Environment news

• Deforestation linked to palm oil production is making Indonesia warmer

  25-10-2017 23:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the past decades, large areas of forest in Sumatra, Indonesia have been replaced by cash crops like oil palm and rubber plantations. New research, published in the European Geosciences Union journal Biogeosciences, shows that these changes in land use increase temperatures in the region. The added warming could affect plants and animals and make parts of the country more vulnerable to wildfires.
  
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• Scavenging to survive below the seafloor

  25-10-2017 20:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Microorganisms living in the sediments buried below the seafloor obtain their nutrients by using secreted enzymes to degrade adsorbed detritus. A new study shows that in order to survive for long time scales, microorganisms eat one another after they die.
  
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• Do I dare to listen to the great country diarist? | Brief letters

  25-10-2017 20:17 via theguardian.com
  Pubs that serve beer perfectly | Rocky quote | Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman | Paul Evans on radio | Shrewd shrews | Ironmonger becomes nail barI really shouldn’t be revealing this to you, Brian Simpson (Letters, 25 October), but we have a valley just brimming over with pubs that store and serve beer and ale perfectly. The multi-award-winning Old Cock in Otley has to be top of anyone’s must-visit list. Real ales, real ciders, real people, real conversations, an
  
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• 'Scars' Left by Icebergs Record West Antarctic Ice Retreat

  25-10-2017 20:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Thousands of marks on the Antarctic seafloor, caused by icebergs which broke free from glaciers more than ten thousand years ago, show how part of the Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated rapidly at the end of the last ice age as it balanced precariously on sloping ground and became unstable. Today, as the global climate continues to warm, rapid and sustained retreat may be close to happening again, and could trigger runaway ice retreat into the interior of the continent, which in turn would cause sea
  
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• Ichthyosaur fossil discovered for first time in India

  25-10-2017 19:38 via bbc.co.uk
  The fossil, which is 152 million years old, is the first ichthyosaur found in India.
  
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• NASA Finds Heavy Rain, Wind Shear and Towering Clouds in Tropical Storm Saola

  25-10-2017 19:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA satellites have provided various views of Tropical Storm Saola as it tracks toward Japan in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The GPM and Suomi NPP satellites found heavy rainfall, towering thunderstorms and a tropical cyclone still being affected by vertical wind shear.
  
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• Energy cost review: Dieter Helm's study calls for radical changes to Britain's energy policy

  25-10-2017 19:26
  The costs of energy for UK businesses are higher than necessary and policymakers must streamline clean energy regulations in order to deliver cheaper, decarbonised power, a major Government-backed study has concluded.
  
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• Sussex Physicists Have Breakthrough on Brittle Smartphone Screens

  25-10-2017 19:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists at the University of Sussex may have found a solution to the long-standing problem of brittle smartphone screens.
  
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• Why thousands of Bittell Reservoir fish are moving home

  25-10-2017 19:07 via bbc.co.uk
  Hundreds of thousands of fish are being taken out of one of the Midlands' largest reservoirs.
  
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• 'Incredible' editing of life's building blocks

  25-10-2017 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The studies could lead to new treatments for inherited diseases.
  
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• Discovery Lights Path for Alzheimer's Research

  25-10-2017 19:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  A probe invented at Rice University that lights up when it binds to a misfolded amyloid beta peptide — the kind suspected of causing Alzheimer’s disease — has identified a specific binding site on the protein that could facilitate better drugs to treat the disease.
  
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• New Fractal-Like Concentrating Solar Power Receivers Are Better at Absorbing Sunlight

  25-10-2017 18:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Sandia National Laboratories engineers have developed new fractal-like, concentrating solar power receivers for small- to medium-scale use that are up to 20 percent more effective at absorbing sunlight than current technology.
  
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• Living Close to Green Spaces is Associated with Better Attention in Children

  25-10-2017 18:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  How do green spaces affect cognitive development in children? A new study from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institute supported by “la Caixa” Foundation, concludes that children with more greenness around their homes may develop better attention capacities. 
  
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• Climate Change Could Decrease Sun's Ability to Disinfect Lakes, Coastal Waters

  25-10-2017 18:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  One of the largely unanticipated impacts of a changing climate may be a decline in sunlight's ability to disinfect lakes, rivers, and coastal waters, possibly leading to an increase in waterborne pathogens and the diseases they can cause in humans and wildlife.
  
