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Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov said he had many questions from people asking if it was possible.

Clever, tool-making crows show scientists the first foundations of technological development.

Nearly 60% of US carbon pollution comes from power and transportation, and power is already decarbonizing fast

In order to meet its share of the carbon pollution cuts needed to achieve the 2°C Paris international climate target, America’s policies are rated as “critically insufficient” by the Climate Action Tracker. The Trump Administration has taken every possible step to undo the Obama Administration’s climate policies, including announcing that America will be the only world country to withdraw from the Paris agreement, and trying to repeal the Clean Power Plan.

In 2020, the next American president will have to make up the lost ground and come up with a plan to rapidly accelerate the country’s transition away from fossil fuels. Currently, transportation and power generation each account for about 30% of US greenhouse gas emissions, so those sectors represent the prime targets for pollution cuts.

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From April 21st, residents in Cape Town will be limited to 25 litres of water per person per day

21 January 1918 Just before dawn the landscape was the chillest pale grey; it seemed pure white, with a dash of pure black

Wandering in Ayrshire just now is cold work, and one reads with a mixture of pride and envy of the warmer weather in the south. Pride because of one’s endurance of nipped fingers and senseless feet and burning windpipe for pleasure in the glorious brisk feeling, the dry squeak of the clean hard snow under one’s feet; for delight in watching the children sliding and sleighing, the exquisite lights of dawn and sunset on the snow.

Related: Walking in the winter woods: Country diary 100 years ago

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Holme Fen, Cambridgeshire: The trunks tangle back from both sides of the track, like wiry hair, their bark papery. Packed dense, this makes the forest look grey and odd

Britain’s highest highpoint is Ben Nevis. The lowest highpoint, if you like, is in what was Huntingdonshire: Boring Field, an old county top, at 81m above sea level. But hereabouts too is a mountain’s true inverse: the lowest lowpoint. The road to Holme Fen protrudes, like a fat plank thrown over a bog. You could fall off it if you’re distracted. I am, first by the red kites: they’re everywhere here, black wraiths cruising on dog-leg wings. I count nine within a kilometre. Then two herons, side by side at the side of the road and unbothered by it, those stripe-masked faces like strange little highwaymen.

It’s early, and the morning is feebly painted in winter colours: black fields full of rain, brown water, grey sky. It should be light by now but it isn’t. I turn on to the fen track and suddenly there’s red: the lights of a railway crossing, then the train blurring noisily beyond it. Beyond that, in a thicket of woodland, is the lowest land in Great Britain.

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Malcolm Turnbull announces $36.6m will be spent on ‘supporting farmers stopping runoff’ to improve water quality

Malcolm Turnbull has announced a $60m rescue package for the Great Barrier Reef which includes research on developing “resilient” coral, and paying farmers to pollute less.

The package, to be spent over 18 months, will also include an increased number of reef officers and vessels targeting crown of thorns starfish outbreaks.

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The Australian Government is boosting investment in the Great Barrier Reef by nearly $60 million over the next 18 months.

UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta wants to use Holden facilities to build electric vehicles in Australia, underpinned by the 1GW of solar and storage planned for South Australia. Conservatives are horrified.

Rooftop solar was providing more capacity in South Australia than the old Northern coal generator at the height of Thursday's peak. Solar pushed the peak grid demand into early evening.

Thermal coal generators continue to have reliability issues that will only get worse. It's astonishing that the AEMC doesn’t seem to understand this issue one little bit.

AER report finds generators jacked up energy prices 100-fold, even when there was more than enough capacity. But don't expect regulators to do anything about it.

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced today that experienced energy and resources partner Gavin Scott will join the Brisbane office.

Josh Frydenberg claims South Australia is burning ‘80,000 litres of diesel an hour, just to keep the lights on’. With so many half-truths floating about in the so called ‘energy debate’, it’s worth unpacking this claim.

Victorian homebuilder Porter Davis has announced a partnership with Australia’s leading solar and battery provider, Bradford Energy, to equip knockdown rebuild homes with the Bradford Solar ChargePack, which includes the innovative Tesla Powerwall 2 home battery.

While the president’s rhetoric has raised hopes for renaissance of American coal, Trump’s policies have done little to revive the ailing industry.

We're off on a fossil dig in north-west Queensland; we go in search of yellow footed rock wallabies in South Australia's northern pastoral region; and check out the latest in chicken couture.

Blockchain is now helping to bring much-needed transparency to the global tuna industry, which has been prone to corruption, human slavery and unsustainable fishing practices. Candice Visser, PhD Candidate, University of Wollongong Quentin Hanich, Associate Professor, University of Wollongong Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Right geology and local consent are key in consultation due to be launched this week

The government is expected this week to begin a nationwide search for a community willing to host an underground nuclear waste dump to store highly radioactive material for thousands of years.

Britain has been trying for years to secure a site with the right geology and local communities which would volunteer to host a £12bn geological disposal facility (GDF), as a long-term solution for the most dangerous waste from nuclear power stations.

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• Fishing industry and environmentalists mull lawsuits
• EPA tried to delay report detailing chemicals’ harm to wildlife

Commercial fishermen and environmental groups could file lawsuits against the Trump administration, if it fails to follow a recommendation by one of its own agencies to protect salmon, sturgeon, orca and other endangered species in the Pacific north-west.

Related: Common pesticide can make migrating birds lose their way, research shows

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