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New research refutes the theory that pressure from saddles can cause erectile dysfunction, and says cycling could actually improve performance in older men

Few doubt that cycling helps you get healthy. One study last year found cyclists are less likely to develop heart disease or cancer, and a 2011 review showed it improves fitness and leads to longer lives. But there’s an area of men’s health that has been the subject of a persistent question: does time spent in the saddle lead to problems in the sack?

In recent years, scientists have linked cycling with several male health problems, including erectile dysfunction, which they speculate is caused by the saddle decreasing blood flow to the penis. In one study, Norwegian researchers gathered data from 160 men after they took part in a long-distance bike tour. They found that one in five suffered with numbness to the penis that lasted up to a week after the tour, and 13% developed erectile dysfunction that lasted more than a week in most cases.

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Dairy farms in the Netherlands are producing so much dung they can’t get rid of it safely. Now the WWF is calling for a 40% cut in herd numbers to protect the environment

There is a dirty stench emanating from the Dutch dairy sector. The industry is, by most measures, hugely successful: despite the small size of the country, it is the fifth largest exporter of dairy and has a much-touted reputation as the tiny country that feeds the world.

But there’s a catch: the nation’s 1.8 million cows are producing so much manure that there isn’t enough space to get rid of it safely.

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Bleaklow, Derbyshire: They hunker down, escaping the wind and wary of predators, waiting for the hour after dark to feed

Brilliant sunshine and a covering of snow had transformed Bleaklow into the Arctic, the sky azure overhead with hints of turquoise on the horizon, bruising to mauve as the day wore on. Approaching Barrow Stones, the moors a glittering sweep of blue-white, nothing stirred but the bitter wind that curled around my neck. The wind had sculpted extravagant shapes from the snow: translucent fins of névé or else, where it eddied, sinuous arcs and twists. Soft spindrift filled the groughs between peat hags fringed with icicles. The same wind, I reflected, has done much the same to Barrow Stones, albeit over millennia rather than days, scouring a crowd of abstract heads nodding in the sun.

The snow had recorded more than the wind’s passage. From time to time we came across a busy intersection of animal tracks, a meandering series of triangles made by grouse, the delicate feet of mice and voles, like sutures, stitching the lightest trace of time through the snow’s surface. There were the unmistakable prints of mountain hares, also known more prettily as blue hares, forepaws offset and hitting the ground behind the back legs. Different animals had shared the same path for a while before looping off individually in a new direction. Then the prints would disappear altogether until we encountered a new group. Mountain hares don’t have extensive ranges.

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Borneo has lost a "shocking" number of its great apes, according to a new survey of the island.

ARENA backs research that will model the influence of rooftop solar, home batteries and electricity tariffs on a decision to buy EVs.

AEMC blasted for not providing robust signals for demand response technologies - clearly the smartest, cleanest and cheapest option to solve many energy issues, but not one favoured by generators.

As battery demand increases, so does the search for search for alternative technologies. Australian companies and universities are leading in developing innovative solutions, but the path to commercial success has its challenges.

Two decades ago, the then SA premier, John Olsen, defied a campaign promise and announced plans to privatise the state's electricity industry. It's been a high-voltage issue ever since. Marc Hudson, PhD Candidate, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Current trends make a mockery of doubts peddled by network incumbents that fossil fuel power is the best way to assure security of electricity supply.

Flat-pack solar? IKEA says it wants to retail solar panels in Australia, "at cost", as it has done in the UK and other EU countries. Is this a good thing?

How will retailers meet their emission reduction obligations under the proposed NEG. It's a tangled web, and we suspect the ESB is starting to understand the monster it is creating.

Including battery storage and rooftop PV in new home packages is soon "just going to be the norm", says home builder Metricon. Already, they're putting them in around half of the new homes they build.

New report suggests household battery storage set to boom in Australia, with uptake predicted to have tripled in 2017, and costs of the key technology expected to halve in less than seven years.

Pearl Global Limited (Pearl) (ASX:PG1) has begun commissioning its first production plant after receiving state government, environmental and council approvals for its unique process to convert waste tyres into valuable secondary products.

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Tasmania Labor unveils energy policy targeting 120% renewables, increased electricity exports, and an 80% boost to distributed resources like rooftop solar.

A surprising study published in Science found that as fuel emissions drop, consumer products are playing a larger role in air pollution. Jenny Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Wollongong Kathryn Emmerson, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Windows have been ubiquitous in society for centuries, filling our homes and workplaces with natural light. But what if they could also generate electricity?

Commonwealth, State and Territory Environment Ministers have released statements regarding the Environmental Management of Industrial Chemicals, and a National Environmental Management Plan for PFAS

The machines that ensure smooth ice for athletes can be responsible for air pollution

Watch the live streams from the Winter Olympics and you will see the ice rink resurfacing machines that ensure smooth ice for the athletes. Running any engine indoors is a bad idea, especially in a room full of thousands of spectators and heavily breathing ice-hockey players or skaters. The first case of air pollution problems from ice resurfacers was reported in 1975 when 15 children became ill from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Seattle rink. Nitrogen dioxide was added to the list of concerns when concentrations in the average Finnish rink were found to be more than three times World Health Organisation guidelines. Practical solutions include exhaust clean-up equipment, better ventilation, warming up the resurfacing machine outside and opening the ice rink doors to get faster air changes. Even so, accidents can and do happen. In 2011 two ice hockey players were hospitalised after training in a rink where the ventilation system had failed. A yellow haze had been seen in the cold air that settled over the ice. Thirty one people became ill, some of whom began to cough up blood several days later. The advent of new electric-powered machines offers the best long-term solution to this problem.

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