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DNA-testing smartphone aims to tackle drugs resistance

BBC - Thu, 2017-01-19 01:22
A smartphone attachment that analyses DNA could help improve cancer and tuberculosis treatments.
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Galileo satellites experiencing multiple clock failures

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 21:43
The onboard atomic clocks that drive the satellite-navigation signals on Europe's Galileo network have been failing at an alarming rate.
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Moth with 'golden flake hairstyle' named after Donald Trump

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 21:42
The moth, which has a wingspan of just over a centimetre, was discovered in California.
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Obama administration gives $500m to UN climate change fund

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 20:26
The payment to the UN Green Climate Fund was announced three days before Donald Trump takes office.
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IVF: First three-parent baby born to infertile couple

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 16:53
A technique designed to help parents affected by genetic disorders is used to tackle infertility.
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Echoes of Bodmin's mining boom

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-01-18 15:30

Sharp Tor, Bodmin Moor Turf hummocks mask mine workings beside the old railway, which weaves between flowering gorse

On the eastern edge of the moor, granite sleepers mark part of the Kilmar railway, used in the second half of the 19th century by trucks carrying moorstone destined for the port of Looe via the Liskeard and Caradon railway. Turfy hummocks mask mine workings beside the way, which weaves between flowering gorse bushes and hawthorn trees draped in bearded lichen. Blue sky reflects in puddles and frost crystals sparkle in cold hollows.

Dumps of wasted stone interspersed with tall conifers tower above the track as it passes beneath disused Cheesewring quarry; ahead, above sunlit sheep pastures, Sharp Tor is fringed with orange bracken.

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Why Origin Energy should lead with “on-demand” renewables business

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 13:11
Origin Energy should consider a bid for NSW network operator Endeavour Energy and/or make a serious push into the Queensland renewable energy market, with the aim of developing Australia’s first large scale “renewables energy on demand” business.
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Portland smelter rescue deal to cost Victoria $1.1 billion over 4 years

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 12:21
The bailout of the Portland aluminium smelter is arguably the dumbest thing the normally sensible Andrews Labor state Government will have committed to. And it will bear direct subsidy and power costs that amount to more than $500,000 per direct employee, per year.
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China suspends 104 planned coal power plants

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 11:51
China's National Energy Administration announced that 104 planned and under-construction coal power projects have been suspended.
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Clean energy spending drops, green bonds make splash, New York funds projects

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 11:49
Worldwide spending on clean energy fell 18 percent from 2015’s record high. However, even as spending ebbs, the amount of wind and solar connected to power grids around the world is still climbing.
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German battery storage company Senec launches products in Australia

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 11:48
German company Senec-IES has begun shipping its battery storage units to the fast-growing Australian storage market, with 2,000 units to be supplied in the first six months of 2017.
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Aeolus wind mission heads for test and launch

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 11:44
UK engineers finish the assembly of a wind-observing satellite that meteorologists expect to have a major impact on weather forecasts.
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Wind, solar investment surge “the start of bigger things to come”

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 11:44
The strong growth in large scale renewable project financing in Australia could be just the beginning of major wave of investment, and points to RET being met by 2020.
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Babies remember their birth language - scientists

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 10:51
Babies learn language in the early months of life, and retain this knowledge, say scientists.
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Saudi Arabia to focus on solar, wind in $US50bn clean energy plan

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 10:43
Saudi Arabia says it will focus on solar and wind energy in a new $US50 billion energy plan that is about to be unveiled.
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SolarReserve’s crescent dunes solar energy project with U.S.-developed Storage Technology Receives up to $78 Million investment from capital one

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2017-01-18 10:26
Investment in American innovation demonstrates growth opportunities in solar with energy storage
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EU proposes to halve food waste in Europe by 2030

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-01-18 10:01

The initiative, which would apply to the UK if passed, would wipe out 44m tonnes of food waste every year

People are being urged to support calls by a major pan-European group to halve ‘farm to fork’ food waste in Europe by 2030, on the eve of a landmark vote later this month.

The European parliament’s environment committee will vote on new regulations on 24 January, which are set to shape the next 15 years of EU food waste policy and have the potential to be the most ambitious, legally binding target on food waste in the world.

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Neither Trump nor Turnbull can turn back the tide on renewables

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-01-18 08:43

The argument for renewable energy is now a purely economic one – and the move away from coal will only pick up speed

The inauguration of President Trump this Saturday (Australian time) marks a radical change in the world as we know it. It ushers in the beginning of four years where progressive issues as far reaching as race equality, women’s health, nuclear and foreign policy, and of course climate change will be under sustained attack.

Less than a year after the world agreed a historic climate pact in Paris, the US – the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas polluter – elected a man who wants to revive the glory days of coal, oil and gas.

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Drone footage shows huge Antarctic ice crack

BBC - Wed, 2017-01-18 06:55
Aerial video shows a huge ice crack which is forcing British Antarctic Survey staff to leave their base.
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Green Investment Bank’s assets must be protected | Letters

The Guardian - Wed, 2017-01-18 05:07

The Green Investment Bank is a real success story. Publicly owned, it has helped fund innovative new smart green technologies to fight climate change and attracted capital to UK infrastructure.

It is widely rumoured that Australian investment bank Macquarie is set to purchase the bank (Is May being green about Macquarie? 10 January). Yet, it makes absolutely no sense to sell it off, least of all to a company with Macquarie’s record of buying assets, stripping them, paying itself huge dividends and selling off what’s left. It has a similarly been criticised over its tax strategy. Press reports suggest Macquarie is already making plans to offload projects and assets after it has taken control of the bank, and the government would be powerless to do anything about it if the deal goes through. In last Wednesday’s exchange in the House of Commons, where I flagged up my concerns about Macquarie, the minister also refused to rule out investment in fracking projects by the future owner of the bank.

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