Environment news

• Dead Zones May Threaten Coral Reefs Worldwide

  20-03-2017 21:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  Dead zones affect dozens of coral reefs around the world and threaten hundreds more according to a new study by Smithsonian scientists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Watching a massive coral reef die-off on the Caribbean coast of Panama, they suspected it was caused by a dead zone—a low-oxygen area that snuffs out marine life—rather than by ocean warming or acidification.
  
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• Charge electric cars smartly to take pressure off national grid – minister

  20-03-2017 20:45 via theguardian.com
  
  SSE trials ‘demand-side response’ where vehicles start charging a few hours after being plugged in, when demand is lowerElectric cars are putting increasing pressure on the UK’s power grids, making it vital they are recharged at the right time of day, a minister has said. John Hayes, transport minister, said it was important that such battery-powered cars were topped up in smart ways to avoid unduly stressing the energy system. Continue reading...
  
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• Charge electric cars smart to take pressure off national grid – minister

  20-03-2017 20:20 via theguardian.com
  
  SSE trials ‘demand-side response’ where vehicles start charging a few hours after being plugged in, when demand is lowerElectric cars are putting increasing pressure on the UK’s power grids, making it vital they are recharged at the right time of day, a minister has said. John Hayes, transport minister, said it was important that such battery-powered cars were topped up in smart ways to avoid unduly stressing the energy system. Continue reading...
  
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• Transport systems face disruption by extreme weather – better risk management is needed

  20-03-2017 20:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Extreme weather conditions due to climate change pose a new threat to ageing infrastructure. We need to be better prepared, according to a publication by the OECD's International Transport Forum. The findings of a number of research projects can now be applied worldwide. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland was the lead author of the report in Finland. 
  
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• LHC: Five new particles hold clues to sub-atomic glue

  20-03-2017 20:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers discover five new sub-atomic particles that could help to explain how atoms are held together.
  
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• The role of industry in childhood cancers | Letters

  20-03-2017 19:46 via theguardian.com
  
  With childhood cancer being a controlling factor in tackling daily life, and having been forced to defy a very poor prognosis myself, I feel a need to respond to your letter about Brexit’s impact on children with cancer (14 March). Glenis Wilmott MEP states that 1,700 children are diagnosed with cancer, of which over 250 die, annually in the UK, and that their only chance of survival may lie with being on a clinical trial, due to lack of treatments.Cancer treatment is dreaded by adults, bu
  
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• Supreme court to consider appeal to enforce smoking ban in UK jails

  20-03-2017 18:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Prisoner says rules on smoking in communal areas are not being upheld, exposing him to dangerous levels of secondhand smokeThe remaining rights of prisoners to smoke inside their cells are to be challenged at the supreme court in a case which, if successful, could inflame discipline problems in prisons.The appeal has been brought by Paul Black, a prisoner at HMP Wymott, on the basis of fresh evidence from a Ministry of Justice medical report on air quality behind bars which warns that “sec
  
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• Energy transition of 'exceptional scope' can unlock $10trn annually

  20-03-2017 16:30
  
  Global energy-related carbon emissions can be reduced by 70% by 2050, generating $10trn a year in benefits, if countries ramp-up national commitments to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, a new report has found.
  
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• Four select committees launch joint inquiry into UK air pollution crisis

  20-03-2017 15:52 via theguardian.com
  
  MPs say unprecedented investigation will study harm caused by toxic air and scrutinise government efforts to tackle it MPs from four influential committees are coming together to launch a joint inquiry into the scale and impact of the UK’s air pollution crisis.In an unusual development, the environmental audit committee, environment, food and rural affairs committee, health committee and transport committee will hold four sessions to consider mounting scientific evidence on the health and
  
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• Chemists at FAU develop a method for utilising nitrogen oxides

  20-03-2017 15:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Chemists at FAU have developed a process in which nitrogen oxides generated during industrial processes can be used in the manufacture of colourants and medicines. Using the method, businesses will in future be able to combine the decontamination of exhaust fumes with the production of new substances.Nitrogen oxides are a major environmental pollutant. Nitrogen and oxygen compounds are primarily formed during combustion, for example in automobile engines and coal and gas power plants, but also t
  
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• Green and unpleasant land: UK countryside takes sinister twist in new exhibition

  20-03-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Warwickshire gallery explores how artistic, social and political forces have shaped Britain’s relationship with rural landscapeImages of a green and pleasant land with a sinister undertone – where lambs gambol but a corpse might lie under a nearby hedge – feature in an exhibition examining Britain’s relationship with the countryside.The show at Compton Verney gallery in Warwickshire sets the scene with a small 1645 sketch by Claude Lorrain of a beautiful vista, charming r
  
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• Hydrogen fuel boost for Britain as MPs gear up for 'unprecedented' scrutiny of air quality policy

  20-03-2017 14:31
  
  The UK Government has set up a new £23m fund to boost the uptake of hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure, while MPs have today (20 March) joined forces to launch an "unprecedented" four-pronged investigation into the UK's approach on air quality.
  
