Environment news

• Obama touts robots, US ingenuity at White House Science Fair

  13-04-2016 22:32
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — They came with eco-glue and Lego launchers. Their tag board displays were filled with charts, graphs and research on pollution. There were no little kids with plaster volcanoes in this crowd. But there was a trash-eating robot.
  
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• From the North Sea, a wave that acts like a tsunami

  13-04-2016 22:30
  
  The harbour at Stonehaven, on Scotland’s east coast, is normally tranquil but, at 7.30pm on 1 July 2015, the sea did something strange.“The water suddenly started to rush out for about five minutes, dropping by about 1.25 metres, then after a couple of minutes returned with some force,” reported the harbourmaster. This tsunami-like event damaged boats and resulted in a serious head injury to one crewman. Analysis suggests that this mini-tsunami was brought on by the thundery we
  
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• Why Hope Remains for Saving the World's Largest Gorillas (Op-Ed)

  13-04-2016 21:16
  
  Andrew Plumptre is a senior conservationist in the Uganda Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Radar Nishuli is chief park warden for the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo working for the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN). The Rwandan genocide in 1994 forced hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which two years later became embroiled in a calamitous civil war — an estimated
  
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• Oil industry knew of 'serious' climate concerns more than 45 years ago

  13-04-2016 19:59
  
  Researchers warned American Petroleum Institute in 1968 that the release of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels could lead to ‘worldwide environmental changes’The oil industry’s knowledge of dangerous climate change stretches back to the 1960s, with unearthed documents showing that it was warned of “serious worldwide environmental changes” more than 45 years ago.
  The Stanford Research Institute presented a report to the American Petroleum Institute (API) in 1968 that w
  
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• Bed bugs' thick skins beat insecticide

  13-04-2016 19:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bed bugs might be developing thicker "skins" to help them survive exposure to common insecticides.
  
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• Oil prices fall as concerns over Doha 'freeze' meeting grow

  13-04-2016 19:14
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures fell from fresh four-month highs in choppy trading on Wednesday as comments from Russia's energy minister added to doubts a producer meeting set for Sunday in Doha to discuss freezing output would yield a positive outcome. Prices fell after Reuters reported that Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a closed-door briefing that a deal on an oil output freeze scheduled to be signed this month in Doha will be loosely framed with few detai
  
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• Implant lets paralysed man 'play guitar'

  13-04-2016 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  In a world first, a quadriplegic man can once again move his own fingers after a chip was implanted in his brain.
  
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• JPMorgan beats Wall Street expectations in tough quarter for banks

  13-04-2016 18:57
  JPMorgan Chase & Co , the No. 1 U.S. bank by assets, reported a quarterly profit that topped low market expectations as lower costs and better-than-expected trading revenue helped soften the blow from a fall in investment banking fees. JPMorgan is the first U.S. bank to report results for what has generally been seen as the banking industry's worst start to a new year since the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Banks around the world have been hit by a slide in commodity and oil prices, a slowdown
  
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• Moths in cities have learned to avoid man-made light

  13-04-2016 18:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  The globally increasing light pollution has negative effects on organisms and entire ecosystems. The consequences are especially hard on nocturnal insects, since their attraction to artificial light sources generally ends fatal. A new study by Swiss zoologists from the Universities of Basel and Zurich now shows that urban moths have learned to avoid light. The journal Biology Letters has published their results.Some insects are attracted by light while others shy away from it. Proverbi
  
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• Last Flight-Qualified Space Shuttle External Tank Sets Sail for California

  13-04-2016 17:54
  
  NEW ORLEANS — NASA’s last-existing, built-for-flight space shuttle external tank was launched Tuesday (April 12) on a 40-day sea voyage from New Orleans to Los Angeles, 35 years to the day after the first such tank fueled the maiden flight of the iconic winged spacecraft. Secured atop an open-air, flatbed barge, the 154-foot-long (47 meters) orange-brown tank left the dock at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facilityin Louisiana, beginning its journey to the California Science Center for
  
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• Oil prices fall on U.S. stock build, concerns over freeze meeting

