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Piglets 'prefer blackcurrant to water', student says
Mirco-recycling
Fuel duty cut for diesel cars was wrong, says ex-chief science adviser
David King, who served Labour and Tory governments, says he was misled by car industry over levels of diesel pollution
The former chief scientific adviser has admitted it was wrong to cut fuel duty on diesel vehicles after being hoodwinked by the car industry, as the mayor of London launched a crackdown on vehicle pollution.
David King, who until last week served Labour and Tory governments as special representative for climate change, said he was misled by carmakers over the amount of poisonous nitrogen oxides (NOx) diesel cars would emit on the road.
Continue reading...From time travel to micro-recycling
Inconceivable! The latest theatrical House 'Science' committee hearing | Dana Nuccitelli
Republican Party leaders keep putting fossil fuel industry profits over the well-being of Americans
Last week, the House “Science” committee held one of its regular hearings to dispute the validity of climate science research. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) articulated the purpose of the hearing when speaking at a recent Heartland Institute climate science denial conference:
Next week we’re going to have a hearing on our favorite subject of climate change and also on the scientific method, which has been repeatedly ignored by the so-called self-professed climate scientists
Continue reading...'Surprise' discovery of Europe's first cave-dwelling fish
Frydenberg: what the deal with Xenophon means for energy policy
Dolphins 'shake and toss' octopus prey, research finds
Diesel cars: 'It turns out we were wrong'
Flood defence plans heavily favour London and south-east
Exclusive: new analysis indicates south will get significantly more funding per capita than elsewhere, in part because of higher property prices
The government’s planned spending on flood defences heavily favours London and the south-east of England, according to a new analysis, with spending per person up to 13 times higher than in other regions.
The recently published plans set out spending to 2021 and, for major projects, beyond that date. By far the largest projects are those for the Thames estuary, leading to 60% of the planned spending going to London and south-east, home to 32% of England’s population.
Continue reading...Green groups condemn UN plan to use $136m from climate fund for large dams
Activists warn of serious environmental consequences for UN-backed hydro projects in Nepal, Tajikistan and the Solomon Islands
Plans to earmark more than $136m (£109m) of UN money for large dam projects in Nepal, Tajikistan and the Solomon Islands have been angrily condemned by activists, who have warned the projects could have serious environmental consequences.
The UN’s green climate fund was set up during the Paris climate agreement to mobilise $100bn a year by 2020 for poor countries looking for innovative and transformational projects.
Continue reading...Five things we learned from the Big Solar conference
Amphibian icons of prodigious procreation
Buxton, Derbyshire What compels our imagination is the sheer drive of frogs and toads to get to the spawning ponds
What is it about frogs and toads that has made them such classic icons of sexual reproduction? It cannot be timing, because their breeding is often over before the other elements of high spring – flowers, bees, birdsong, sunshine – are in full flood. Frogs will gather at the spawning pond when the starlit nights are frosted and the vegetation rimed in white.
Nor can it be that frogs or toads flesh out the dawn chorus. I have often found that frogs are most vocal on late-winter nights, and the little burp of toads, which is more creak than croak, is so quiet one has to strain to pick it out. The soft, even, purring of frogs is sweeter but, as one herpetologist noted, a pondful of thousands in full throat was completely inaudible just 50m away.
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