Environment news

• Sam Clovis: Trump's pick for top science job called progressives 'race traitors'

  02-08-2017 22:39 via theguardian.com
  Donald Trump’s nominee to be the department of agriculture’s lead scientist used to run a blog that also likened Obama to a ‘communist’ and ‘dictator’Sam Clovis, who has been nominated by Donald Trump to be the department of agriculture’s top scientist, previously ran a blog where he called progressives “race traders” and likened former president Barack Obama to a “communist” and a “dictator”.Clovis, previously a colle
  
  Read more

• Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' is the largest ever measured

  02-08-2017 21:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists have determined this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life, is 8,776 square miles, an area about the size of New Jersey. It is the largest measured since dead zone mapping began there in 1985.The measured size is close to the 8,185 square miles forecast by NOAA in June. 
  
  Read more

• Climate change could put rare bat species at greater risk

  02-08-2017 20:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  An endangered bat species with a UK population of less than 1,000 could be further threatened by the effects of global warming, according to a new study led by the University of Southampton.
  
  Read more

• NASA Look at Tropical Storm Nalgae in Infrared Light

  02-08-2017 20:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Nalgae and gathered temperature data to determine the location of the most powerful storms. 
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Warming to boost deadly humidity levels across South Asia

  02-08-2017 20:01 via bbc.co.uk
  By 2100, millions of people could face a lethal threat from heat and humidity driven by global warming.
  
  Read more

• Climate change to cause humid heatwaves that will kill even healthy people

  02-08-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  If warming is not tackled, levels of humid heat that can kill within hours will affect millions across south Asia within decades, analysis findsExtreme heatwaves that kill even healthy people within hours will strike parts of the Indian subcontinent unless global carbon emissions are cut sharply and soon, according to new research.
  Even outside of these hotspots, three-quarters of the 1.7bn population – particularly those farming in the Ganges and Indus valleys – will be exposed to a
  
  Read more

• Pollination threatened by artificial light

  02-08-2017 19:10 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers have discovered a new global threat to pollination - artificial light at night.
  
  Read more

• Human embryos edited to stop disease

  02-08-2017 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The technique could prevent deadly diseases being passed down the generations.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Alaska's whale hunters wait for Trump's Arctic oil plan

  02-08-2017 18:06 via bbc.co.uk
  The BBC's Claire Marshall travels more than 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle to meet the Inupiat, who call the ocean their "garden".
  
  Read more

• NASA Keeps an Eye on Typhoon Noru

  02-08-2017 17:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA’s Aqua satellite is keeping track of Typhoon Noru as it continues its slow trek through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.On August 2, 2017 at 12:05 a.m. EDT (0405 UTC) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Typhoon Noru. The MODIS image shows a symmetric band of thunderstorms completely surrounding a well-defined eye feature.
  
  Read more

• Historical wildlife trends reliable for predicting species at risk

  02-08-2017 17:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists at the University of York have shown that using historical wildlife data provides a more accurate measure of how vulnerable certain species might be to extinction from climate change.Some of the methods used to predict at risk species are trend-based – an indicator of what happens gradually over time – while others are trait based, which uses signs of climate change in the current environment.
  
  Read more

• Impact of giant Antarctic iceberg – update on Larsen-C

  02-08-2017 17:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  The largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula lost 10% of its area when an iceberg four times the size of London broke free earlier this month.Since the 12 July 2017 breakaway Dr Anna Hogg, from the University of Leeds, and Dr Hilmar Gudmundsson, from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), have continued to track the iceberg – known as A68 – using the European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite.
  
  Read more

• Australia's shortage of climate scientists puts country at serious risk, report find

  02-08-2017 16:01 via theguardian.com
  Climate science workforce needs to grow by 77 positions over the next four years, according to report prompted by CSIRO redundanciesAustralia has a critical shortage of climate scientists, leaving it at serious risk of not delivering essential climate and weather services to groups like farmers, coastal communities and international organisations, a report has found.
  The report into the nation’s climate science capability by the Australian Academy of Science found the climate science workf
  
  Read more

• Science faculty researchers develop new way to measure fluid-rock interaction in oil reservoir

  02-08-2017 15:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  University of Calgary geoscientists have developed new technology that measures, at an extremely fine scale, the interaction between water and other fluids and rock from an unconventional oil reservoir.Faculty of Science researchers used their micro-injection system coupled with live imaging to precisely measure fluid-rock interaction, called “wettability,” at the microscopic, or micro-scale, for the first time.
  
