Environment news

• Trees' surprising role in the boreal water cycle quantified

  21-07-2016 23:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  Approximately 25 to 50 percent of a living tree is made up of water, depending on the species and time of year. The water stored in trees has previously been considered just a minor part of the water cycle, but a new study by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists shows otherwise.Research published this week in Nature Scientific Reports is the first to show that the uptake of snowmelt water by deciduous trees represents a large and previously overlooked aspect of the water balance in boreal w
  
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• Wild birds 'come when called' to help hunt honey

  21-07-2016 20:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Honey hunters in Mozambique rely on the help of honeyguide birds - and a new study reveals their two-way communication.
  
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• Sweet talk: wild birds and human honey hunters converse, study shows

  21-07-2016 20:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Honeyguide birds are well known for signalling human honey hunters, but research shows that the communication goes both waysWild birds and humans can engage in two-way conversation to the benefit of both, researchers have revealed.A brown bird with a penchant for beeswax, the greater honeyguide is well known for signalling to human honey hunters, issuing a squeaky, chirruping call while darting between trees to indicate the way to a bees’ nest. Once there the honey-hunters collect honey wh
  
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• Oil down 2 percent as record U.S. stockpiles heighten glut worry

  21-07-2016 19:04
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 2 percent on Thursday, as the market took a closer look at U.S. government data that showed growing inventories of gasoline and other oil products pushed total petroleum supplies in the world's largest oil consumer to a record high. The previous session, Brent and U.S. crude futures rose by up to 1 percent after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories dropped 2.3 million barrels last week, versus forecasts
  
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• Scientists unlock 'green' energy from garden grass

  21-07-2016 18:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Garden grass could become a source of cheap and clean renewable energy, scientists have claimed.A team of UK researchers, including experts from Cardiff University's Cardiff Catalysis Institute, have shown that significant amounts of hydrogen can be unlocked from fescue grass with the help of sunlight and a cheap catalyst.It is the first time that this method has been demonstrated and could potentially lead to a sustainable way of producing hydrogen, which has enormous potential in the renewable
  
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• UAE tycoon Qubaisi named in billion-dollar U.S. suits

  21-07-2016 18:49
  By Stanley Carvalho ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The rise and fall of Abu Dhabi tycoon Khadem al-Qubaisi, named this week in U.S. Justice Department lawsuits seeking to seize over $1 billion in assets, illustrates the unpredictability of an opaque Gulf business world fuelled by huge sums of oil money. In a few years, Qubaisi rose from obscurity to become one of the top executives in the United Arab Emirates by taking the helm of International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), a state-run company investin
  
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• Oceans may be large, overlooked source of hydrogen gas

  21-07-2016 18:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Serpentinized rocks formed near fast-spreading tectonic plates under Earth's seafloor could be a large and previously overlooked source of free hydrogen gas, a new study finds. The finding could have far-ranging implications since scientists believe hydrogen might be the fuel source responsible for triggering life on Earth. And, if it were found in large enough quantities, hydrogen could be used as a clean-burning substitute for fossil fuels today.The finding could have far-ranging implications
  
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• Oil down 1 percent as record U.S. stockpiles heighten glut worry

  21-07-2016 17:57
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Thursday, erasing gains from the previous session, after a rise in U.S. gasoline inventories pushed supplies in the world's top oil consumer to a record high, reinforcing worries of a global glut. Brent and U.S. crude futures rose by up to 1 percent on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a crude inventory drop of 2.3 million barrels last week, versus forecasts for a 2.1 million barrels
  
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• Will the UK be left behind on sustainable development? | Andrew Norton

  21-07-2016 17:44 via theguardian.com
  
  The global goals, which UN members signed up to last year, are for all countries, not just poor ones. How is the UK going to implement them?The first top-flight UN meeting on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) since they were adopted last year marks a key moment for the implementation of the ambitious 15-year blueprint.The theme of this year’s high-level political forum in New York is “leave no one behind” – a fundamental principle behind the global goals. Continue
  
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• Asda passes £1m carrier bag charge profits onto social enterprises

  21-07-2016 17:15
  
  Asda will be investing £1.1m from its carrier bag charge into programmes aimed at developing social enterprises across Scotland and Wales.
  
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• WRAP reports Resource Revolution progress in latest Annual Review

  21-07-2016 17:11
  
  The launch of the Courtauld Commitment 2025, the development of a series of robust resource efficiency campaigns and the brokering of voluntary agreements across various sectors represent some of the key highlights in WRAP's Annual Review.
  
