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Deforestation and climate change appear to be amplifying droughts in the Amazon

If you are like me, you picture the Amazon region as an ever lush, wet, tropical region filled with numerous plant and animal species. Who would imagine the Amazon experiencing drought? I mean sure, if we think of drought as “less water than usual,” then any place could have a drought. But what I tend to envision with respect to drought is truly dry.

People who work in this field have a more advanced understanding than I do about drought, how and why it occurs, its frequency and severity, and the impact on natural and human worlds. This recognition brings us to a very interesting paper recently published in Scientific Reports, entitled Unprecedented drought over tropical South America in 2016: significantly under-predicted by tropical SST [sea surface temperature]. So, what did this paper show?

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It's comforting to think of climate change as a far away danger.

Researchers are racing for answers after at least 10 deaths of north Atlantic right whales, marking the deadliest year since tracking began

Researchers are scrambling to figure out why one of the world’s most endangered whale species is dying in “unprecedented” numbers, after at least 10 north Atlantic right whales have been found floating lifelessly off the coast of Canada.

The first whale carcass was reported in early June. Within a month, another six reports came in, leaving researchers reeling. This week, after several carcasses washed up on the shores of western Newfoundland, Canadian officials confirmed that the number of whale deaths had risen to at least 10, making 2017 the deadliest year for the marine mammal since researchers began tracking them in the 1980s.

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The Department is seeking comments on the draft revised referral guideline for the three Western Australian black cockatoos. The consultation period closes 5 September 2017.

Hamsterley Forest, Weardale Their visual sensitivity challenges us and their ability to track small fast objects is unparalleled

Much of Hamsterley forest lay in deep shadow and the scent of conifer resin hung in the still air between the spruces. No one had passed this way this morning; there were intact spiders’ webs stretched across the path high above Spurleswood beck.

And there we found a female golden-ringed dragonfly, Cordulegaster boltonii, clinging to rushes, still grounded by the lingering chill of the night. It’s the largest and, with its jet-black and yellow markings, the most startling, dragonfly species in the north Pennines.

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World needs 1.7 Earths to continue as it is. If everyone lived like Australians, we'd need 5.2 Earths.

Tesla puts net orders for Model 3 at 455,000+, as Musk and other employees become first to have solar roof installed at homes.

A new start-up accelerator program dedicated entirely to fast-tracking the commercialisation of innovative energy market technologies and solutions has been launched in Australia.

The new product, available to U.K. online customers, will retail from £3,000 for a standalone battery, or from £6,925 for the solar panel-plus-battery package.

ANU researchers identify 5,000 potential pumped hydro energy storage sites, which they say could support a 100% renewable Australian grid – 35 times over.

Solar PV outstripped coal as the leading source of new electricity generation worldwide last year.

The FBI is investigating an Arizona power company for its role in the election of utility-friendly and anti-solar regulators.

In a dramatic U-turn, Sri Lanka’s energy regulator has approved a new long-term electricity supply plan that rejects the construction of any new coal plants between now and 2037.

The National Trust weighs into the campaign to keep subsidies for Britain's farmers at the current level.

DNA is shedding light on the people who built Greece's earliest civilizations.

Some of Australia's most iconic beers are set to be brewed using solar and wind after Foster's Group and CUB parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev pledged to shift its 6 terrawatt-hours of annual energy consumption to 100 per cent renewables by 2025.

SAILING SPIDERS: Trapdoor spiders are reluctant travellers, but millions of years ago one species appears to have made an epic journey from Africa across the vast Indian Ocean to call Australia home.

South Australia has given itself the option to cancel the installation of a permanent government-owned gas generators. Given the huge response to ARENA's demand response EOI, and new storage projects, it is hard to see why a new plant is needed once the next two summers are negotiated.

A new legal opinion on climate change and trustee directors’ duties has wide-reaching ramifications for Australia’s $2.3 trillion superannuation industry, Environmental Justice Australia said today.

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SEDG), a global leader in PV inverters, power optimizers, and module-level monitoring services, today announced its financial results for the second quarter 2017 ended June 30, 2017.