  13-04-2016 17:34
  By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) - Oil futures traded lower on Wednesday on a larger than expected build in U.S. crude inventories and on concerns that a producer meeting set for Sunday in Doha to discuss freezing output will do little to trim oversupply . Brent crude was down 62 cents at $44.07 per barrel at 1439 GMT, while U.S. crude declined by 63 cents to $41.54. U.S. crude inventories rose 6.6 million barrels last week to 536.53 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said o
  
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• Solar power sets new British record by beating coal for a day

  13-04-2016 17:19
  
  Coal’s decline continues as figures show homes and businesses got more power from the sun for an entire 24 hours last weekend The sun provided British homes and businesses with more power than coal-fired power stations for 24 hours last weekend. While solar power has previously beaten coal for electricity generation over a few hours in the UK, Saturday was the first time this happened for a full day.Continue reading...
  
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• OPEC cuts 2016 oil demand growth forecast, warns of more

  13-04-2016 17:14
  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC on Wednesday cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2016 and warned of further reductions citing concern about Latin America and China, pointing to a larger supply surplus this year. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also said top exporter Saudi Arabia kept output steady in March - a sign Riyadh is serious about a plan to be discussed this weekend to freeze output and support prices - while OPEC supply overall rose only slightl
  
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• IEA chief sees oil prices rebound in second half of 2017

  13-04-2016 17:14
  The International Energy Agency expects oil prices to rebound next year and the market rebalance itself, Fatih Birol, IEA's executive director, said on Wednesday. "We are not a party to the Doha meeting discussions, but what we can say is that we expect at least in 2017 oil prices to rebound and market to rebalance," he told reporters in Lisbon. Birol earlier told a conference an unprecedented decline in investment in new oil projects for the second year in a row meant that reliance for crude im
  
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• Two of Britain's largest recycling plants set to close

  13-04-2016 17:01
  
  Lancashire County Council has revealed that a recent surge in national recycling rates along with the severe financial situation facing the local authority has contributed to the closure of two of Britain's biggest recycling plants.
  
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• Two of Britain's largest recycling plants set for closure

  13-04-2016 17:01
  
  Lancashire County Council has revealed that a recent surge in national recycling rates along with the severe financial situation facing the local authority has contributed to the closure of two of Britain's biggest recycling plants.
  
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• Edible cutlery company wants us to eat our way out of plastic pollution

  13-04-2016 17:01
  
  The spoon tastes like a cracker and its manufacturer hopes to expand into forks and chopsticks
  Plastic waste covers our oceans and landfill. The past 70 years of plastic waste have resulted in pollution so ubiquitous, scientists say it’s a marker of a new geological epoch, the manmade Anthropocene.Plastic cutlery is a contributor to this enormous problem – estimates suggest the US alone uses 40bn plastic utensils a year – but the founder of cutlery company Bakeys, thinks he mig
  
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• Italy junior minister probed for corruption in fresh blow to Renzi

  13-04-2016 15:57
  An Italian junior health minister has been put under investigation in a widening influence-peddling scandal that has prompted the resignation of the industry minister and is embarrassing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Prosecutors in the southern city of Potenza are investigating health undersecretary Vito De Filippo on suspicion that he used his influence to try to get people jobs at state oil company Eni, according to legal documents seen by Reuters. De Filippo, a member of Renzi's Democratic Par
  
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• Is it safe to dump Fukushima waste into the sea? | Karl Mathiesen

  13-04-2016 15:43
  
  Japan has called for hundreds of thousands tonnes of irradiated water from the nuclear plant to be released into the Pacific Ocean. Karl Mathiesen looks at the potential impactsMore than 1,000 tanks brimming with irradiated water stand inland from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Each day 300 tonnes of water are pumped through Fukushima’s ruined reactors to keep them cool. As the water washes through the plant it collects a slew of radioactive particles.The company that owns the plant –
  
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• Ceasefire observers deploy in three Yemeni provinces to monitor truce

  13-04-2016 15:11
  Local ceasefire monitors arrived at three Yemeni provinces on Wednesday to consolidate a shaky truce, residents and officials said, ahead of U.N.-sponsored peace talks scheduled to start in Kuwait next week. Over 6,200 people have been killed in a year of fighting between forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Houthis, a conflict pitting the Yemeni allies of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, against those of Iran. Local officials said teams of 12 monitors were deploye
  
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• Christiana Figueres expects Paris Agreement to take effect in 2018

  13-04-2016 14:57
  
  The UN's soon-to-depart climate chief has said that the Paris climate change pact agreed last December could come into force two years earlier than the originally planned date of 2020.
  