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• 2016 set to be world's hottest year on record, says UN

  21-07-2016 16:11 via theguardian.com
  
  June marked 14th month of record heat for land and oceans with average global temperature reaching 1.3CThe world is on track for its hottest year on record and levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have reached new highs, further fuelling global warming, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has said. June marked the 14th consecutive month of record heat for land and oceans, the United Nations agency said on Thursday. It called for the speedy implementation of a pact reached last Dece
  
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• Oil slips as U.S. stock build raises glut worries

  21-07-2016 16:04
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Thursday after a rise in U.S. gasoline inventories helped push U.S. oil stocks to a record high, reinforcing worries of a global oversupply. U.S. crude and oil product stocks rose 2.62 million barrels in the week to July 15 to an all-time high of 2.08 billion barrels, the U.S. Energy Department said. U.S. gasoline stocks rose 911,000 barrels in the week, against a forecast for unchanged, and were well above the upper limit of the av
  
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• This Robot Is Part Sea Slug

  21-07-2016 15:31
  
  Researchers have developed a hybrid robot built with body parts from a novel source: sea slugs. The new robot combines a Y-shaped muscle from the mouth of a California sea hare (Aplysia californica) with a 3D-printed skeleton. The robot was modeled after the way sea turtles crawl, because the researchers wanted to create something that could move with only one Y-shaped muscle, study lead author Victoria Webster, a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, told Live Scienc
  
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• Robot with Sea Slug Parts Makes Hybrid Debut

  21-07-2016 15:31
  
  Researchers have developed a hybrid robot built with body parts from a novel source: sea slugs. The new robot combines a Y-shaped muscle from the mouth of a California sea hare (Aplysia californica) with a 3D-printed skeleton. The robot was modeled after the way sea turtles crawl, because the researchers wanted to create something that could move with only one Y-shaped muscle, study lead author Victoria Webster, a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, told Live Scienc
  
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• Brain map carves cortex into twice as many areas

  21-07-2016 15:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A brain map built up from scans of more than 400 individuals has carved the "cortex" into 180 different compartments, including 97 new ones.
  
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• Starbucks tests recyclable coffee cup ahead of next War on Waste

  21-07-2016 14:39
  
  Starbucks is "very interested" in the potential outcome of a new collaborative partnership with sustainable packaging company FrugalPac, which will see the coffee shop chain trial a recyclable coffee cup made from 100% paper.
  
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• Putting the sloth in sloths

  21-07-2016 14:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Although most of the terrestrial world is covered in trees, there are precious few vertebrates that make the canopy their home and subsist solely on a diet of leaves.Tree sloths are among the most emblematic tree-dwelling mammals. However, they are best known for their pokey demeanor rather than the fact that they spend the majority of their lives in trees munching leaves. But the slow motion lifestyle of tree sloths, according to a new study, is the direct result of the animal’s adaption
  
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• How to survive a bear encounter (and what to do if it all goes wrong)

  21-07-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  You’re more likely to die from a tick bite or a bee sting than to you are to be killed by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone park, but here are a few tips just in casePeak camping season is upon us, and this July and August millions Americans will be loading the minivan, heading into our national parks and forests, and inevitably meeting some bears.Fortunately, most of these encounters will be uneventful. In almost every case, the bear will turn its tail and run. Take Yellowstone national park
  
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• Sadiq Khan: Government shouldn't treat air quality measures as 'green crap'

  21-07-2016 13:45
  
  Sadiq Khan has urged the new Government not to "water down" commitments to air quality proposals post-Brexit, in the same week that the London Mayor created an £11m fund to set up five Low Emission Neighbourhoods across the capital.
  
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• Vattenfall commits to £300m UK offshore windfarm despite Brexit

  21-07-2016 13:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Aberdeen Bay windfarm near Donald Trump golf course will be key testing ground for reducing cost of offshore turbinesThe Swedish energy company Vattenfall is pushing ahead with a £300m windfarm off the coast of Aberdeen despite last month’s EU referendum vote.The offshore windfarm has been dogged by years of legal battles between Donald Trump and the Scottish government over its impact on his golf course, which the tycoon ultimately lost in the courts last year.Continue reading...
  
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• Vehicle emissions standard forms the 'centrepiece' for EU's low-carbon vision

  21-07-2016 13:07
  
  A new legislative proposal from the European Union (EU) that creates binding targets for Member States to reduce emissions in the transport, buildings, agriculture, waste, land-use and forestry sectors will hinge on the ability to accelerate low-carbon technology and fuels in the automotive industry.
  
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• Vehicle emissions standard forms 'centrepiece' of EU's low-carbon vision

  21-07-2016 13:07
  
  A new legislative proposal from the European Union (EU) that creates binding targets for Member States to reduce emissions in the transport, buildings, agriculture, waste, land-use and forestry sectors will hinge on the ability to accelerate low-carbon technology and fuels in the automotive industry.
  
