Feed aggregator

Proposed national standards for chicken farming argue that battery cages are not a significant detriment to hens' health. Clive Phillips, Professor of Animal Welfare, Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Walton on the Naze, Essex The iron-rich, sandy layer of the Red Crag, laid down by a cool sea, is rich in marine fossils.

I walk past the arcades and beach cafes. The smell of vinegar on chips is sharp in my nose and makes my mouth water but I haven’t come to Walton on the Naze for seaside snacks. Higher ground is visible beyond the beach, partly shrouded in mist, and I strike out towards it.

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We've looked at the top 20 companies listed on the ASX to see what they actually said about climate change in their latest annual report.

Emerging markets now account for the majority of growth in solar power, according to new data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance .

Want to know where to connect a local solar farm to the grid? Now you can, in 10 minutes or less.

Offshore Energy has partnered with Danish renewables developer CIP on plan to build $8 billion, 2GW wind farm off Victoria's coast.

Sun Brilliance Power will sell the electricity from its 128MW "merchant" solar farm to the WA grid, after signing deals with Western Power.

Tesla big battery officially switched on in South Australia, after helping local grid deal with soaring temperatures and demand peak a day earlier, meaning one less gas generator was needed. "History in the making," said Premier Jay Weatherill.

Australia is home to one in 10 of the world’s unique bird species – and most of the world’s birds can trace their lineage to the continent

• Vote in the Australian bird of the Year

If you live in Australia, you may not realise how unique and special the birds around you are. Our continent was perhaps the most important for the evolution of modern birds, with a majority of the world’s species tracing their ancestry here.

Long ecologically adrift as an island continent, Australia benefited through the evolution of a remarkable diversity of fascinating, colourful, noisy, clever, innovative species of bird.

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CT Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Shane Rattenbury will today sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mayors and Ministers from several other jurisdictions to support the greater use of electric vehicles (EVs).

New report says coal plants vulnerable to failure in summer heatwaves should contract with solar and storage to provide "heat-safe" back-up. Meanwhile, Frydenberg launches Menzies report full of economic and ideological claptrap about renewables.

Sir Isaac Newton's papers and personal accounts are added to a Unesco register of globally important documents.

The PV plant has been constructed by Belectric. Ingeteam has supplied five of its 2.33 MW power stations in order to inject the energy coming from the PV array into the camp’s internal grid.

A collection of 200 eggs gives new insights into the development of the extinct flying reptiles.

Whistleblowers accuse the agency in charge of the largest pest eradication effort in Australia's history of mismanagement.

South Australia powers on the world's biggest lithium battery.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill has announced a Royal Commission into breaches of the Murray Darling Basin agreement. But will it solve the long running problems with river management? Jamie Pittock, Director, International Programs, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Penguins in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere face an uncertain future as a new review documents the number accidentally ensnared in fishing nets. Ursula Ellenberg, Honorary Lecturer, La Trobe University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Nasa releases footage captured over China, Korea and Japan of "lightning, city lights and fishing boats".

The system works fine when there two candidates in an election but is a poor option when there are multiple ones – and it can lead to some bad results

• Ben Raue is Guardian Australia’s resident psephologist

The results so far of the Guardian’s bird of the year poll have not been without controversy. The Australian white ibis, a bird that is disliked by many who encounter it, took an early lead and has maintained that lead for more than a week. While this seems like a strange result, it makes sense when you think about the options provided to the voters. With so many birds to choose from, the voting system used has a tendency to produce a winner who has a committed support base, even if that option also has a lot of opponents.

The vote was conducted using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting method – everyone gets one vote, and the candidate with the highest vote wins. This system works fine when there are just two candidates running in an election, but when you get more than two, it inevitably results in candidates winning with less than a majority of the vote. The ibis is sitting on 13.6% of the total vote, with the magpie coming second on 11.1%. The top two birds combined have received less than a quarter of the total vote.

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