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• Could economic de-growth accelerate global carbon reduction?

  13-04-2016 14:40
  
  As nations pledge to ratify the Paris Agreement signing ceremony later this month, individual countries are continuously battling the concept of transitioning into a low-carbon economy, while simultaneously boosting economic growth.
  
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• World's largest coal producer files for bankruptcy protection

  13-04-2016 14:40
  
  Peabody Energy’s decision seen as sign that fossil fuel is threatened by tightening environmental regulation Peabody Energy, the world’s largest privately-owned coal producer, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US following a collapse in commodity prices.The move was blamed by financial analysts partly on a mistimed and debt-fuelled expansion into Australia but others saw it as a sign that the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel was threatened by tightening environmental regula
  
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• Conservationists divided over royal visit to controversial Indian wildlife reserve

  13-04-2016 14:38
  
  Trip by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to Kaziranga national park reopens debate over shoot-to-kill policy enforced against rhino poachersThe royal visit by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to an Indian wildlife reserve on Wednesday has divided conservationists and human rights groups because of the park’s controversial policy of shooting suspected poachers on sight.
  Kaziranga park, which borders the Brahmaputra river in Assam, north-east India, has been held up by
  
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• Fast food may expose consumers to phthalates

  13-04-2016 14:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  People who reported consuming more fast food in a national survey were exposed to higher levels of potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates, according to a study published today by researchers at Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University. The study, one of the first to look at fast-food consumption and exposure to these chemicals, appears in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
  
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• JPMorgan profit hurt by weak investment banking and trading

  13-04-2016 14:04
  JPMorgan Chase & Co , the biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported a drop in quarterly profit - its first in five quarters - as costs to cover sour loans to troubled oil companies rose and revenue from trading and investment banking declined. JPMorgan is the first U.S. bank to report results for what is generally being seen as the banking industry's worst start to a new year since the 2007-2008 financial crisis. A slide in commodity and oil prices, a slowdown in China, near-zero interest rates,
  
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• Inky the octopus and other great escapes – video

  13-04-2016 14:04
  
  An octopus escaped from a New Zealand aquarium this week. Inky the octopus made a dash for freedom by apparently breaking out of his tank and slithering down a 50-metre drainpipe. But we should not be surprised – octopuses can squeeze through tiny spacesFootage courtesy of Miller’s Landing, the Research Centre on Sea Technologies and Marine Robotics and Dr James B Wood
  Continue reading...
  
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• Oil prices fall on producer meeting doubts, stronger dollar

  13-04-2016 13:43
  Brent crude was down 41 cents at $44.28 per barrel at 1049 GMT. Comments by Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi in the al-Hayat newspaper in which he confirmed his country's position that an outright production cut was out of the question weighed on prices, traders said. Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh does not plan to attend the Doha meeting but Iran will be sending a representative, an Iranian journalist from the Seda weekly wrote on his Twitter account on Wednesday.
  
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• Bloodhound Diary: Planning for the roughest of rides

  13-04-2016 13:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  What's it going to be like to drive at 1,000mph?
  
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• Green groups anticipate "dawn of a clean industrial era" as Peabody files for bankruptcy

  13-04-2016 13:05
  
  The world's largest privately owned coal producer Peabody Energy Corp has today (13 April) filed for bankruptcy, with organisations lamenting its inability to 'adjust to new energy markets' as a detrimentalfactor in the decision.
  
