Environment news

• AI conquers challenge of 1980s platform games

  25-02-2021 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A computer program that can solve 1980s exploration games could help improve robot intelligence.
  
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• Atlantic Ocean circulation at weakest in a millennium, say scientists

  25-02-2021 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Decline in system underpinning Gulf Stream could lead to more extreme weather in Europe and higher sea levels on US east coastThe Atlantic Ocean circulation that underpins the Gulf Stream, the weather system that brings warm and mild weather to Europe, is at its weakest in more than a millennium, and climate breakdown is the probable cause, according to new data.Further weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could result in more storms battering the UK, more intense
  
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• 600 business giants form new network on climate resilience and adaptation

  25-02-2021 16:26
  
  Businesses with combined annual revenues of more than $3trn, spanning a range of the global economy's biggest sectors, have formed a new network aimed at helping the private sector work with cities and governments to build climate resilience.
  
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• How 30,000 elephant 'selfies' will help in conservation

  25-02-2021 15:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers are developing new technology to help reduce human-elephant conflicts.
  
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• Cattle stranded at sea 'face immediate slaughter' if ship docks in Spain, says manager

  25-02-2021 13:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Livestock company still hopes to find a buyer for animals on board ship for two months, after rejection by Turkey and LibyaThe manager of a ship that has spent months at sea with hundreds of cattle on board has accused Spanish officials of failing to answer his call for help and of threatening to kill all the livestock if the ship enters port.
  The Karim Allah is one of two vessels that left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver cargoes of young bulls, but were refused entry b
  
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• Petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos – video

  25-02-2021 12:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists on the volcanic Greek island of Lesbos say they have found a rare fossilised tree.Produced by successive volcanic eruptions, its vividly coloured fossilised trunks are witness to the explosions that buried much of Lesbos under lava and ash between 17 and 20 million years ago.Stretching across almost all of the Greek island’s western peninsula, the petrified forest, a Unesco global geopark, is among the largest in the world.‘Unique’ petrified tree up to 20m years old
  
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• UK introduces new mandate on sustainable petrol blends

  25-02-2021 11:56
  
  The UK Government will mandate the introduction and use of a new blend of petrol containing up to 10% sustainable bioethanol from September this year.
  
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• Drax scraps gas plant plans in Yorkshire, following climate concerns

  25-02-2021 11:29
  
  Drax is scrapping plans to build the largest gas plant in Europe, which has faced legal challenges on climate grounds in recent months.
  
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• EU unveils data-driven climate adaptation strategy, drawing green criticism

  25-02-2021 10:40
  
  More and better data is needed to improve knowledge of how to adapt to climate change, according to the European Commission's new adaptation strategy, which immediately came under fire from green activists for missing binding targets.
  
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• Who will clean up the 'billion-dollar mess' of abandoned US oilwells?

  25-02-2021 10:15 via theguardian.com
  
  As oil companies go out of business, they are leaving a legacy of abandoned wells that leak huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphereJill Morrison has seen how the bust of oil and gas production can permanently scar a landscape.Near her land in north-east Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, where drilling started in 1889, more than 2,000 abandoned wells are seeping brine into the groundwater and leaking potent greenhouse gasses. Continue reading...
  
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• BrewDog announces B Corp certification

  25-02-2021 10:08
  
  Scottish craft brewer BrewDog is the latest company to achieve B Corp certification, highlighting the company's dedication to becoming a force for good and focusing on carbon offsetting and reduction.
  
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• Etsy commits to net-zero emissions by 2030

  25-02-2021 09:37
  
  Online retailer Etsy has pledged to "deepening its commitment to a sustainable future" by setting science-based targets and pledging to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.
  
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• Why Bitcoin is so bad for the planet – video explainer

  25-02-2021 09:22 via theguardian.com
  
  In a year, bitcoin uses around the same about of electricity as the entire country of Norway. The digital currency is one that allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment methods. It is the most prominent among thousands of so-called cryptocurrencies and has been repeatedly reaching new records - but is it sustainable? The Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern examines how exactly bitcoin uses electricity and if the environmental cost is too high
  What is bitcoin and why are s
  
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• Mary Anning: Fossil hunter celebrated with Jurassic 50p coins

  25-02-2021 09:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The 19th Century fossil hunter's achievements were often overlooked during her own lifetime.
  
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• Set children free: are playgrounds a form of incarceration?

  25-02-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Play has been the invisible casualty of the pandemic. Is it time to let children reclaim the streets? Our writer looks forward to a post-Covid world of parklets, play streets and repurposed parking spacesOn the other side of a child-sized archway lies a street that has had supersized sprinkles of confetti painted across its tarmac. This leads to a surreal scene strewn with boulders, undulating benches and piles of logs. A tap emerges from one boulder, a hammock swings near a picnic table in the
  
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• Heavy snow blankets parts of Greece as cold front hits country

  25-02-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Temperature drops to as low as -19C, with strong winds disrupting shipping in the Aegean SeaThere was widespread snowfall in Greece last week as a cold front plunged southwards across the country. The snow in Athens on Monday was the heaviest since February 2008, blanketing landmarks such as the Acropolis. Florina in northern Greece recorded a minimum temperature of -19.0C. Strong winds accompanied the cold weather, with gusts of over 60mph (97kmph) across the Aegean Sea, resulting in disruption
  
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• Black-browed babbler found in Borneo 180 years after last sighting

  25-02-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Stuffed specimen was only proof of bird’s existence until discovery in rainforest last yearIn the 1840s, a mystery bird was caught on an expedition to the East Indies. Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon, described it to science and named it the black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata).The species was never seen in the wild again, and a stuffed specimen featuring a bright yellow glass eye was the only proof of its existence. But now the black-browed babbler
  
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• 'Unique' petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos

  25-02-2021 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Discovery of 19.5-metre tree with roots, branches and leaves is unprecedented, say experts First came the tree, all 19.5 metres of it, with roots and branches and leaves. Then, weeks later, the discovery of 150 fossilised logs, one on top of the other, a short distance away.Nikolas Zouros, a professor of geology at the University of the Aegean, couldn’t believe his luck. In 25 years of excavating the petrified forest of Lesbos, he had unearthed nothing like it.Continue reading...
  
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• From polar ice to lightning strikes: the 2020 Frank Hurley awards – in pictures

  25-02-2021 00:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Organised by the Mason Hut Foundation, the Frank Hurley photo awards were set up to honour the adventurous spirit of the Australian photographer James (Frank) Francis Hurley. The 2020 awards attracted more than 1,200 entries from 26 countries, with Australian photographers winning four of the five categoriesRare pink flannel flowers bloom in Australia – in pictures Continue reading...
  
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