Environment news

• NUS Researchers Pioneer Water-Based, Eco-Friendly and Energy-Saving Air-Conditioner

  08-01-2018 22:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has pioneered a new water-based air-conditioning system that cools air to as low as 18 degrees Celsius without the use of energy-intensive compressors and environmentally harmful chemical refrigerants. This game-changing technology could potentially replace the century-old air-cooling principle that is still being used in our modern-day air-conditioners. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, the novel system is portab
  
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• US Rivers and Streams are Compromised by Increasing Salt Loads

  08-01-2018 21:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Human activities are exposing US rivers and streams to a cocktail of salts, with consequences for infrastructure and drinking water supplies. So reports a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that is the first to assess the combined, long-term changes in freshwater salinity and alkalization across the country.
  
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• Noise Pollution Causes Chronic Stress in Birds, with Health Consequences for Young

  08-01-2018 21:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Birds exposed to the persistent noise of natural gas compressors show symptoms remarkably similar to those in humans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, new research shows.
  
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• El Nino's long reach to Antarctic ice

  08-01-2018 21:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists show how the floating fronts of Antarctic glaciers respond to events in the tropical Pacific.
  
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• $306bn in one year: US bill for natural disasters smashes record

  08-01-2018 21:09 via theguardian.com
  Major hurricanes, wildfires, drought and tornadoes have led to highest ever damage costs, as expert says extremes have ‘climate change fingerprints on them’
  With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306bn, according to a new government report released on Monday.The US had 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the National Oceanic and Atmospher
  
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• Most expensive year on record for US natural disasters

  08-01-2018 19:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Fires, hurricanes and other weather and climate disasters last year cost the US around $306bn in losses.
  
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• Rhinoceros DNA database successful in aiding poaching prosecutions

  08-01-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Statistical study shows how powerful RhODIS database is in linking forensic evidence to particular animals, say researchersA large database of rhinoceros DNA is successfully being used to prosecute poachers and those trading rhino horns, new research has revealed.While numbers of the southern white rhino – the only wild subspecies of white rhino in Africa – have grown to about 20,000, fewer than 5,500 black rhinos are thought to exist in the wild, and both species are affected by poa
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: rising temperatures turning green sea turtles female

  08-01-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘Complete feminisation’ of northern population is possible in near future, researchers find Rising temperatures are turning almost all green sea turtles in a Great Barrier Reef population female, new research has found.The scientific paper warned the skewed ratio could threaten the population’s future. Continue reading...
  
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• A biological solution to carbon capture and recycling?

  08-01-2018 17:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists at the University of Dundee have discovered that E. coli bacteria could hold the key to an efficient method of capturing and storing or recycling carbon dioxide.Cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to slow down and even reverse global warming has been posited as humankind’s greatest challenge. It is a goal that is subject to considerable political and societal hurdles, but it also remains a technological challenge.
  
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• Will Self-Driving Cars Usher in a Transportation Utopia or Dystopia?

  08-01-2018 17:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  The news sounds almost too good to be true.
  
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• 'More needs to be done' as microbeads ban comes into force

  08-01-2018 17:36
  A ban on the manufacture of certain products containing plastic microbeads has today (9 January) entered into force, although MPs and green groups have reiterated that more action is needed to tackle the global problem of plastic waste.
  
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• UK's largest battery storage portfolio unveiled

  08-01-2018 17:14
  The UK's largest portfolio of utility-scale enhanced frequency response battery storage sites has been completed.
  
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• We’re promised one big Northern Forest – and it’s one great big diversion | Patrick Barkham

  08-01-2018 16:45 via theguardian.com
  When the government is building HS2 and allowing shale gas exploration in Sherwood Forest, one suspects this new idea is designed to distract attention“A culture is no better than its woods,” wrote WH Auden. “Tree planting is not synonymous with conservation,” argued revered ecologist Oliver Rackham. “It is an admission that conservation has failed.” Such wisdom suggests that the announcement by Theresa May of a new Northern Forest shadowing the M62 from Hull
  
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• Is your recycling being incinerated? It’s time to watch our waste | Jenny Jones

  08-01-2018 16:22 via theguardian.com
  China’s ban on our recycling exports has exposed the folly of the current system. A 25p charge on coffee cups would help, but we can do so much moreThe ban on recycled waste going to China is inevitably leading to a UK pile-up. There is every chance that some of the plastics, cardboard and paper that people have taken care to separate will end up being burned with everything that was thrown in the waste bin. Related: China waste clampdown could create UK cardboard recycling chaos, say indu
  
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• Did you hear the story about the 10 obese hedgehogs? It’s a prickly subject | Jules Howard

  08-01-2018 14:42 via theguardian.com
  With stats showing that many dogs and cats are overweight, news of these porky hedgehogs shows how sadly humans are killing with kindnessReader, I have just returned from a voyage down an alt-right rabbit hole. Battered, bloodied and bruised, I resurface with news of obese hedgehogs. Ten of them. From Israel. These are hedgehogs so morbidly obese that they can no longer roll into a ball. They have now been picked up by a wildlife hospital and put on a strict diet before, hopefully, they can be r
  
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• Boots reaches carbon goal three years early

  08-01-2018 13:49
  Following the implementation of behavior change and energy monitoring programmes, Boots UK has surpassed a 30% carbon reduction target three years ahead of schedule.
  
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• Confessions of a Deliveroo rider: get fit by delivering fast food

  08-01-2018 13:28 via theguardian.com
  Carlton Reid picks up burgers and pizzas, but he doesn’t eat them - he delivers them. In just a few months he has lost weight and saved cash for the Giro d’Italia There’s a way to get healthy from fast food: the trick is to deliver it, not eat it. I’m 52, but am now fitter than I was at 22. As a gig-economy food delivery rider I’m getting paid to melt my middle-age spread. I started in November, but have lost 5kg. Although I only do a few evening hours per week, I h
  
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• Puppy dog eyes influence dog choice

  08-01-2018 12:56 via bbc.co.uk
  The frequency a dog raises it's 'inner eyebrow' influences how quickly it finds a new home
  
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• London City Corporation rolls out electric cargo bike service

  08-01-2018 11:58
  Following a successful pilot during the Christmas period, businesses operating within certain Congestion Charge zones will be given access to a cargo bike delivery scheme aimed at curbing toxic air pollution in London.
  
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• Theresa May hints at plastic bottle charge ahead of key environmental speech

  08-01-2018 11:40
  Theresa May has indicated that the Government will introduce a 5p charge on plastic bottles, in the run up to a major speech on Thursday where the PM is expected to outline her long-term vision for the UK's environment.
  
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• Calls for EU to reinstate ban on 'destructive' electric pulse fishing

  08-01-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Campaigners say it causes unnecessary suffering but those in favour of method say it is less damaging than trawling Groups representing small-scale fishing fleets across Europe have called on the European Union to reinstate a ban on fishing using electrical pulses, which they say is a destructive method.However, others have called for the technique to continue, saying it causes less disturbance than methods such as trawling the bottom of the seabed. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: limestone heath is a piece of ecological magic

  08-01-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Goblin Combe, Somerset This is one of those rare habitats where lime-hating and lime-loving plants suck together from the same earth, roots entangled There is no doubt when you are on the carboniferous limestone. Crags jut out as if the rock is struggling to release itself from its turfy skin, shedding broken stones. Sheep’s fescue, rockrose, kidney vetch and many more lime-loving species form the distinctive close-knit grassland. The signature of this rock is written all over the hill.At
  
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