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• UK government's fracking definition 'could allow drilling without safeguards'

  13-04-2016 13:00
  
  Leading geologist warns loophole in government’s legal definition of fracking could enable companies to bypass safety precautionsThe UK government has been accused of including a large loophole in its legal definition of fracking which could enable companies to bypass safety regulations, according to a leading geologist.In rules that came into force on 6 April, fracking is defined by the amount of high-pressure fluid used to fracture shale rocks and release gas or oil. However, the only we
  
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• The latest form of animal cruelty – death by camera phone | Jules Howard

  13-04-2016 12:36
  
  Who wants a selfie with a giant python? People’s eagerness to snap themselves with wild creatures is thoughtless, and often proves deadly for the animalI knew what to expect before I even clicked on it. I knew that “Python caught in Malaysia could be the longest ever recorded” would take me to a picture of a snake being held by a long queue of men, each straining to bear its weight. I knew to expect that photo because we love measuring animals in this way (see: snakes, oarfish,
  
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• OPEC trims 2016 oil demand growth, says its output rises slightly

  13-04-2016 12:30
  OPEC on Wednesday predicted global demand for its crude oil will be less than previously thought in 2016 as consumption slows down, increasing the excess supply on the market this year. OPEC pumped 32.25 million bpd in March, the group said citing secondary sources, up about 15,000 bpd from February.
  
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• Birds tracked on mammoth Sahara flight

  13-04-2016 12:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A tracking study shows that a small, nocturnal songbird crosses the Sahara in a single 40-60 hour flight during its spring and autumn migrations.
  
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• Greenland sees record-smashing early ice sheet melt

  13-04-2016 11:59
  
  Scientists ‘incredulous’ at abnormally high numbers for April, with melting across nearly 12% of ice sheet, reports Climate HomePolar researchers thought their models were broken when they first saw the results.
  Almost 12% of Greenland’s ice sheet was melting on Monday, according to data crunched by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). Continue reading...
  
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• UK supermarkets back call to cut yellowfin tuna catches by 20%

  13-04-2016 11:10
  
  Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S, Morrisons and Co-op join major seafood brands and WWF in campaign to stop Indian Ocean fish stocks collapsingMajor European seafood brands and the UK’s largest supermarkets – including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and the Co-op – are backing a call to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean to stop stocks collapsing.The companies, along with WWF, are urging the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)
  
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• Coal producer Peabody Energy files for bankruptcy

  13-04-2016 09:54
  
  Firm cannot service debt built up to expand into Australia as coal prices fallPeabody Energy, the world’s largest privately owned coal producer, has filed for US bankruptcy protection in the wake of a sharp fall in coal prices that left it unable to service a recent debt-fuelled expansion into Australia.The company listed both assets and liabilities in the range of $10bn to $50bn, according to a court filing on Wednesday. Continue reading...
  
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• STA promotes 'desirable' arrays through 'Stunning Solar' campaign

  13-04-2016 09:31
  
  The Solar Trade Association (STA) has launched a campaign aimed at highlighting the aesthetic prowess of modern solar installations, in an attempt to promote the number of installations on old and new buildings.
  
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• Oil prices fall 2 percent on producer meeting doubts, stronger dollar

  13-04-2016 09:31
  As of 0716 GMT, Brent crude had dropped 78 cents to $43.90 a barrel, or 1.7 percent, after hitting a four-month high in the previous session, when it settled up $1.86, or 4.3 percent. Comments by oil minister Ali al-Naimi in the Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper in which he re-confirmed his country's position that an outright production cut, as demanded by some producers, was out of the question also weighed on markets, traders said. There was aso a report that Iran would only send a government rep
  
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• It’s settled: 90–100% of climate experts agree on human-caused global warming | Dana Nuccitelli

  13-04-2016 09:00
  
  All-star team with authors of seven previous climate consensus studies collaborate to debunk the ‘no consensus’ myth once and for allThere is an overwhelming expert scientific consensus on human-caused global warming. Authors of seven previous climate consensus studies — including Naomi Oreskes, Peter Doran, William Anderegg, Bart Verheggen, Ed Maibach, J. Stuart Carlton, John Cook, myself, and six of our colleagues — have co-authored a new paper that should settle this q
  
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• Australian Renewable Energy Agency gets new board and chairman

  13-04-2016 07:37
  
  The environment minister, Greg Hunt, announces six new directors who have been appointed for a two-year termThe government has appointed six new directors to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) board, to be headed by a new chairman, Martijn Wilder, an environmental markets lawyer.The appointments of Arena’s former board members expired in January, leaving it governed by the environment department secretary, Gordon de Brouwer. Continue reading...
  
