Cutting ARENA would devastate clean energy research
Aug 30, 2016 08:58 am UTC| Nature
This weeks first sitting of the 45th Parliament of Australia is considering a A$6.5 billion omnibus savings bill, including a proposed cut of A$1.3 billion to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). If adopted, it...
The Industrial Revolution kick-started global warming much earlier than we realised
Aug 26, 2016 08:56 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, no one would have thought that their burning of fossil fuels would have an almost immediate effect on the climate. But our new study, published today in Nature, reveals that...
Suburban sprawl and poor preparation worsened flood damage in Louisiana
Aug 23, 2016 09:33 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
This months extraordinary flooding in southeast Louisiana damaged some 40,000 homes, prompting more than 70,000 people to sign up for FEMA assistance. The proximate cause was a slow-moving storm system that dropped up to...
Climate change will create new ecosystems, so let's help plants move
Aug 23, 2016 06:21 am UTC| Nature
Australias ecosystems are already showing the signs of climate change, from the recent death of mangrove forests in northern Australia, to the decline in birds in eastern Australia, to the inability of mountain ash forests...
What if we abandoned Britain's farms and left them to nature?
Aug 22, 2016 09:24 am UTC| Nature
Without farming, Britains countryside would be drastically different. Imagine walking through landscapes un-tilled, un-sown, un-fertilised and un-treated, nor grazed by cattle or sheep. Following the Brexit vote, the...
Green beans: why pulses are the eco-friendly option for feeding – and saving – the world
Aug 17, 2016 09:19 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
We all know the score: current trends predict there will be 9.7 billion mouths to feed by 2050. Producing enough food without using more land, exacerbating climate change or putting more pressure on water, soil and energy...
Our planet is heating - the empirical evidence
Aug 16, 2016 14:07 pm UTC| Nature
In an entertaining and somewhat chaotic episode of QA (Monday 15th August) pitching science superstar Brian Cox against climate contrarian and global conspiracy theorist and now senator Malcolm Roberts, the question of...
There’s an extra $1 billion on the table for NT schools. This could change lives if spent well