Nature's hidden wealth is conservation's missed opportunity

Mar 11, 2016 05:21 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Australia has one of the worst extinction records in the modern world. Since European settlement, a third of the countrys native mammals have disappeared. How can we stem the losses? A recent article in Nature...

Aviation emissions are rising – and industry solutions are just technological myths

Mar 10, 2016 23:15 pm UTC| Technology Nature

Imagine you are the governments Minister for Transport: the economy is prospering, global oil prices are falling, and airlines are ordering hundreds of new airliners and investing in infrastructure in order to expand their...

Climate Change Series

How climate denial gained a foothold in the Liberal Party, and why it still won't go away

Mar 10, 2016 02:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

It seems the Liberal Party is still having trouble letting go of climate denial, judging by the New South Wales branchs demand that the Turnbull government arrange a series of public debates on climate science. Leaving...

Climate Change Series

Global food production threatens to overwhelm efforts to combat climate change

Mar 09, 2016 22:01 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Each year our terrestrial biosphere absorbs about a quarter of all the carbon dioxide emissions that humans produce. This a very good thing; it helps to moderate the warming produced by human activities such as burning...

Climate Change Series

If planners understand it's cool to green cities, what's stopping them?

Mar 09, 2016 02:20 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Our cities are getting hotter, more crowded and noisier. Climate change is bringing more heatwaves, placing pressure on human health, urban amenity, productivity and infrastructure. Urban residents naturally want to...

Australia's coal mines are pouring methane gas into the atmosphere

Mar 08, 2016 23:37 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Methane emissions are one of the major concerns surrounding coal seam gas. But we should also be paying attention to other sources of methane, in particular those from coal mining. By dealing with these we could make...

Chasing ice: how ice cores shape our understanding of ancient climate

Mar 07, 2016 04:17 am UTC| Nature

It is just over 50 years since French scientist Claude Lorius dropped some glacier ice in his whisky and started a quest that continues today. Lorius was studying glaciers in Antarctica and wondered if the air bubbling out...