  Read more

• Chemical reaction - the Centre for Catalysis Research and Innovation

  02-08-2017 15:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Petroleum-derived chemicals are intrinsic to virtually every product in today’s society, from the medicines we take to the agrochemicals that produce our food and the plastics that encase our mobile devices. As pressure mounts to reduce the world’s fossil fuel consumption, developing greener manufacturing processes that use less energy and produce less waste is becoming increasingly urgent.
  
  Read more

• Cheshire East council admits air pollution data was falsified

  02-08-2017 15:09 via theguardian.com
  Council apologises for ‘serious errors’ in air quality readings over three years and says it is reviewing planning applicationsA local authority has admitted its air pollution data was deliberately manipulated for three years to make it look cleaner.Cheshire East council apologised after “serious errors” were made in air quality readings from 2012 to 2014.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Caterpillars turned into 'exploding zombies' by bug

  02-08-2017 14:57 via bbc.co.uk
  Lancashire wildlife expert says infected insects go on "death march" like a "zombie horror film".
  
  Read more

• 'Incredible': night herons breed for first time in UK

  02-08-2017 14:44 via theguardian.com
  Two recently fledged night herons have been seen at Westhay Moor nature reserve, Somerset, which suspects climate change drew their parents northNight herons are among the most mysterious of birds, and for the first time in recorded history they have been spotted breeding in the UK.Long-distance photographs captured the adult pair and one of their two offspring at the Westhay Moor national nature reserve, run by Somerset Wildlife Trust. The young birds have recently fledged, having been born eit
  
  Read more

• Jaws checking: curious shark takes GoPro in mouth – video

  02-08-2017 13:51 via theguardian.com
  Video from Dr Greg Skomal shows the moment a curious white shark took a GoPro camera in its mouth. The fish, seen off the Monomoy national wildlife refuge in Massachusetts on Monday, is believed to have been 12ft (3.6 metres) long. Skomal works for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark ConservancyWatch the video on the AWSC’s social media
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Jaws checking: curious shark puts GoPro in mouth – video

  02-08-2017 13:51 via theguardian.com
  Video from Dr Greg Skomal shows the moment a curious white shark took a GoPro camera in its mouth. The fish, seen off the Monomoy national wildlife refuge in Massachusetts on Monday, is believed to have been 12ft (3.6 metres) long. Skomal works for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark ConservancyWatch the video on the AWSC’s social media
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Ralph Steadman's critters on the edge of extinction – in pictures

  02-08-2017 13:49 via theguardian.com
  Animals across the globe are struggling to survive the perils of the Anthropocene era. Writer and environmental campaigner Ceri Levy introduces the much-loved artist’s portraits of these embattled beastsBuy Critical Critters at the Guardian BookshopAn exhibition of Ralph Steadman’s signed prints from the book will run at the Goldmark Gallery from 2 SeptemberRalph Steadman, Ceri Levy and poems about climate change – books podcastContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Trophy hunting is vile. Stan Kroenke’s TV channel must be banned | Chas Newkey-Burden

  02-08-2017 11:02 via theguardian.com
  The Arsenal owner’s launch of My Outdoor TV channel has sickened the public – but he won’t care. Only legislation can deal with it and the blood sports it depictsAs an antelope strides majestically through long grass at dusk, a hunter spots it. She lifts her bow, fires an arrow and watches triumphantly as the animal dies a slow and painful death. A man shoots a magnificent lion and says it “felt good”. Another slaughters an endangered elephant and beams: “ther
  
  Read more

• Green space v social housing: the fight for the future of London's oldest allotments

  02-08-2017 09:31 via theguardian.com
  A charity’s plans to build social housing threaten allotments established in 1832 for the working poor of Ealing. While most London development stories divide along simple lines of villain and victim, the Northfields case is more complicated Once you pass the aged hedgerow that protects the old Ealing Dean allotments from the busy Northfields Avenue in suburban west London, you are rewarded with a vision as beguiling as it is unexpected. Here is nature in all its forms, from tidy rows of n
  
  Read more

• Lessons for Brexit negotiations from 60 years of Britain and Euratom

  02-08-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The miscalculation politicians have always made in negotiating European treaties is that we’ll be welcomed with open arms. Time for a history lessonUntil recently, few of us were familiar with the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), the international organisation that governs many aspects of nuclear energy activity in member states. Brexit, and the rapidly retracted “leak” that Britain may seek “associate membership” of Euratom has suddenly brought Euratom t
  
  Read more

• McArthur basin fracking emissions would dwarf Carmichael's, says researcher

  02-08-2017 08:36 via theguardian.com
  Researcher says emissions from fracking in the basin could be ‘far bigger than everything you’d get’ from the proposed Queensland mineFracking the McArthur basin could release four to five times as much greenhouse gas emissions as the proposed Adani Carmichael mine, a leading researcher has said.
  Tim Forcey, a chemical engineer with 30 years experience in the petrochemicals industry, appeared before a Northern Territory inquiry on Wednesday, also giving evidence that a gas shor
  
  Read more

• What happened next to the giant Larsen C iceberg?