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• Two-thirds of British public back microbead ban

  13-04-2016 07:00
  
  Greenpeace poll finds 61% of women and 53% of men would follow US example and ban the use of plastic microbeads in exfoliant toiletries Almost two-thirds of the British public think plastic microbeads used in exfoliant toiletries should be banned, according to a poll for Greenpeace.The tiny beads are too small to be filtered effectively by water treatment and flow into the oceans, where they harm fish and other sea life. The US passed a ban at the end of 2015, with Canada set to follow suit and
  
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• £500,000 tree-planting project helped Yorkshire town miss winter floods

  13-04-2016 07:00
  
  Slowing the Flow scheme, which saw 40,000 trees planted, reduced peak river flow by 20%, after 50mm of rain fell in 36 hoursTree planting and other natural approaches have prevented flooding at Pickering in North Yorkshire over Christmas, at a time when heavy rainfall caused devastating flooding across the region.An analysis of the Slowing the Flow scheme published on Wednesday concludes that the measures reduced peak river flow by 15-20% at a time when 50mm of rain fell on sodden ground in 36 h
  
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• Towers in a landscape

  13-04-2016 06:30
  
  Ironbridge Gorge As the reasons for the old power station’s cooling towers being there fade from memory, they become more enigmatic, more magicalThe cooling towers of Buildwas power station rise behind trees beside the river Severn. They stand like monstrous mushrooms, eerily silent. I remember when they were built, I had friends who worked on their construction and heard tales of men who fell to their deaths from them.The towers rise hundreds of feet from the Ironbridge Gorge and were onc
  
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• Natural anti-flood scheme 'a success'

  13-04-2016 04:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A natural flood management scheme saved the North Yorkshire town of Pickering from floods at Christmas, a report says.
  
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• The great escape: Inky the octopus legs it to freedom from aquarium

  13-04-2016 03:27
  
  Staff believe the common New Zealand octopus fled its enclosure when the lid was left ajar and headed to freedom down a pipe that leads to the seaAn octopus has made a brazen escape from the national aquarium in New Zealand by breaking out of its tank, slithering down a 50m drain pipe and disappearing into the sea. In scenes reminiscent of Finding Nemo, Inky - a common New Zealand octopus - made his dash to freedom after the lid of his tank was accidentally left slightly ajar. Continue reading..
  
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• The Paris climate accord looks promising

  13-04-2016 03:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  The climate talks that concluded last December were a great success, but it will be decades before we can judge whether the Paris Agreement itself is ultimately successful. What can be said is that the accord provides a good foundation for meaningful progress on climate change, and represents a dramatic departure from the past 20 years of climate negotiations.I have long viewed the dichotomous distinction between Annex I and non–Annex I countries in the Kyoto Protocol as the major stumblin
  
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• Oil prices fall on profit-taking, oversupply worries

  13-04-2016 02:42
  By Keith Wallis SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil futures fell in early Asian trade on Wednesday as profit-taking and concern over a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks outweighed a report that Russia and Saudi Arabia had reached consensus on an oil output cap.
  
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• Asia shares rally with oil, wary of China trade data

  13-04-2016 02:41
  By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian share markets rallied on Wednesday as a revival in risk appetite knocked back the yen and oil ran into only modest profit-taking after reaching a major chart milestone that augured well for further gains ahead. Whether sentiment hangs together could depend on China trade data due later in the session . Forecasts favour some improvement in exports and imports in March after a dire February, which would likely underpin commodities. Japan's Nikkei led the boun
  
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• U.S. crude falls on profit taking, oversupply worries

  13-04-2016 01:36
  By Keith Wallis SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell in early Asian trade on Wednesday as profit taking and concern over a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks outweighed more positive news that Russia and Saudi Arabia had reached consensus on an oil output cap. U.S. crude fell 46 cents to $41.71 a barrel as of 2318 GMT after settling up $1.81, or 4.48 percent, in the previous session. Brent crude had yet to start trading but hit a four-month high in the previous session, set
  
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