Category: Archive

Land clearing caused drought says Uni

admin /27 October, 2007

LAND clearing has led to climate change in Australia, a University of Queensland-led report says.

UQ’s Dr Clive McAlpine said their research showed the clearing of native vegetation had made Australian droughts hotter.

"Our findings highlight that it is too simplistic to attribute climate change purely to greenhouse gases," said Dr McAlpine of UQ’s Centre for Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science.

"Protection and restoration of Australia’s native vegetation needs to be a critical consideration in mitigating climate change."

Kansas rejects Coal Plant on Global Warming grounds

admin /19 October, 2007

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment.

The decision marks a victory for environmental groups that are fighting proposals for new coal-fired plants around the country. It may be the first of a series of similar state actions inspired by a Supreme Court decision in April that asserted that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide should be considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

Tree dwelling fish reproduces on its own

admin /19 October, 2007

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE

It’s one of the golden rules of the natural world – birds live in trees, fish live in water.

The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish.

Scientists have discovered that it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees.

Adaptable: The killifish can alter the way it breathes

Hidden away inside rotten branches and trunks, the remarkable creatures temporarily alter their biological makeup so they can breathe air.

Red wine and Green tea may extend human life

admin /19 October, 2007

In principle, if you understand the mechanisms of keeping things repaired, you could keep things going indefinitely,’ says Cynthia Kenyon, biochemist at the University of California at San Francisco. In her lab she has increased the life span of tiny worms called Caenorhabditis elegans up to six times their normal lifespan by suppressing a single gene. This regulator gene, named daf-2, in combination with other genes, appears to control an entire cluster of genes that direct aging not only in worms, but in similar genetic pathways in flies, mice and, possibly humans. This is the equivalent of people living for 400 years, and the good news is that the worms stay young for most of their extended lifespans.

PM told to get moving on emissions trading

admin /18 October, 2007

One of Australia’s most prominent energy experts says the economy will suffer serious damage unless an emissions trading scheme is rapidly introduced. Ian Dunlop is a former chairman of the Australian Coal Association and the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is the head of a CSIRO research centre. Mr Dunlop has accused the Prime Continue Reading →

Ethanol plant shelved for lack of support

admin /15 October, 2007

The development of a $120 million ethanol plant in Condobolin, in central western New South Wales, has been shelved. The proponent, Agri Energy Limited, has announced a restructure and will not be going ahead with any of its development plans in Australia. Instead, the company say it has decided to invest offshore. The announcement, made Continue Reading →