Environment news

• How the ‘animal internet’ sheds light on the secrets of migration

  11-06-2016 21:12
  
  Digital tracking of creatures from tiny birds to whales offers up new dataon the epic trips some species make, and their role in ecology and economicsAristotle thought the mysterious silver eel emerged from the earth fully formed. The young Sigmund Freud could not understand how it reproduced, and modern biologists puzzled for years over whether it ever returned to the Sargasso Sea, where it was known to breed.Last year a team of Canadian scientists found conclusive proof of that extraordinary j
  
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• New Algerian energy and finance ministers named in reshuffle

  11-06-2016 19:06
  By Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika named new energy and finance ministers on Saturday in a cabinet reshuffle, as the OPEC member tries to cope with a sharp fall in oil and gas earnings that have placed increasing pressure on its finances. Nouredine Bouterfa, the head of state power firm Sonelgaz, was named as the new energy minister, replacing Salah Khebri, while junior budget minister Hadji Baba Ammi was appointed to replace Abderrahmane Benkhalfa at
  
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• Venezuela PDVSA near deals to boost Schlumberger presence - executive

  11-06-2016 18:47
  By Alexandra Ulmer CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, is close to reaching deals to boost Schlumberger's presence after the oilfield services provider said in April it would reduce operations because of payment problems, PDVSA's president told Reuters. PDVSA, the exclusive operator of the OPEC country's vast oilfields, has run up billions of dollars in unpaid bills to service providers as a result of cash-flow problems. U.S. oil services company Halliburton Co in April als
  
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• Fish use tools!

  11-06-2016 14:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  Fish: charming, but not terribly bright, right? That’s been the party line for years, but it turns out that it’s not quite accurate.Some fish actually use tools, and as researcher Culum Brown points out, the lack of studies on fish populations means that we don’t actually know the extent this skill. Opening our eyes a little might reveal some fascinating new information about creatures we’ve traditionally identified as sitting at the lowest rung of animal life &
  
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• The last frontier: the climbers conquering Mount Everest without oxygen

  11-06-2016 12:00
  
  Among elite mountain climbers, summiting Everest sans oxygen has become the latest challenge in an already grueling journeyAnother climbing season has finished on Mount Everest, with the inevitable tales of tragedy and triumph. Since 2000, an average of seven people a year have died on Everest. The past two years were especially grim: 19 people were killed by an earthquake-triggered avalanche in 2015, and 16 died in 2014.Continue reading...
  
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• Solar Impulse flies over night-time New York

  11-06-2016 10:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A plane powered only by the sun travels to New York City for a photoshoot at the Statue of Liberty, ahead of crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
  
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• Tackling pollution: Beijing's electric bikes and buses - in pictures

  11-06-2016 09:00
  
  Vehicles are the source of a third of the air pollution in the Chinese capital, which restricts their use during episodes of heavy smog. Electric cars, buses, scooters and bicycles offer an alternative, cleaner form of transport Continue reading...
  
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• British flower power: how home-grown blooms can compete with cheap imports

  11-06-2016 09:00
  
  The UK spends more than £2bn on cut flowers per year, but around 90% are imported. Now a new breed of growers are determined to grab more of that market, by persuading the public that local and seasonal are the ways to goGeorgie Newbery sometimes has to dodge a hunting barn owl when she rises at 5am to harvest flowers on her seven-acre plot near Wincanton in Somerset. Picking sweet rocket, foxgloves and cornflowers as dawn light streaks over the fields may sound idyllic, but grabbing a cup
  
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• The humble daisy brings a smile to my face

  11-06-2016 06:30
  
  South Uist The plant’s uses are many, but the sight of a sunlit field full of daisies is perhaps what we should value mostDaisies are one of our best known and most widely distributed wildflowers, and maybe this is why we sometimes pass them by with barely a second glance. This morning, though, they have stopped me in my tracks and brought a smile to my face. They line the edge of the path, spangle the open grassland, and have so thoroughly covered one fenced pasture that almost all signs
  
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• Nobel prize winners warn leaving EU poses 'risk' to science

  11-06-2016 04:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A group of 13 Nobel prize-winning scientists warn leaving the EU poses a "key risk" to British science.
  
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• Ellen DeGeneres bewildered at backlash to her Great Barrier Reef request

  11-06-2016 01:26
  
  Comedian says she put out an announcement because of the need to protect oceans and the reef, and cannot understand what the fuss is all aboutThe US talkshow queen Ellen DeGeneres is bewildered her call to protect the Great Barrier Reef has sparked a backlash in Australia.DeGeneres made headlines earlier in the week with the release of a video public service announcement as part of the Remember the Reef campaign. Continue reading...
  
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• Daimler to unveil long-distance electric car in October

  11-06-2016 00:05
  By Ilona Wissenbach FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Daimler will lift the curtain on its much-anticipated long-distance electric car at the Paris Motor Show in October, as the automaker gears up to compete with Tesla Motors Inc's Model X sport-utility vehicle (SUV). The company will display a prototype of an electric-powered Mercedes car with a 500-kilometre (310 miles) range, Chief Development Officer Thomas Weber said this week in Stuttgart at an event for journalists. Daimler and European riv
  
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