Share your encounters with elephants
As part of a new series on elephant conservation we’d like to hear about your experiences with the world’s largest land mammal Over the next year we’re going to be covering the plight of elephants around the world. The numbers of these beautiful animals – now our largest land mammal – have been in steep […]
Badger cull protesters change tactics in response to expansion
Demonstrators focus on driving up policing costs as anti-bovine TB programme is expanded across south-west England Protesters against the badger cull in England have said they plan to change tactics by undertaking direct action to drive up policing costs, after reports of an expansion of culling to new areas. The BBC has reported that the […]
Why Google is using machine learning to optimise its data centres
When Google acquired British Artificial Intelligence (AI) company DeepMind for over $500 million in 2014, it was part of a wave of increasing hype about the potential of machine learning to transform societies and economies worldwide. Two years later and commercial opportunities for DeepMind and AI tech are beginning to be explored more. Beating humans […]
Sea Shepherd will keep harassing Japanese whaling boats despite US court ruling
Conservation group says it is committed to upholding Australian federal court ruling banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian sanctuary A United States court ruling preventing conservationists from attacking Japanese whaling boats will not stop the annual protection campaign in the Southern Ocean. The Japanese Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that a settlement declaring […]
The deaths on the British coastline are a reminder of the sea’s awful power | Philip Hoare
Fear of the water is ingrained in many, but our connection with nature also appears to be ebbing away As the summer slips towards its close with the triumph of our aquatic athletes in Rio, there is a terrible contrast in the fate of six lost souls around the British coast this past weekend. On […]
Timing of NT government's secret deal with Tri-Star coal company queried
One day before Northern Territory government went into caretaker mode for Saturday’s election it arranged for Texas company to potentially extend its explorations licence A day before the Northern Territory government went into caretaker mode, it secretly arranged for a Texas-based coal company to potentially extend its explorations licence over 15,000 sq km in central […]
Fear of the light: why we need darkness | Amanda Petrusich
Light pollution conceals true darkness from 80% of Europe and North America. What do we lose when we can no longer see the stars? Every civilisation we know of has devised a system – scientific, religious, what have you – to make sense of the night sky. The mystery of what’s up there, where it […]
Uber for couriers: Australian logistics software promises to minimise traffic and emissions
Delivery vehicles are major greenhouse gas emitters but new software reroutes trucks with real-time data and machine learning Brad Lorge began his entrepreneurial journey helping charities more effectively coordinate the collection of food from supermarkets and warehouses. Now the software engineer is the co-founder of Premonition, a logistics optimisation firm helping online retailers and shipping […]
Oil rig towed off rocks in Outer Hebrides
Two tug boats towed the 17,000-tonne Transocean Winner drilling rig back out to sea, after it ran aground during bad weather on 8 August A 17,000-tonne oil rig that ran aground in the Outer Hebrides has been safely towed off the rocks by two tug boats. A Stornoway coastguard spokesman confirmed to the Press Association […]
Why air conditioning is a vicious circle
Pumping heat from our cars and buildings into the outside world adds to climate change, increasing the need to stay cool Air conditioning was a luxury in Britain 40 years ago, but the long hot summer of 1976 changed that. The scorching heat that summer lasted two months and most people sweated it out indoors […]