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• Virtual reality could spot concussion in footballers

  20-03-2017 14:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New technology which could be used by club doctors is being trialled, a BBC investigation finds.
  
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• Most voters in Peter Dutton's electorate oppose subsidising Adani coalmine, poll says

  20-03-2017 14:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Poll says immigration minister would lose election if held today and shows voters’ preference for renewable energyMost voters in Peter Dutton’s electorate oppose taxpayer subsidies for the Adani coalmine and more would prefer the government to fund renewable energy rather than coal-fired power plants, a poll has found.The ReachTel poll of Dickson, commissioned by the Australia Institute, found that, even among Liberal National party voters, more opposed spending taxpayer funds on new
  
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• 'Time for a step-change': Research finds slow corporate progress on SDGs

  20-03-2017 12:40
  
  Sustainability experts believe progress towards each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) has been slow, especially in the private sector, according to new research.
  
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• Emergency services struggling with ULEZ compliance

  20-03-2017 12:33
  
  London's police, fire brigade and ambulance services will fail to meet earlier deadlines to comply with proposed Ultra Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ), as financial pressures hinder the uptake of low-emission vehicles in fleets.
  
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• Thousands join UK legal case against VW over emissions scandal

  20-03-2017 11:27 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 35,000 motorists taking part in class action lawsuit seeking compensation for use of ‘defeat device’ on cars
  More than 35,000 motorists have joined a class action lawsuit against VW in England and Wales over the emissions scandal.The size of the group is increasing at the rate of 500 drivers a day and lawyers are confident the legal action will eventually involve about 100,000 owners of VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat cars. Continue reading...
  
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• UN asks UK to suspend work on Hinkley Point

  20-03-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Move likely to embarrass British government as UN agency says lack of talks with Europe means it should refrain from further workA United Nations committee has asked the UK to suspend work on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset because of the government’s failure to consult with European countries over the project.The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said last year that the UK had failed to meet its obligations to discuss the possible impact of an inc
  
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• 19 House Republicans call on their party to do something about climate change | Dana Nuccitelli

  20-03-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With the Republican Climate Resolution, Climate Solutions Caucus, and Climate Leadership Council, Republicans are trying to end their party’s climate denial
  While the Trump administration is veering sharply toward climate science denial, 19 House Republicans have taken steps to pull the party in the direction of reality, and the need to combat the threats posed by human-caused climate change. Continue reading...
  
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• Torrey Canyon oil spill 1967 - in pictures

  20-03-2017 10:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Fifty years ago, the supertanker Torrey Canyon ran aground between Land’s End and the Isles of Scilly, spilling more than 100,000 tonnes of crude oil into the Channel. The Observer photographer Jane Bown was sent to cover the cleanup operation across Cornwall’s beaches. These images are a small selection of the 270 photographs she took there, now housed in the GNM Archive.Torrey Canyon disaster – the UK’s worst-ever oil spill 50 years on Continue reading...
  
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• Stephen Hawking: I may not be welcome in Trump’s America – video

  20-03-2017 09:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Stephen Hawking says he fears he may not be welcome in the United States since the election of Donald Trump as president. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, the eminent physicist says a hard Brexit would leave the UK isolated and inward–lookingStephen Hawking: I fear I may not be welcome in Donald Trump’s US
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• Stephen Hawking fears he may not be welcome in Trump’s US – video

  20-03-2017 09:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Stephen Hawking says he fears he may not be welcome in the United States under the Trump administration. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, the eminent physicist expressed his concern about Trump’s climate change policy, adding that Scott Pruitt – the head of Environmental Protection Agency, and climate change skeptic – should be replacedStephen Hawking: I fear I may not be welcome in Donald Trump’s US
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• Utopian thinking: to ‘take back control’ of England, we must find out who owns it | Guy Shrubsole

  20-03-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Secrecy surrounds much of the country’s land ownership. It’s time for the Land Registry database to be completed and opened up to all“The ownership of land,” wrote the 19th-century radical economist Henry George, “is the great fundamental fact which ultimately determines the social, the political and … the moral condition of a people.” Related: The Land Registry is the guardian of our most basic national resource | Peter HetheringtonContinue reading...
  
