Glassceramic: Innovating With Discarded Glass
A key principle identified in Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, the successful book written by Michael Braungart and William McDonough, is that waste in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. They use the example of the cherry tree, which produces huge amounts of blossom, the majority of which […]
ANZ 'will not finance' dirty coal plants and pledges $10bn for clean energy
Bank rules out funding ‘conventional coal-fired power plants’ that do not use proven technologies to significantly reduce emissions ANZ bank has pledged not to finance traditional coalmining projects and to provide at least $10bn in funding for renewable energy, reforestation and energy efficiency. In the most significant steps yet by one of Australia’s big four […]
New species of 'hog-nosed' rat discovered in Indonesia
Bandicoot-like rodent with long hind limbs, huge ears, a pointed face and a flat nose found in a remote mountainous area of Sulawesi Island Related: Sneezing monkey and walking fish among new species discovered in Himalayas Victorian scientists have discovered a new mammal, the hog-nosed rat, with features not been seen by science before. Continue […]
Albatross Island: the remote outcrop where conservation counts – in pictures
Off the coast of Tasmania, Australia, lies a small island on which 10,000 rare shy albatross live. Their declining population is a concern for conservationists including Dr Rachael Alderman, who has spent the past week on the island monitoring the birds. Photographer Matthew Newton has visted the island on three occasions over the past 12 […]
Dutch unveil world's biggest wave as they aim to save dykes from destruction
Concrete channel, three years in the making and 300 metres long, will help engineers develop better flood defences Studying the oceans is a matter of survival for the below-sea-level-dwelling Dutch, and scientists in the Netherlands have now unveiled the world’s biggest manmade wave to prepare for the worst. “Here we can test what happens if […]
Andrew Adonis and the UK’s real infrastructure needs | Letters
Cutting carbon emissions is but one aspect of the changes needed for the infrastructure and mode of operation of the UK (Osborne reveals deal with former Blair ally, 5 October). On the energy side, we need to increase development and installation of a variety of renewable energy sources. These need to be supported with energy […]
Alternatives to plastic bags must be greener | Letters
The plastic bag levy will damage the environment unless the alternatives have impeccable environmental attributes – and most of them don’t (New plastic bag tax does not go far enough, say campaigners, 5 October). The exemptions alone will undermine most of the putative savings. Not only that, but, if we had a better waste-disposal system using efficient […]
Earth’s rising population spells trouble ahead | Letters
Mark Carney warns that climate change will lead to financial crises and falling living standards unless companies (have to) come clean about their current and future carbon emissions (Report, 30 September). In the same issue George Monbiot notes that there is water flowing on Mars and asks if there is intelligent life on Earth. Monbiot […]
Joyce Magor obituary
Expert in the forecast and control of locust plagues Locust plagues are at least as old as recorded history. The desert locust is the locust of the Qur’an and the Bible’s eighth plague of Egypt; they have probably been insect pests since man first began to grow crops. When, in the late 1980s, swarms of […]
What happened to wildlife when Chernobyl drove humans out? It thrived | @GrrlScientist
People were evacuated after the Chernobyl accident, but what happened to the local wildlife? A new study shows that wildlife in the Chernobyl disaster zone is thriving, indicating that the presence of humans is more damaging to wildlife than is radiation poisoning After a fire and explosion destroyed the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, […]