Shishir Dholakia of the University of Southern Queensland's Centre for Astrophsics has identified Gliese 12b, a possibly temperate Earth-sized planet just 40 light years away. The student has been co-leading an international team that published the discovery in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Earth-sized planet spotted orbiting small star with 100 times sun’s lifespan
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/24/2024 - 01:02
05/24/2024 - 01:00
Friends of the Earth will argue private companies are allowed to create their own public order laws that stifle demonstrations
The government is to be challenged at the European court of human rights over its use of “confusing and opaque” anti-protest injunctions.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) is to argue such injunctions allow private companies to create bespoke public order laws that stifle peaceful protest.
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05/24/2024 - 00:00
Speaking at the UK River Summit, Philip Duffy said officials do not want to reveal the true ‘embarrassing’ environmental picture
The head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.
Philip Duffy, the body’s chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were “worried about revealing the true state of what is going on” with regards to the state of the environment.
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05/23/2024 - 14:24
Two committees inquiring after reports of ex-president’s offer to roll back dozens of regulations for $1bn campaign donations
Powerful Senate Democrats have launched an investigation into an alleged quid pro quo offer from Donald Trump to fossil fuel executives.
At a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago home and club last month, the former president reportedly told oil bosses he would immediately roll back dozens of environmental regulations if elected, and requested $1bn in contributions to his presidential campaign. It would be a “deal” for the executives because of the costs they would avoid under him, he reportedly said.
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05/23/2024 - 14:00
Factors including ‘near-record warm ocean temperatures in Atlantic’ lead to stark prediction from Noaa for June to November
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will be “above normal” amid very warm ocean temperatures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted, prompting some scientists to warn of a summer of natural disasters caused by the powerful storms.
Hurricane season, which takes place from 1 June to 30 November this year could be an “85% chance of an above-normal season”, the federal weather agency said on Thursday.
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05/23/2024 - 10:56
Settlement for disaster that resulted in plumes of toxic chemicals in Ohio town includes funds for cleanup costs
The freight train company involved in a disastrous, pollution-spewing derailment in Ohio last year has agreed to a $310m settlement with the US government over the incident.
Norfolk Southern will pay a $15m civil penalty for violating clean water laws and pay hundreds of millions more in cleanup costs in the wake of the derailment, which occurred near the town of East Palestine in February last year.
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05/23/2024 - 10:00
WeatherZone predicts no significant snowfalls for five major downhill ski resorts in NSW and Victoria before season kicks off on June long weekend
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With winter just around the corner, temperatures are plunging but Australia’s ski slopes are looking bare, prompting fears that the country’s best snow spots are set for an underwhelming peak season.
The weather service WeatherZone has predicted there will be no significant snowfalls for Australia’s five major downhill ski resorts – all in New South Wales and Victoria – before the ski season kicks off on the King’s Birthday long weekend in June.
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05/23/2024 - 09:44
WWF says the government has breached the law ‘without adequately assessing the consequences’
One of the world’s biggest environmental groups is suing the Norwegian government for opening up its seabed for deep-sea mining, claiming that Norway has failed to properly investigate the consequences of this move.
WWF-Norway says the government’s decision has breached Norwegian law, goes against the counsel of its own advisers, and sets a “dangerous precedent”.
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05/23/2024 - 07:32
Action against Letzte Generation could have ‘immense chilling effect’ on climate protest, campaigners say
Five members of Letzte Generation, Germany’s equivalent to Just Stop Oil, have been charged with “forming a criminal organisation”, a move civil rights campaigners say could in effect criminalise future support for the climate campaign.
Mirjam Herrmann, 27, Henning Jeschke, 22, Edmund Schulz, 60, Lukas Popp, 25, and Jakob Beyer, 30, were charged under section 129 of the German criminal code. It is believed to be the first time the law has been applied to a non-violent protest group.
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05/23/2024 - 07:00
Agriculture is often seen as the enemy of biodiversity, but in an excerpt from her new book Sophie Yeo explains how techniques from the middle ages allow plants and animals to flourish
The Vile clings on to the edge of the Gower peninsula. Its fields are lined up like strips of carpet, together leading to the edge of the cliff that drops into the sea. Each one is tiny, around 1-2 acres. From the sky, they look like airport runways, although this comparison would have seemed nonsensical to those who tended them for most of their existence.
That is because the Vile is special: a working example of how much of Britain would have been farmed during the middle ages. Farmers have most likely been trying to tame this promontory since before the Norman conquest.
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