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• MIT students fortify concrete by adding recycled plastic

  25-10-2017 17:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  Discarded plastic bottles could one day be used to build stronger, more flexible concrete structures, from sidewalks and street barriers, to buildings and bridges, according to a new study.
  
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• Viking trade in red squirrels may have spread leprosy

  25-10-2017 16:13 via bbc.co.uk
  Leprosy found in red squirrels is also found in pre-Norman bones in Suffolk and Scandinavia.
  
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• Prince Charles: Companies chased away from Amazonian rainforests now destroying plains

  25-10-2017 15:46 via theguardian.com
  The Prince of Wales is encouraging companies to sign up to the Cerrado manifesto, which aims to protect globally important natural landscapesThe loss of rainforest in the Amazon has been a familiar cause for activism for more than 30 years, but the partial success of efforts to protect it is moving the spotlight to a new landscape: Brazil’s cerrado.Environmentalists fear that measures to reduce the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest for commodities such as soy and beef have pushed some
  
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• Stream, Smoult and Eddie: trio of orphaned otters return to the wild

  25-10-2017 15:25 via theguardian.com
  Rescued cubs had spent nine months in care at National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fishcross, ClackmannanshireThree orphaned otters have been released into the wild after more than nine months in care.Stream, Smoult and Eddie were taken to the National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fishcross, Clackmannanshire, when they were cubs aged between eight and 10 weeks old. Continue reading...
  
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• The fungus among us

  25-10-2017 15:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The current methods of restoring these sites are not as cost efficient or energy efficient as they could be, and can cause more environmental disruption,” said Susan Kaminskyj, a professor in the Department of Biology. “Our biotech innovation should help to solve this type of problem faster and with less additional disturbance.”Kaminskyj led a research team that included three biology students and a post-doctoral fellow in the U of S College of Arts and Science. Results
  
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• A gaggle of geese and fire breathing police recruits: Wednesday's best photos

  25-10-2017 14:51 via theguardian.com
  The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world including eerily lit Benedictine abbeys in Whitby, world championship surfing in Portugal and performers up lamp posts in Sydney Continue reading...
  
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• Electric cars emit 50% less greenhouse gas than diesel, study finds

  25-10-2017 14:12 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: researchers calculated the total lifecycle emissions of an electric car, including its manufacture, battery manufacture, and all of its energy consumption Electric cars emit significantly less greenhouse gases over their lifetimes than diesel engines even when they are powered by the most carbon intensive energy, a new report has found.In Poland, which uses high volumes of coal, electric vehicles produced a quarter less emissions than diesels when put through a full lifecycle modellin
  
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• Sustainability Leaders Awards 2018 shortlist revealed!

  25-10-2017 13:53
  After a record-breaking number of entries, the judging panel has met, the decisions have been made and edie is proud to reveal the finalists for the 2018 Sustainability Leaders Awards.
  
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• Ecover unveils bottle made with 50% ocean plastic

  25-10-2017 13:46
  Ecover has launched a limited-edition washing-up liquid bottle made from 50% ocean plastic, as the cleaning products firm outlines a vision to use 100% recycled plastic in all bottles by 2020.
  
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• Protecting forest dwellers goes hand in hand with protecting forests, Whitehall told

  25-10-2017 12:36 via theguardian.com
  Indigenous community leaders are urging the UK government to do more to protect the forest dwellers who defend rainforests from illegal loggersActivists have marched through Whitehall to urge the UK government to give more support to environmental defenders who risk their lives protecting rainforests, rivers and the climate.The demonstration on Tuesday was led by indigenous leader Candido Mezúa, who bore a banner reading “Guardians of the Forest: end the devastation of the forest an
  
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• Big companies' climate change targets are 'unambitious', say analysts

  25-10-2017 12:06 via theguardian.com
  While almost all companies have plans in place to reduce carbon emissions, those plans don’t go far enough, according to the Carbon Disclosure ProjectNearly nine out of 10 of the world’s biggest companies have plans in place to reduce carbon emissions, new research has found, but only a fifth of them are doing so for 2030 and beyond.The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) also found that only 14% of its sample of 1,073 large companies around the world had “science-based targets&rdq
  
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• What does a sexist google engineer teach us about women in science? | John Abraham

  25-10-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The Google engineer’s infamous sexist manifesto is contradicted by the brilliance of women in science.
  What does a sexist Google engineer teach us about women in science?Nothing. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Perverse' onshore wind policy could cost UK £1bn

  25-10-2017 11:51
  The Government's "outdated" policy on onshore wind could cost the UK around £1bn over the next four or five years, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
  
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• Exclusive business guide to building and energy management systems (BEMS)

  25-10-2017 11:51
  In the latest in our edie Explains series, we look at building and energy management systems (BEMS), exploring what they are, what they do and what the business benefit is.
  
