Are toxic algal blooms the new normal for Australia's major rivers?
May 18, 2016 08:43 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
For much of this year, up to 1,700 kilometres of the Murray River has been hit by a serious outbreak of potentially toxic blue-green algae, which has flourished in the hotter-than-average conditions. After three months,...
2016 is likely to be the world's hottest year: here's why
May 18, 2016 03:07 am UTC| Nature
Were not even halfway through the year but already you may have heard talk of 2016 being the hottest on record. But how can scientists be so sure were going to beat the previous record, set just last year? Even before...
Why the effects of 2016 El Niño trumped climate change in the Alberta wildfires
May 17, 2016 16:15 pm UTC| Nature
In the wake of the damaging Alberta fires, there has been a lot of attention paid to what role climate change plays in wildfires. Yet 2016 is also a powerful El Niño year, which has created ideal conditions for the...
Modern slavery is destroying the environment – for shrimps and pet food
May 17, 2016 15:25 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life
It touches the food we eat and the air we breathe, the clothes we wear and possibly the device youre using to read these words. But slavery today is a paradox. It is hidden away as never before, but its effects are...
Fairness on the agenda as UN begins job of strengthening the Paris climate deal
May 16, 2016 13:09 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
The dust has long settled from Decembers Paris climate summit, which hammered out the first truly global deal to reduce emissions. But the negotiations ended with widespread acknowledgement that the deal needs significant...
The things people ask about the scientific consensus on climate change
May 13, 2016 10:42 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Its been almost a month since the paper I co-authoured on the synthesis of research into the scientific consensus on climate change was published. Surveying the many studies into scientific agreement, we found that more...
South Australia is now coal-free, and batteries could fill the energy gap
May 13, 2016 10:15 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
South Australias last coal-fired power station closed on Monday this week, leaving the state with only gas and wind power generators. The Northern Power Station, in Port Augusta on the northern end of the Spencer Gulf,...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight