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Why are crying babies so hard to ignore?
Brexit could herald end to British fruit and veg sales, producers warn
Many of the country’s biggest producers say that without a scheme for seasonal workers, homegrown produce would all but vanish from the shelves
British fruit and vegetables would all but vanish from shops if Brexit means the foreign workers who pick virtually all the home-grown produce are no longer able to come to the UK, according to some of the country’s biggest producers.
They warn that the nation’s food security would be damaged and that produce in UK shops would become more expensive if the freedom of movement for EU workers came to an end. They are urging ministers to set up a new permit scheme for seasonal workers.
Continue reading...Wildlife-friendly gardens may be more deadly to birds, report shows
New research shows that more birds die from collisions with windows in gardens that provide better bird habitat, reports Conservation
Collisions with windows are a serious source of mortality for birds: hundreds of millions die from window strikes each year in the US alone. Most attention to this problem has focused on high-rise buildings, because each individual building of this type can kill a great many birds.
But because there are so many residential dwellings, even a few collisions per home means that collectively these structures are responsible for a huge number of bird deaths. Yet researchers don’t know why one house has more collisions than another, let alone how to prevent them.
Continue reading...New research shows penguins will suffer in a warming world | John Abraham
Penguin population declines are found to occur in hotter years
We know the world is warming, and we know humans are the main reason. But so what? The thing we’d really like to know is, what will the impacts be on our planet, its biodiversity, our society, our economies? It is only through understanding the impacts of climate change that action for reducing greenhouse gases can be motivated.
This is one of the reasons I was so interested in a very recent study from the University of Delaware, which addressed how penguins will fare in a warming world. The article was published in Scientific Reports and is available open access so anyone with an internet connection can read it here.
Continue reading...China's elevated bus: Futuristic 'straddling bus' hits the road
China's 300m high cliff walk for fearless tourists – in pictures
A glass-bottomed walkway on Tianmen Mountain in China’s Hunan province has been opened to visitors. The Coiling Dragon Cliff walkway measures 100m and towers 300m above the scenery below. It is the third glass skywalk on the Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
Continue reading...What's in the water? Pollution fears taint Rio's picturesque bay ahead of Olympics
Untreated sewage and viruses in Guanabara Bay have led UN to advise athletes to spend as little time in the water as possible
There can be few more beautiful city sights in the world than that from the Marina da Gloria, where the Rio 2016 Olympic sailing events will be launched this weekend.
Look out from the quayside across Guanabara Bay and the panorama takes in Sugarloaf mountain, the Niteroi bridge and the distant hills of the Serra dos Orgãos national park, while behind you are the palm trees of Flamengo Park and the state of Christ the Redeemer.
Continue reading...Britain shouts about immigration but is silent on one of the root causes: climate change | Andrew Simms
The Brexit campaign pivoted around migration but its politicians are sceptical of action on global warming that is a key driver of displacement
What happens as large-scale migration becomes inevitable due to a combination of environmental, economic and humanitarian reasons? Do we tackle the drivers and help the displaced, or worsen conditions causing the displacement and reject responsibility for those affected?
Continue reading...Scottish windfarms have 'no effect' on tourism, report finds
BusinessGreen: New study concludes there is ‘no overall relationship’ between tourism employment in an area and the deployment of onshore windfarms
“Repels tourists” can now be added to the long list of criticism levelled at onshore windfarms that has been shown to be unfounded.
A new report by consultancy BiGGAR Economics, which analysed the impact of Scottish windfarms on tourism-related employment in an area, this week concluded there was no evidence to suggest windfarms had an adverse effect on tourism in an area.
Continue reading...Create your Premier League dream team
You may have a game plan for your ideal Premier League team, but every player comes at a price. Using real market value, create your dream team from the European leagues’ top 50 and see how your squad plays out
Continue reading...'Science gives us hope in a turbulent world'
BNEF says broken gas market main offender in SA energy “crisis”
Cliffs and teeming clefts in the coastal landscape
Aberaeron, Ceredigion The route was almost deserted, so the sensation of being watched was unexpected
Even on the open slopes above the cliff, the air was hot and humid, making the steeper sections of the coast path seem more of a trudge than usual. South of Aberaeron, in west Wales, the route was almost deserted – so the sensation of being watched was unexpected.
As I struggled past a tangled mass of gorse, I realised that I was being observed by a stonechat perched on a bracken frond. My plodding approach hadn’t alarmed him enough to make him retreat and as I returned his gaze I realised that at least three others, perhaps a family, were nearby. They began to exchange the sharply characteristic calls that sound uncannily like two pebbles being tapped together, and which give the species its name.
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