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• Wildlife colonises man-made rockpools

  25-10-2017 11:40 via bbc.co.uk
  Aberystwyth University scientists work to make manmade sea defences a better home for Nature.
  
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• Waterworld

  25-10-2017 11:30 via bbc.co.uk
  An exec producer of Blue Planet II reveals why not all of the series was filmed in the wild.
  
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• Severn Trent looks towards smart energy future with demand response service

  25-10-2017 10:15
  Water firm Severn Trent and clean tech company Open Energi have teamed up to deliver a demand response service which could provide the grid with more than 20MW of flexible capacity by 2020.
  
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• What we can learn from the man who swam five miles with a tiger shark | Philip Hoare

  25-10-2017 09:59 via theguardian.com
  John Craig is just the latest person to have a terrifying encounter with a dangerous shark, only to emerge with a sense of respect and aweThe recent experience of British diver John Craig in the waters off Western Australia captures one of our worst nightmares. The dark shape looming beneath the water, getting closer. In Craig’s case, it was fear embodied in the massive 4-metre shape of a tiger shark – after the great white, the shark most notorious for attacks on humans. Yet in his
  
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• AFP won't hand over seized documents until at least Friday – as it happened

  25-10-2017 09:51 via theguardian.com
  The opposition calls AFP raids on the Australian Workers’ Union ‘an abuse of power’ and claims Michaelia Cash is responsible for the ‘witch-hunt’ . Follow the day’s events live 8.51am BSTAnd it is on that note that we leave you.What. A. Day. 8.31am BSTThe estimates hearing is devolving into chaos.“You’ll do anything to hide this, won’t you?” Murray Watt calls out. Continue reading...
  
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• Aldi joins World Banana Forum to strengthen supply chain

  25-10-2017 09:42
  Aldi UK and Ireland has backed its commitment to sourcing 100% sustainable bananas by joining a global forum that promotes fair working conditions and environmental standards for banana production.
  
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• Could Tesla's world-first hybrid energy project modernise electricity grids?

  25-10-2017 09:15
  Following the deal to develop a world-first renewable energy project that combines wind, solar and battery storage in Australia, automaker and energy disruptor Tesla has been invited to showcase the "power and scalability" of its products in hurricane-hit Puerto Rico.
  
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• AFP won't hand over seized documents until at least Friday – politics live

  25-10-2017 08:33 via theguardian.com
  The opposition calls AFP raids on the Australian Workers’ Union ‘an abuse of power’ and claims Michaelia Cash is responsible for the ‘witch-hunt’ . Follow the day’s events live 7.28am BSTEveryone is waiting on the Registered Organisations Commission to front the employment estimates. They were scheduled to appear at 4.50pm, but it looks like the government is fillibustering. 7.25am BSTWe haven’t spent a lot of time in the House today, outside question ti
  
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• What will become of food and farming? Brexit Means … podcast

  25-10-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We ask how farming and food production industry will be affected by UK’s departure from European UnionSubscribe on iTunes, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Soundcloud and Acast and join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and emailAlmost every aspect of our food, and the industry that produces processes and sells it, is likely to be affected by the UK’s departure from the EU – yet experts say the government has barely even begun to plan for it. Continue reading...
  
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• Pollutants from fracking could pose health risk to children, warn researchers

  25-10-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Analysis of US fracking sites suggests pollutants including airborne particulates and heavy metals could affect neurodevelopment of babies and childrenPollutants released during fracking processes could pose a health risk to infants and children, according to researchers studying chemicals involved in shale gas operations.The extraction of shale gas using pressurised fluid – a process known as fracking – has been used commercially since the 1950s and in recent years has fuelled an en
  
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• 'We will be toasted, roasted and grilled': IMF chief sounds climate change warning

  25-10-2017 07:12 via theguardian.com
  Christine Lagarde warns of ‘dark future’ if the world fails to take steps to address global warmingThe world will be in deep trouble if it fails to tackle climate change and inequality, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has warned.
  “If we don’t address these issues... we will be moving to a dark future” in 50 years, she told a major economic conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday. Continue reading...
  
