How microplastics make their way up the ocean food chain into fish
Dec 01, 2016 19:13 pm UTC| Nature
Up to 236,000 tonnes of microplastics tiny pieces of broken-down plastic smaller than your little fingernail enter our oceans each year. This has researchers around the world worried, as wildlife can be harmed by eating...
From warm to swarm: why insect activity increases in summer
Dec 01, 2016 02:38 am UTC| Nature
While the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting an increase in the average temperature this summer, entomologists are forecasting an increase in insect activity. It might seem that insects choose to annoy us over the...
No politician can singlehandedly bring back coal – not even Donald Trump
Dec 01, 2016 02:23 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
On the night Donald Trump won the US election, one of the many jubilant supporters featured in the media coverage was 67-year-old Doug Ratliff of Richlands, Virginia. An owner of struggling shopping malls in a region hit...
Why coal-fired power stations need to shut on health grounds
Dec 01, 2016 02:13 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
The Senate inquirys report into the planned closure of coal-fired power stations will no doubt shed light on the compelling health reasons to close them. Coal-fired stations are a health hazard to their local...
Earth’s Destruction By Mankind Starkly Clear Through Google Earth Timelapse
Nov 30, 2016 10:11 am UTC| Technology Nature
Its long been known that human activity and progress has come at the cost of environmental damage, which have led to some of the most catastrophic results in recent history. With super typhoons, extreme droughts,...
The absurdity of natural history – or, why humans are 'fish'
Nov 29, 2016 17:16 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
The human desire to classify is perhaps at its strongest when it comes to natural history. From our childhood years we are taught to put the animals we encounter in museums, living rooms and the natural environment into...
China's plan to increase coal power by 20% is not the climate disaster it seems
Nov 27, 2016 21:42 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
China recently announced a 20% increase in coal power capacity by 2020. Does the new target contradict its pledge to peak carbon emissions well before 2030 under the Paris Agreement? China ratified the Paris Agreement...
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