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• Oil steadies as U.S. inventories send mixed signals

  21-07-2016 12:50
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Department reported a ninth consecutive weekly drawdown of crude stocks but an overall build in oil inventories. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery , the new front-month contract from Thursday, was up 12 cents at $45.87 a barrel at 1035 GMT. Brent crude was up 10 cents at $47.27 a barrel.
  
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• The best strategies to keep bodies cool in a heatwave, according to researchers | John Abraham

  21-07-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Full body immersion or cooling the extremities will help maintain healthy body temperatures
  As we hit high-heat season in the Northern Hemisphere, it is useful to clarify tactics that can be used to help maintain healthy body temperatures. These tips are not commonly known and can be adopted by anyone, anywhere. While I am a climate scientist, my funded work is in the area of heat transfer, particularly in the human body. I work with medical companies to maintain healthy body temperatures during
  
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• Environmental studies: the schools being powered by nature

  21-07-2016 11:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Children learn better when the outdoors comes into the classroom – and the benefits extend beyond academic achievementHowe Dell Primary in Hatfield could well be the UK’s most eco-friendly school. It has toilets that flush using rainwater, sedum roofs made of plants and vegetation, and classroom sink-tops made from recycled yoghurt pots. But the school’s design doesn’t just help project the environment, it also uses nature to improve children’s academic performance
  
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• Google trains artificial intelligence to slash data centre energy by 40%

  21-07-2016 11:20
  
  Tech giant Google has taken a "phenomenal step forward" in its efforts to drive energy efficiency, after developing artificial intelligence (AI) that has reduced energy consumption at its data centres by 40%.
  
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• Five Star mayor of Turin to create Italy’s first ‘vegetarian city’

  21-07-2016 10:25 via theguardian.com
  
  New administration raises hackles of Piedmont’s famous meat producers by pledging to promote vegetarianism as a priorityFrom vitello tonnato – veal with tuna sauce – to beef braised in the Piedmont region’s most famous red wine, brasato al Barolo, meat dishes have been central to the food tradition of northern Italy for centuries.Related: Antonio Carluccio's Piedmont: a region rich in food … and artisan chocolateContinue reading...
  
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• Oil rises after ninth weekly stock drawdown in U.S

  21-07-2016 10:14
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices moved slightly higher on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Department reported a ninth consecutive weekly drawdown of crude stocks, although an overall build in oil inventories capped gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery , the new front-month contract from Thursday, was up 15 cents at $45.90 a barrel at 0800 GMT. Brent crude's front-month contract was up 15 cents at $47.32 a barrel.
  
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• SSE loses more customers in cut-throat UK energy market

  21-07-2016 09:24
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's second-biggest energy supplier SSE said on Thursday it had lost another 50,000 power and gas customers over the three months ending June 30, as small suppliers continue to grab market share from incumbents. The "big six" suppliers have seen their market share drop to 84.6 percent in the dual-fuel (gas and electricity) market, compared with 99 percent four years ago, according to data from consultancy Cornwall Energy. Its gas and oil-fired power plan
  
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• Crude oil rises after 9th weekly stock drawdown in U.S

  21-07-2016 09:08
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude oil prices rose on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Department reported a ninth consecutive weekly drawdown of crude stocks, although a surprise build in gasoline supplies helped to cap the gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery, the new front month contract from Thursday, was up 22 cents at $45.97 a barrel at 0701 GMT. Brent crude's front-month contract was up 24 cents at $47.41 a barrel.
  
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• Royal swan upping – in pictures

  21-07-2016 08:45 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s July on the Thames and time to ... count swans. Dan Kitwood and Toby Melville photograph the curious centuries-old annual census where the birds on the river are tagged and counted Continue reading...
  
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• SSE loses 50,000 customers in three months to end June

  21-07-2016 08:25
  Britain's second-biggest energy supplier SSE said on Thursday it had lost another 50,000 power and gas customers over the three months ending June 30, further reflecting the trend of small suppliers grabbing market share from incumbents. Reflecting improved profitability for fossil-fuel fired power plants, SSE said power generation from its gas and oil-fired stations nearly doubled to 4.4 terawatt-hours year on year, up from 2.4 TWh in the comparable quarter of last year.
  
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• Starbucks trials recyclable cups in move to tackle landfill waste

  21-07-2016 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Inventor of eco-friendly Frugalpac cup in talks with other coffee chains and supermarkets about using it as standardStarbucks will trial a fully recyclable coffee cup in its UK shops, which could eventually divert huge numbers of cups away from landfill.The cup, invented by entrepreneur and engineer Martin Myerscough, aims to reduce the environmental impact of the 2.5bn paper coffee cups used in the UK each year. Earlier this year it emerged that only one in 400 were recycled and the rest sent t
  
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• Nature's floral tapestry sown into fabric of Tyneside industry

  21-07-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Ouseburn, Newcastle I hoped the chance juxtaposition of folk art and wild flowers at a once derelict site did not give way to a municipal shrub scheme cum litter trapThe lower Ouseburn valley, a cradle of the industrial revolution, not far from Newcastle, has been transformed. New apartments built on the banks of this tributary of the Tyne stand on what was, until recently, a site of dereliction.Every summer the place used to be covered in colourful wild plants. This morning I stopped to admire
  
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• Sections of Great Barrier Reef suffering from 'complete ecosystem collapse'

  21-07-2016 06:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Coral Watch investigator reports ‘shocking’ lack of fish and says the surviving corals are continuing to bleach, even during winter “Complete ecosystem collapse” is being seen on parts of the Great Barrier Reef, as fish numbers tumble and surviving corals continue to bleach into winter, according to a scientist returning from one of the worst-hit areas.“The lack of fish was the most shocking thing,” said Justin Marshall, of the University of Queensland and the
  
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• How can we ensure the benefits of renewables reach those who need them most? #AskGSB

  21-07-2016 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Join us on this webpage on Thursday 28 July, 1-2pm (BST), for an online debate as we explore clean energy investment in the developing world 8.24pm BSTInvestment in renewable energy was higher in the world’s poorest countries than the richest ones for the first time in 2015. As well as helping combat climate change, clean energy offers developing countries long-term affordable energy solutions. But, despite successes, one in five people still lacks access to electricity. As energy demand g
  
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• How can developing countries reach 100% renewables? – send in your questions #AskGSB

  21-07-2016 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Join us on this webpage on Thursday 28 July, 1-2pm (BST), for an online debate as we explore clean energy investment in the developing world 8.24pm BSTInvestment in renewable energy was higher in the world’s poorest countries than the richest ones for the first time in 2015. As well as helping combat climate change, clean energy offers developing countries long-term affordable energy solutions. But, despite successes, one in five people still lacks access to electricity. As energy demand g
  
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• The electricity price hike blame game: a sad product of a dismal climate change debate | Tony Wood and David Blowers

  21-07-2016 03:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The high prices in South Australia should serve as a warning to all. This is what happens when climate change policy is not aligned with energy sector policy
  Recent news reports highlighting that the price of generating electricity in South Australia has increased three to four times its historic levels have left politicians, commentators and renewables advocates in an agitated state. One side of the debate blames renewables, the other argues vociferously that it’s the fault of evil fossil
  
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• Enbridge reaches $176M agreement for 2010 Michigan oil spill

  21-07-2016 03:41
  
  Enbridge Energy Partners has reached a $176 million settlement for the costliest inland oil spill in U.S. history — a pipeline rupture in southwestern Michigan that polluted a nearly 40-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River, federal officials said Wednesday.
  
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• Crude oil nudges up after ninth weekly stock drawdown in U.S.

  21-07-2016 03:17
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude oil prices edged up in early Asian trading on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Department reported a ninth consecutive weekly drawdown of crude stocks but a surprise build in gasoline supplies. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery, the new front month contract from Thursday, was up 2 cents at $45.77 a barrel at 9.02 p.m. ET. Brent crude's front-month contract, was up 5 cents at $47.22 a barrel.
  
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• Twycross Zoo begins great ape heart disease study

  21-07-2016 01:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Twycross Zoo and the University of Nottingham are to look into why great apes are susceptible to heart disease.
  
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• Insurers ignoring risks of oil, gas investments-study

  21-07-2016 01:07
  Only one percent of insurers globally are assessing the risk of being left with investments in "stranded assets" -- oil and gas reserves held by companies which may prove unviable as the world moves to a low-carbon economy, a study showed on Thursday. Bank of England governor Mark Carney used the term in a speech last September in which he called on companies to be more open about their climate change exposure to avoid abrupt changes in asset prices that could destabilise markets. The insurers l
  
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• Queensland setting catch limits for endangered sharks based on ‘dodgy data’

  21-07-2016 00:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts calls for reinstatement of observer program as commercial shark catches jump dramatically on Great Barrier Reef The Queensland government is allowing commercial fisheries to catch endangered sharks on the Great Barrier Reef, with a quota based on data that was useless for managing the shark numbers, according to an independent peer reviewer.Shark experts and WWF are calling for an observer program, which was axed by the previous government in 2013, to be reinstated so that better data on
  
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