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• What is Australia's best-loved bird? Guardian readers respond

  25-10-2017 07:07 via theguardian.com
  Cockatoos emerge unsurprising favourites from our avian callout but some less likely contenders get the thumbs-up tooAfter New Zealand voted the kea its favourite bird, we asked Guardian readers which Australian bird they love most – and least. With more than 800 species to choose from, we tapped into a wide range of opinion on the subject.One thing is obvious from the comment thread: there’s a lot of avian love out there, and some found it hard to choose a No 1. As our own First Dog
  
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• Federal court hears AWU challenge to AFP raids – politics live

  25-10-2017 06:38 via theguardian.com
  The opposition calls AFP raids on the Australian Workers’ Union ‘an abuse of power’ and claims Michaelia Cash is responsible for the ‘witch-hunt’ . Follow the day’s events live 5.38am BSTI wanted a little bit of space in between the mess of question time and the condolences that both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten offered Linda Burney and her family ahead of the official opening of questions.The prime minister: This morning, I spoke with the member for Bart
  
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• Country diary: fog and fireweed, the seeds of a ghost story

  25-10-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Arrested in a kind of limbo, the plumes of rosebay willowherb had yet to liberate themselves and venture into the wide worldRosebay willowherb seedpods cracked ajar like fans of white feathers. Exhausted after the carmine blaze of summer, the Chamaenerion angustifolium plants were dry, rusty and derelict. Their long thin seedpods had split into four strands, stretching open to reveal a mass of pappus – silky plumes attached to hundreds of tiny spilling seeds per po
  
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• Australia-New Zealand divisions exposed as Ardern takes tougher stance

  25-10-2017 05:10 via theguardian.com
  The new Labour-led government is ready to take on its bigger and brasher neighbour over immigration and educationAs the New Zealand coalition government begins to take the reins, there are questions arising about how the generally close relationship with Australia will be affected after 10 years of relative stability between the two nations.
  Jacinda Ardern, due to be sworn in as prime minister on Thursday, said visiting Australia “as soon as possible” would be a priority for her, aft
  
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• BBC wrong to not challenge climate sceptic Lord Lawson

  25-10-2017 05:00 via bbc.co.uk
  An interview with Lord Lawson should have been challenged, the corporation's complaints unit says.
  
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• How science transformed the world in 100 years

  25-10-2017 02:28 via bbc.co.uk
  We need to be more concerned than ever about how society uses scientific discoveries, says Venki Ramakrishnan.
  
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• A new era

  25-10-2017 02:28 via bbc.co.uk
  We need to be more concerned than ever about how society uses scientific discoveries, says Venki Ramakrishnan.
  
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• Drones are being used to protect elephants and rhinos from poachers.

  25-10-2017 01:44 via bbc.co.uk
  In parts of southern Africa drones are being used to protect elephants and rhinos from poachers
  
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• Heathrow third runway consultation reopened after new evidence

  25-10-2017 01:04 via theguardian.com
  Transport department publishes new noise analysis and air quality plan, with public consultation now open until 19 DecemberThe public consultation on the planned third runway at Heathrow has been reopened due to new evidence. The Department for Transport published a series of fresh reports into the impact of expanding the west London hub, including updated noise analysis and a new air quality plan.Continue reading...
  
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• Shorten accuses Coalition of using federal police to do 'political dirty work' – politics live

  25-10-2017 00:46 via theguardian.com
  Labor calls Australian Workers’ Union raids ‘an abuse of power’ as the AWU vows to go to court to take back documents seized in the AFP raids. Follow the day’s events live 11.42pm BSTLabor MP Matt Thistlethwaite (a name, as someone who has a lisp, that will haunt me in my sleep) has also had a few things to say this morning, and he brought a prop:This is the statement of claim that’s been filed against the Commonwealth Bank by Austrac, 53,000 alleged breaches of Aus
  
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