  02-08-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Scientists have revealed exactly how the trillion-tonne A68 iceberg broke free of the Antarctic ice shelf last month – and say it has spawned smaller icebergsThe fate of the giant iceberg that broke free from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf last month has been revealed.Twice the size of Luxembourg, the trillion-tonne iceberg known as A68 was found to have broken off the ice shelf on 12 July after months of speculation about a rift which had been growing for years, with the iceberg &l
  
  Read more

• Italian Dolomites bank on 'bike only' days to boost cyclotourism

  02-08-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Ski resort of Alta Badia enters the craze for cycling sportives allowing amateurs to experience closed-roads settingsA ski resort in Italy is experimenting with closing sections of its mountain roads in an effort to become a mecca for road cyclists during the summer season.Alta Badia in the Italian Dolomites has hosted three “bike only” days this summer to boost its cyclo-tourism credentials and capitalise on the trend for closed-roads sportives. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Dancing demoiselles rise from their watery world

  02-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Attingham, Shropshire Over centuries people have watched with wonder these almost unreal, too bright, too quick insectsThe banded demoiselles are dancing like laser lights over the river Tern. There is something CGI about these creatures: too bright, too quick, too beautiful to be real. The banded demoiselle is large for a damselfly, small for a dragonfly; a 40mm long emerald-cobalt pin with gauzy wings marked with the indigo fingerprints of when they were plucked from the water, or so it seems.
  
  Read more

• Speed hump cuts 'daft', safety groups say

  02-08-2017 01:51 via bbc.co.uk
  The risk of accidents from speeding outweighs the air pollution risk, ministers told.
  
  Read more

• US space pioneers' hair-raising test flights

  02-08-2017 01:16 via bbc.co.uk
  "We didn’t understand all of the physics that were going to occur during these tests."
  
  Read more

• Not just stars

  02-08-2017 01:07 via bbc.co.uk
  The shortlisted images in this year's Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year have now been selected.
  
  Read more

• Climate Change Linked to Rising Suicide Rates in India, Study Finds

  02-08-2017 00:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study links rising temperatures and subsequent crop failures to more than 59,000 suicides in India over the past 30 years.  The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed 47 years of suicide records from India’s National Crime Records Bureau, as well as data on temperature, climate, and crop yields. It found that on days above 68 degrees Fahrenheit, a 1.8 degrees rise in temperature caused an average of 70 suicides. This correlati
  
  Read more

• Wildfires Continue to Beleaguer Western Canada

  02-08-2017 00:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  Like tourist season, wildfire season is also in full swing in British Columbia.  Whereas tourists are welcomed to the Canadian province, wildfires are not.  In British Columbia alone there are close to 500 wildfires active to date.  Most of these wildfires are located in three general areas--in the Caribou Fire Centre located in the Frasier Plateau directly north of Vancouver, in the Kamloops Fire Centre in the Thomas Plateau, which is east of Whistler, and the Southeast Fire Cent
  
  Read more

• NASA Catches Formation of Tropical Depression 13W

  02-08-2017 00:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  The thirteenth tropical cyclone of the northwestern Pacific Ocean typhoon season has formed and NASA's Terra satellite obtained a visible-light image of the storm revealing that it's already battling wind shear.
  
  Read more

• New NOAA Fisheries Research Reveals Ecosystem Cascades Affecting Salmon

  02-08-2017 00:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Interpreting relationships between species and their environments is crucial to inform ecosystem-based management (EBM), a priority for NOAA Fisheries. EBM recognizes the diverse interactions within an ecosystem — including human impacts — so NOAA Fisheries can consider resource tradeoffs that help protect and sustain productive ecosystems and the services they provide.
  
  Read more

• Climate scientists create Caribbean drought atlas

  02-08-2017 00:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cornell atmospheric scientists have developed the first-of-its-kind, high-resolution Caribbean drought atlas, with data going back to 1950. Concurrently, the researchers confirmed the region’s 2013-16 drought was the most severe in 66 years due to consistently higher temperatures – a hint that climate change is to blame.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!