Feed aggregator

A snacking water vole, two-towed sloths and humpback whales and among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Continue reading...

Astronaut Chris Hadfield discusses with Sarah Montague the importance of fear.

Unpublished study warns of the global health consequences of delaying by five years a cap on the sulphur content of shipping fuels

A push by the shipping and oil industries for a five-year delay to curbs on toxic sulphur emissions would cause an extra 200,000 premature deaths from lung cancer and heart disease, according to an unpublished International Maritime Organisation (IMO) study.

Fatalities from illnesses such as asthma were not covered by the leaked paper, which was based on shipping satellite data and modelling work.

Continue reading...

As BP pushes ahead with plans to drill in the pristine Bight, the oil leak off the coast of Scotland serves as a timely reminder of the company’s track record on environmental disasters

Monday’s news of an oil leak at a BP platform off the coast of Scotland could not have come at a worse time for the company. This latest stain on BP’s environmental record coincides not only with Hollywood reminding everyone of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, but with the company’s faltering efforts to secure Australian regulatory approval to open up the pristine Great Australian Bight for oil drilling.

“Small spills” during oil operations are part and parcel of the business – even in the North Sea, where BP has decades of experience, and established infrastructure. BP’s response was predictably bland, keen to downplay any potential impacts.

Continue reading...

Conservative US blogger Matt Drudge suggests warnings over Hurricane Matthew are a government conspiracy, but critics say his comments are wrong and dangerous.

A humpback whale which was stranded on a sandbank off Australia frees itself after its calf was filmed apparently pushing her into deeper water.

Tracker dogs trained on human scent are the latest weapon being used to help catch criminals in South Africa’s Kruger national park, the epicentre of the rhino poaching epidemic

“I am ready to die for conserving the rhino,” says Wisdom Makhubele. But the brave young ranger now has another weapon in the war against rhino poaching: the extraordinary nose of tracking hounds.

The trained dogs can run poachers to ground far faster than people, sometimes even being set free in packs and followed from helicopters. The new canine training unit at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC), near Acornhoek, opened earlier this year and dogs have already brought armed poachers to heel in Kruger national park, the epicentre of the rhino poaching crisis.

Continue reading...

Terms of reference for an independent review have been released on the COAG Energy Council web site.

The 6th meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council was held on 7 October 2016 in Melbourne.

Dibbinsdale, Wirral The alarm builds, then we hear a plaintive whistle from on high, the birds take flight and we glimpse the buzzard

Entering Thornton Wood you have to watch your feet, treading cautiously through crisp leaves to avoid disturbing the bumblebees burrowing into the soft soil of the bank. This is one of the wildest patches of the Dibbinsdale woodland and there are no accessible footpaths or signed trails to lead the way.

Brambles and nettles are running rampant after summer growth spurts. The valley drops steeply down but there are plenty of ivy-wrapped tree trunks to help keep explorers upright. At the bottom Clatter Brook defies its name and progresses almost soundlessly over the smooth black stones.

Continue reading...

Alan Finkel to lead a review of Australia's electricity market, but states hold to individual renewable targets after Coalition failed to offer a post 2020 target. Battery storage a major focus.

Aerial footage shows a humpback whale calf desperately nudging its mother in an apparent attempt to free her from a sandbank off North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. The mother is eventually able to free herself and the pair are seen swimming away from the shallow water

Continue reading...

Invitation for public comment on the Draft best practice guidelines for recovery team governance and reporting template closes 7 November 2016.

Sundrop Farms' world-leading greenhouse project, using solar thermal electricity, heat and desalinated seawater to grow tomatoes in the SA desert, is in full operation.

Two Australian innovators – Wattwatchers and Independent Products – named as finalists in Australian Technology Comp.

Demand on NEM stayed flat in September, with a slight rise in coal generation and electricity emissions. Wind, meanwhile, reached its highest ever generation level, both in absolute terms and as a share of total NEM generation.

As we work through challenges in the aftermath of SA's electricity blackout, let's make sure our responses enhance rather than truncate our opportunities.

The IPCC has issued a call for nominations for experts to participate in the scoping meeting for the Sixth Assessment Report.

The IPCC has issued a call for nominations for experts to participate in the scoping meeting for the Sixth Assessment Report.

Nobel laureates are getting older in every field but one. Could it all be down to quantum mechanics?