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• My village didn't even have a traffic light. Now it has 1.4 million people

  20-03-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When author Xiaolu Guo was a child in the 1980s, her village was a remote farming settlement. Now, like hundreds of others across China, it has become a metropolis with four-lane roads, a cancer epidemic … and even a new languageThe other China week: what it is and how you can be involvedExplore our special investigative series hereI grew up in a semi-tropical southern village, and that village grew up with me. We both underwent huge changes. I went from being a skinny, snot-nosed, lonely
  
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• Katter’s Australian party push to legalise crocodile hunting after Queensland attacks

  20-03-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Party to draft laws allowing a controlled cull of protected reptiles, including Indigenous-run safari hunts, after two suspected attacks in state’s far northTwo suspected crocodile attacks in the same north Queensland area within a day have prompted a bid by Katter’s Australian party to legalise hunting of the protected predators.Wildlife officers and police believe Warren Hughes, 35, may have been killed by a 4m-plus crocodile that later “charged” a police boat searching
  
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• Sea level rise: Miami and Atlantic city fight to stay above water – video

  20-03-2017 08:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Sea levels are rising. For many cities on the the eastern shores of the United States, the problem is existential. We take a look at how Miami and Atlantic City are tackling climate change, and the challenges they face under a skeptical Trump administration that plans to cut funding for environmental programs Continue reading...
  
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• New roads in England create more traffic, rural campaigners claim

  20-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaign to Protect Rural England calls for halt to expansion in roadbuilding after study shows traffic actually increased faster in areas with new roads New roads built in England have almost all failed to either relieve congestion or boost local economies, according to what campaigners claim is the biggest ever independent review of completed schemes.A study of 86 road schemes commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) found most roads increased traffic while destroying the c
  
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• Atlantic City and Miami Beach: two takes on tackling the rising waters

  20-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Sea level rise is making floods more common and as the New Jersey resort braces for the next Sandy, the well-heeled Florida city is throwing money at the problemThe Irish Pub near Atlantic City’s famed boardwalk doesn’t have any locks on the doors as it is open 24 hours a day. So when Hurricane Sandy crunched into what was once known as the Las Vegas of the east coast in 2012, some improvisation was needed.
  Regular drinkers helped slot a cork board through the frame of the door, wedg
  
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• British tampons and nappies set to fuel power stations

  20-03-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  New scheme aims to tackle one the UK’s trickiest disposal issues by turning thousands of tonnes of hygiene products into burnable balesOne of the UK’s trickiest waste problems is being tackled by turning the undesirable into the combustible – tampons and incontinence pads are being converted into dry, burnable bales. The new initiative, from a major waste company, compresses the waste into fuel for power stations.Huge volumes of what are known in the trade as “absorbent h
  
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• Inside story of a thatched roof

  20-03-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Hope Cove, Devon I need to go into the attic to check the timbers – an awkward job, but a chance to get out of the windAn experienced thatcher told me early on in my apprenticeship: “You’ll learn to hate the wind more than anything.” And after five years of working on Devon roofs I’m inclined to agree with him: rain is our more obvious enemy, but rain doesn’t blow the wheat out of your hand or bowl you sideways off your ladder.On really windy days like this on
  
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• Sperm swimming technique 'all down to simple maths'

  20-03-2017 03:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Knowing why some sperm succeed and others fail could help treat male infertility, researchers say.
  
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• Crocodile attack suspected as body found in search for Queensland spearfisher

  20-03-2017 01:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Body believed to be that of 35-year-old Cairns man who disappeared on Saturday in far north Queensland Rescue crews searching for a Cairns man who went missing while spearfishing alone in far north Queensland have a found a body.Initial investigations suggest the man may have been taken by a crocodile, police said. Continue reading...
  
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• Secret of a sperm's success

  20-03-2017 01:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How a sperm manages to reach the fallopian tubes is clear at last, scientists say.
  
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• Historic England unveils £6m plan to bring towns and buildings back to life

  20-03-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Storm-damaged Abbleby in Cumbria, Kent seaside and listed buildings in industrial heartlands to benefit from heritage restoration projectA Cumbrian town battered by floods and a once-thriving seaside destination in Kent are among the areas to be “brought back to life” in a £6m restoration project by Historic England. Continue reading...
  
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• Elon Musk, meet Port Augusta: four renewable energy projects ready to go

  20-03-2017 00:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Pumped hydro, big battery, solar thermal and solar PV and storage projects are already planned for South Australia’s power network When it comes to South Australia’s radical plans for energy storage to support its power network, all roads lead to Port Augusta – or all transmission lines, that is.Proponents of projects that include energy storage have converged on this small outback city perched on the top of the Spencer Gulf – but why here and why now? Continue reading...
  
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