Pavlov's plants: new study shows plants can learn from experience
Dec 08, 2016 10:30 am UTC| Nature
The first time I met the Australian evolutionary ecologist Monica Gagliano, she was wearing colourful paisley trousers and was giving an animated talk at a 2014 environmental humanities conference in Canberra. Despite...
New Study Could Lead To Drought-Resistant Crops, Christmas Trees Die Due To Dry Spell
Dec 06, 2016 07:58 am UTC| Nature
Scientists managed to find genetic properties of plants that can allow them to resist extreme drought and provide food even with limited water. This is an extremely important development amid increasingly devastating...
Nitrogen pollution: the forgotten element of climate change
Dec 04, 2016 19:21 pm UTC| Nature
While carbon pollution gets all the headlines for its role in climate change, nitrogen pollution is arguably a more challenging problem. Somehow we need to grow more food to feed an expanding population while minimising...
How the pursuit of carbon and fossil fuels harms vulnerable communities
Dec 04, 2016 19:19 pm UTC| Nature
2016 is set to be the hottest year on record. Global temperatures are already 1,2C above pre-industrial levels, and total reductions in emissions, committed by individual countries, far exceed globally agreed targets. This...
Planet Earth II: why more than 200,000 saiga antelopes died in just days
Dec 04, 2016 19:17 pm UTC| Nature
On the remote steppes of central Kazakhstan, a truly extraordinary and tragic event unfolded in May 2015. Female saigas gathered in huge numbers to give birth on the open plain over a period of just 10 days and a BBC...
How can the UK government meet its legal air pollution targets?
Dec 04, 2016 02:17 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Each year, air pollution contributes to around 25,000 deaths in the UK. Its a shocking statistic. By law, the government is obliged to cut high levels of harmful gases in the shortest possible time, yet in November the...
We can cut emissions in half by 2040 if we build smarter cities
Dec 01, 2016 19:24 pm UTC| Nature
As a planet, we have some serious climate targets to meet in the coming years. The Paris Agreement, signed by 192 countries, set an aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ᵒC. The United Nations Sustainable...
South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed
Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects