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Group test: children's bikes from Islabike, Frog, Hoy and Halfords

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-11-12 17:30

They’re cleverly designed for tiny riders. But our four- to six-year-old testers were also interested in doing skids and playing with toy traffic cones

Bike companies spend months finessing the details of their kids’ models – the scaled-down brake levers, mini cranks, a child-friendly low centre of gravity. And what are the children most impressed by? A set of toy plastic cones.

That, along with the apparently great significance of rear-wheel skids to the lives of six-year-olds, was among the lessons learned from a fun if exhausting morning trying out children’s bikes with a collection of fun-sized testers.

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Britain 'must abandon Churchillian rhetoric' in face of rising seas

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-11-12 17:01

National Trust says central and local governments should plan ahead for increasing coastal erosion rather than talk of ‘holding the line’

Britain must abandon “Churchillian rhetoric” and claims it can “hold the line” against rising seas, and instead plan ahead for increasing coastal erosion, according to the National Trust.

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UK becomes only G7 country to increase fossil fuel subsidies

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-11-12 16:30

Tory government is giving billions in ever increasing handouts to oil and gas majors at the same time as cutting support for clean energy, report reveals

The UK is alone among G7 nations in dramatically increasing its fossil fuel subsidies, despite an earlier pledge to phase them out, a new report has found.

The revelation will embarrass ministers who want to take a leading role at a crunch UN climate change summit in Paris in December, but who have been sharply cutting support for green energy at home.

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How many cells in a person?

ABC Science - Tue, 2015-11-10 09:28
GREAT MOMENTS IN SCIENCE: It's a surprisingly hard question to answer, but Dr Karl has tracked down a reasonable estimate of the number of cells in the human body.

Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline and hails US as leader on climate change

The Guardian - Sat, 2015-11-07 05:06

President ends years of political drama and hands environmentalists a big victory with decision to turn down proposal to build 1,700-mile pipeline through US

Barack Obama ended seven years of high-wire political drama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, saying the decision reflected America’s determination to be a global leader in the fight against climate change.

The move, less than four weeks before more than 190 countries gather in Paris to try to reach a global deal to reduce carbon pollution, reinforces Obama’s commitment to making climate change the domestic and international legacy of his second term in the White House – even in the face of Republican hostility.

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Conservation Management Zones of Australia dataset now available

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-11-06 15:43
Conservation Management Zones of Australia dataset now available as open data and web services
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Three species of bird retain current listing status on the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act after assessment

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-11-06 13:59
The Minister has agreed that Turnix melanogaster (black-breasted button-quail), Erythrotriorchis radiatus (red goshawk), Geophaps scripta scripta (squatter pigeon (southern)) that these species should retain their current listing status effective 27 October 2015.
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Purple-crowned fairy-wren (western) transferred categories on the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-11-06 13:53
The Minister has approved the transfer of Malurus coronatus coronatus (purple-crowned fairy-wren (western)) from the Vulnerable category to the Endangered category effective 31 October 2015.
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Three birds added to the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-11-06 09:51
The Minister has approved the addition of Probosciger aterrimus macgillivrayi (palm cockatoo (Australian), Platycercus caledonicus brownii (green rosella), Strepera fuliginosa colei (black currawong (King Island)) to the Vulnerable category effective 31 October 2015.
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Scientists warned the President about global warming 50 years ago today | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-11-05 21:00

On 5 November 1965 climate scientists summarized the risks associated with rising carbon pollution in a report for Lyndon Baines Johnson

Fifty years ago today, as the American Association for the Advancement of Science highlighted, US president Lyndon Johnson’s science advisory committee sent him a report entitled Restoring the Quality of Our Environment. The introduction to the report noted:

Pollutants have altered on a global scale the carbon dioxide content of the air and the lead concentrations in ocean waters and human populations.

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Chairs' Update 3 November 2015 | Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review

Department of the Environment - Thu, 2015-11-05 12:01
Find out the latest updates on the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review.
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Sydney Chapter SENG Newsletter - November 2015

Newsletters Sydney - Wed, 2015-11-04 10:40
Sydney Chapter SENG Newsletter - November 2015
Categories: Newsletters Sydney

Half of world's rare antelope population died within weeks

The Guardian - Wed, 2015-11-04 02:06

Scientists are struggling to explain the mass die-off of at least 150,000 endangered saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan earlier this year

More than half of the world’s population of an endangered antelope died within two weeks earlier this year, in a phenomenon that scientists are unable to explain.

Related: Kazakhstan's mass antelope deaths mystify conservationists

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Delhi's air pollution is causing a health crisis. So, what can be done?

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-11-03 19:00

The city’s toxic air has been linked to allergies, respiratory conditions, birth malformations and increasing incidence of cancers. But as a recent car-free experiment showed, action to cut pollution can be effective

For a few hours one morning two weeks ago, private cars were banned from driving into the heart of old Delhi. It was hard to tell at the messy road junction in front of the historic Red Fort and the shopping street of Chandni Chowk, though, which was still crammed with auto-rickshaws and buses barrelling along the roads with seemingly little regard for any traffic rules.

But Delhi’s so-called “car-free day” experiment was nevertheless a success: scientists monitoring the air here, routinely one of Delhi’s most polluted areas, found a dramatic 60% drop in the amount of dangerous pollutants – the tiniest particles that come out of traffic exhausts and which can exacerbate health problems such as asthma, heart disease and stroke – compared to the previous day.

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Victorian PQ Aquatics Fishery - application 2015

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2015-11-03 15:49
Application on ecological sustainability - public comments open from 5 November 2015 until 4 December 2015
Categories: Around The Web

Commonwealth On-Farm Further Irrigation Efficiency Program

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2015-11-03 13:51
The Australian Government is establishing a new program to assist irrigators modernise their on-farm irrigation infrastructure and return the resulting water savings to the environment. Public comments on program design are open until 11 December.
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The beautiful act of vomiting

ABC Science - Tue, 2015-11-03 11:56
GREAT MOMENTS IN SCIENCE: Vomiting may be disgusting but the physical processes behind it are actually beautifully choreographed, says Dr Karl.

WME now online, conference review, SENG strategy

Newsletters National - Mon, 2015-11-02 08:40
WME now online, conference review, SENG strategy
Categories: Newsletters National

With 90% of the UK’s ash trees about to be wiped out, could GM be the answer?

The Guardian - Sun, 2015-11-01 07:30
Scientists have proposed a radical solution to help trees develop resistance to ash dieback. But critics fear there could be unpredictable effects

Genetically modified ash trees could replace the 80 million expected to die in the next 20 years from a deadly fungus, scientists have proposed.

The radical solution to the greatest woodland disaster of the last 50 years is being explored by research teams at London and Oxford universities with backing from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, science bodies and the Forestry Commission.

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Flowers bloom in the Atacama desert – in pictures

The Guardian - Sat, 2015-10-31 03:42

The Atacama desert is experiencing a rare springtime bloom of flowers after El Niño brought the heaviest rainfall in two decades earlier this year. The desert is usually one of the driest places on Earth. Flowers normally bloom every five to seven years but this year’s showing has been one of the most spectacular

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