Environment news

• Tiny Artificial Life: Lab-Made Bacterium Sports Smallest Genome Yet

  25-03-2016 20:59
  An artificial bacterial genome with the smallest number of genes needed for life has been created in a lab, opening the way for creating synthetic organisms with customized sets of genes aimed at specific tasks, such as eating oil. The newly created bacterium, which can metabolize nutrients and self-replicate (divide and reproduce), brings the team one step closer to building custom artificial life with particular functionalities, they said. The artificial bacterium has only 473 genes, compared
  
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• Government planning to repeal animal welfare codes

  25-03-2016 18:20
  
  Poultry industry to oversee chicken-farming standards as ministers move to create industry-led deregulationConservative ministers are planning to repeal an array of official guidance on animal welfare standards, starting with a move to put the code on chicken-farming into the hands of the poultry industry.Liz Truss, the environment secretary, is overseeing moves to scrap the statutory codes on farm animal welfare and move to an “industry-led” guidance as part of her department’
  
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• Russia criticises Amber Rudd over 'misleading' gas export comments

  25-03-2016 16:15
  
  Energy secretary claimed EU protects Britain against Vladimir Putin using Russian gas supplies as foreign policy toolRussia has waded into Britain’s EU referendum debate to accuse the energy secretary, Amber Rudd, of making misleading comments when she claimed that the EU provided protection against being bullied by Vladimir Putin over Russian gas exports.Rudd had warned in a speech on Thursday that the breakup of the EU single market for energy would give Russia more influence over the co
  
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• For sale: 44m acres for oil drilling, but not if Louisiana's Bucket Brigade can help it

  25-03-2016 15:55
  
  Hundreds of protesters may not have been able to stop the Gulf of Mexico lease sale but storming a meeting of executives made their message loud and clear On 23 March, around 300 protesters in New Orleans aimed to shut down a reading of oil company bids for 44m acres (180,000 km², the size of the entire state of Missouri) in the Gulf of Mexico. At grassy Duncan Plaza near New Orleans city hall, groups from all over the southern US gathered for a protest called New Lease on Life. “I ha
  
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• Animal pictures of the week: 25 March 2016

  25-03-2016 15:54
  
  All creatures great and small in our ever popular animal gallery
  
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• As EV sales slow, focus shifts for some to heavy duty vehicles

  25-03-2016 14:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Low gasoline prices and continuing performance issues have slowed the growth of electric car sales. But that has not stymied progress in electrifying larger vehicles, including garbage trucks, city buses, and medium-sized trucks used by freight giants like FedEx.The clang of garbage cans will still probably wake people way too early in the morning. But in Santa Rosa, California, at least, the roaring diesel engine will be quiet, replaced by a silent, electric motor.  
  
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• In the fight for climate action, data isn't always your friend | Ruth Greenspan Bell

  25-03-2016 13:00
  
  Numbers are part of the toolbox that help us understand difficult challenges, but they can also be misleadingWhen anyone wishes to support – or defeat – a given position, the sturdiest method is to generate data to predict its consequences. Advocates generate reams of numbers to substantiate their preferred outcome.I would be an idiot to argue against numbers as part of the toolbox to help us understand difficult challenges. But numbers can be misleading, especially if you don’
  
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• Pictures of the day: 25 March 2016

  25-03-2016 11:00
  
  Today: Polar bears, penitents and boxing hares
  
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• Synthetic bug given 'fewest genes'

  25-03-2016 10:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists take another step in their quest to understand the bare genetic essentials of life, producing a laboratory bacterium that has only 473 genes - fewer than any independent bug in nature.
  
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• Renewables revolution in full swing as global investment smashes records

  25-03-2016 10:00
  
  Renewable energy sources added more generation capacity than all other technologies combined in 2015, with a world record total of £286bn invested in renewables across the globe, a major new UN-backed report has found.
  
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• Three-quarters of UK children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates – survey

  25-03-2016 08:00
  
  Time spent playing in parks, woods and fields has shrunk dramatically due to lack of green spaces, digital technology and parents’ fearsThree-quarters of UK children spend less time outside than prison inmates, according to a new survey revealing the extent to which time playing in parks, wood and fields has shrunk. A fifth of the children did not play outside at all on an average day, the poll found.Experts warn that active play is essential to the health and development of children, but
  
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• Japan admits to killing more than 300 whales in Southern Ocean

  25-03-2016 08:00
  
  Austalian politicians decry Japan’s ‘sickening’ actions, which are at odds with UN legal decision Japan has confirmed that more than 300 whales, including 200 pregnant females, were slaughtered in the country’s latest whaling mission in the Southern Ocean.The kill was confirmed by Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research as its ships returned from their “scientific” expedition in the Antarctic region on Thursday. Continue reading...
  
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• UK's winter floods land councils with nearly £250m bill, survey shows

  25-03-2016 07:01
  
  The cost of damage to roads, bridges, drains and other infrastructure could rise further, local government analysis reveals This winter’s floods caused almost £250m in damage to roads, bridges, public rights of way and drainage systems, a survey by town hall chiefs has revealed.The snapshot analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) warns councils have been hit with a huge bill following storms Desmond and Eva and the flooding they brought. Continue reading...
  
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• Rolling history among herb-rich dunes

  25-03-2016 06:29
  
  Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire Nearly 5,000 years ago, this coastal fringe of the Wash was an immense freshwater wetlandHanging from the eastern corner of Lincolnshire, where the neck of the muddy expanse of the Wash meets the wind-turbine colonised North Sea, is the coastal sandscape of Gibraltar Point. A sloped sandy beach is backed by saltmarsh veined with scything channels, and dunes rise behind the marsh.These are not the vast yellow peaks bristled with marram grass that typify some dune sys
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: aerial survey reveals extent of coral bleaching

  25-03-2016 03:25
  
  James Cook University professor Terry Hughes says he flew over 600km of reef and more than 60% was bleachedAn aerial survey is revealing the worst bleaching ever seen on northern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, as the scientist leading the survey live-tweets the devastation and pleads for the world to take action on climate change.Last week Terry Hughes, a professor at James Cook University and convener of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, told Guardian Australia he planned to hire a cha
  
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• Australian mining company denies role in murder of South African activist

  25-03-2016 03:10
  
  Campaigners claim death of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe is an escalation of violence against opponents of a mine owned by Perth’s Mineral Commodities LimitedAn Australian-owned mining company has denied any link to the murder of an activist leading a campaign against its plans to mine titanium in South Africa.Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe was gunned down at his home in Xolobeni on South Africa’s Wild Coast on Tuesday, in what fellow activists claimed was an escalation of violence an
  
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• Nigeria targets 300 army officers, firms, in widening corruption probe

  25-03-2016 02:17
  Nigeria has accused 300 firms and individuals, including army officers, of embezzling 48 billion naira (170.9 million pounds) through overpaid defence contracts or fraud, the presidency said on Thursday in a widening a crackdown on graft. President Muhammadu Buhari was elected a year ago on a pledge to root out endemic corruption that has held most of the 180 million Nigerians in poverty despite the country's enormous oil wealth. The former military ruler has fired or investigated dozens of offi
  
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