part of the world, like box jellyfish, which are capable of killing a person in under five minutes

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Energy company cites low oil prices for decision to cease exploration and wind down or sell its gas fields, with CSG opponents calling the move a well-earned victory

AGL is pulling out of coal seam gas in Australia, ceasing its exploration and winding down or selling its operational gas fields.

Plummeting oil and gas prices were cited by AGL as one of the main reasons for the decision in its announcement to the ASX on Thursday morning, as well as lower than expected production volumes from one of its fields in NSW.

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TRAVEL SECRETS: Bull sharks not only spend a lot of time on coral reefs, they can swim surprisingly long distances down Australia's east coast in summer to give birth, radio tracking of sharks on the Great Barrier Reef shows.

The big cat, known as ‘El Jefe’, has been living in 25 miles south of downtown Tucson – half a century after the last verified US jaguar was killed by a hunter

The only known wild jaguar in the United States is seen roaming around a creek and other parts of a mountain range just south of Tucson, Arizona in the first publicly released video of the big cat.

Related: Eastern Cougar extinct, no longer needs protection, says US conservation agency

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Leading group of environmentalists warns that leaving the European Union would mean a return to filthy beaches, foul air and weak conservation laws

Britain risks becoming the “dirty man of Europe” again with filthy beaches, foul air and weak conservation laws if it leaves the European Union, a group of leading environmentalists warned on Wednesday.

The steering committee of the new E4E (Environmentalists for Europe) group includes former ministers, a former EU commissioner and a former head of the Environment Agency. It will work with green groups to persuade people that leaving the EU could set back the UK’s nature protection and prevention of pollution many years. The UK’s referendum on EU membership may come as soon as June.

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HOT HOUSE: Very hot weather causes Australian zebra finch eggs to hatch earlier than normal, according to the first study to show how warming temperatures could affect the survival of chicks.

GENE SWEEP: Whether we prefer to get up at the crack of dawn or work late into the night may be influenced by genes connected to the circadian rhythm, a new study suggests.

Spread says it will open the fully automated farm with robots handling almost every step of the process

A Japanese company is to open the world’s first “robot farm”, as agriculture joins other sectors of the economy in attempting to fill labour shortages created by the country’s rapidly ageing population.

Spread, a vegetable producer, said industrial robots would carry out all but one of the tasks needed to grow the tens of thousands of lettuces it produces each day at its vast indoor farm in Kameoka, Kyoto prefecture, starting from mid-2017.

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GREAT MOMENTS IN SCIENCE: Cybercriminals have set up highly developed businesses in the shady world of the 'dark net'. Dr Karl explains how they make money from stolen credit cards.

Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder first watering event to Banrock Station

Draft Reef 2050 Policy Guideline for Decision Makers released for public comment. Submissions close Friday 26 February 2016.

Local reports were confirmed when a population of previously unknown lions was caught on camera trap in the remote Alatash national park

Conservationists have announced the “amazing discovery” of a previously unknown lion population in a remote north-western region of Ethiopia, confirming local reports with camera trap photographs for the first time.
Lions were spotted in the Alatash national park on Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, lion conservation group Born Free said.
“The confirmation that lions persist in this area is exciting news,” Born Free Foundation said in a statement. “With lion numbers in steep decline across most of the African continent, the discovery of previously unconfirmed populations is hugely important.” Hans Bauer, a lion conservationist from Oxford University who led the tracking expedition in Ethiopia, said there could be up to 200 lions in the area. “Considering the relative ease with which lion signs were observed, it is likely that they are resident throughout Alatash and Dinder [in Sudan],” he said. “On a total surface area of about 10,000 square kilometres, this would mean a population of 100-200 lions for the entire ecosystem, of which 27-54 would be in Alatash,” he said.

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Announcement of the outcomes of the 2015-16 Solar Towns Programme (Round 2). 17 applications were successful under the round.

Announcement of the outcomes of the 2015-16 Solar Towns Programme (Round 2). 17 applications were successful under the round.

Wetlands Australia: National Wetlands Update February 2016 issue now available.

A shark surprises visitors to a South Korean aquarium on Thursday by eating another smaller shark. The footage shows a large sand tiger shark slowly swallowing a smaller banded hound shark over the course of a day, leaving only the tip of the tail visible on Friday

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YouGov study for Sainsbury’s reveals high cost of Britain’s food waste, with the average family of four throwing away the equivalent of 11 meals – or nearly £60 – a month

British families squander twice as much money on food waste each month as they think they do, according to YouGov research commissioned by Sainsbury’s.

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The call for applications for funding through the Protecting National Historic Sites programme is now open. Applications close Thursday 25 February 2016