Federal Labor MP Josh Wilson says he is not convinced Australia should pursue nuclear-powered submarines. The member for Fremantle says the cost and timeframes are likely to blow out and he is 'concerned about the question of nuclear waste' given that 'we haven’t yet managed a storage solution for low-level waste after 40 years'
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Guardian Essential poll: support for Aukus and Indigenous voice declines
The Aukus deal is a crime against the world’s climate future. It didn’t have to be like this
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/20/2023 - 19:24
03/20/2023 - 19:01
Invasive house mice threaten endangered seabirds and wildlife on Marion Island in Indian Ocean
Non-native house mice are to be removed from Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean to protect the wandering albatross and other endangered seabirds, in the world’s largest eradication programme of its kind.
Mice accidentally introduced on to the remote island by 19th-century seal hunters have thrived in warmer and drier conditions over the past 30 years, devastating the island’s invertebrates and plants, and then devouring the chicks and even adults of ground- and burrow-nesting seabirds.
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03/20/2023 - 16:07
Safety group documents 57 serious incidents worldwide this year that injured 97 people and killed eight
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Almost 100 people have been injured and more than 50 fires started by electric bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards and hoverboards in less than three months, according to global figures from an Australian research group.
EV FireSafe, which monitors electric vehicle risks, released the data on Tuesday after an e-bike explosion in New South Wales forced one man to jump from a second-storey window to escape a blaze that started in his garage.
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03/20/2023 - 15:00
Scientists warn rising greenhouse gas emissions will push the world to the brink of irrevocable damage
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03/20/2023 - 11:00
Astronomers urge people to stand up to ‘big light’ industry amid unchecked brightening of night sky
A ban on megaconstellations of low-altitude satellites – arrays such as Elon Musk’s Starlink – should be considered, astronomers have said, in an effort to reduce light pollution and preserve our ability to study the skies.
In a series of papers and opinion pieces published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists have raised the alarm about the brightening night sky, with one team of experts calling for scientists to stand up to “big light” as they have to other fields, such as big tobacco and big oil, and bring in regulation.
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03/20/2023 - 09:48
Historian Dan Snow assembled team to ‘secure the shark for science’ but head, tail and fin were gone
The discovery of a rare shark on a Hampshire beach is as valuable as the unearthing of an ancient treasure trove, an expert has said, as calls grow for the return of the head, tail and fin, which were removed before scientists could salvage the carcass.
The 2-metre (6ft) animal, believed to be a smalltooth sand tiger shark, would normally only be seen in warmer waters – and rarely anywhere north of the Bay of Biscay. Scientists believe the weekend discovery can help them learn more about how the species develops and lives its life.
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03/20/2023 - 09:21
A global mapping project has revealed the major stressors placed upon global coastlines by human activity.
03/20/2023 - 09:00
Ladybirds know how good they look, and they don’t keep it to themselves
The ladybird gets the first part of its name from Our Lady, The Lady, Mary. Its spots – seven, if you are in Europe – symbolise Mary’s seven sorrows, its red shell the cloak she wears sometimes, when she is feeling passionate or loving, or devoted to her son, or, when she’s in a particularly generous mood, devoted to all of humanity.
Ladybirds come from the coccinellid family of beetles, the name for which comes from the Latin for scarlet. They were given this title by Pierre André Latreille, a priest who had grown up an orphan and was thrown into a dungeon during the French Revolution and released because he recognised a rare species of beetle.
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03/20/2023 - 09:00
Government urged to ratify UN convention in order to protect undersea areas like shipwrecks and now-submerged First Nations heritage sites
The underwater world – from shipwrecks with human remains inside to First Nations sites that are tens of thousands of years old – needs better protection, a parliamentary committee has found.
Pirates have targeted second world war shipwrecks for scrap metal, looters have been trophy hunting in sunken boats and the bodies of drowned sailors have been disturbed in the process. Technological advancements mean Australia’s underwater cultural heritage is more vulnerable than ever, the committee heard.
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03/20/2023 - 08:00
Since 1992, the IPCC has highlighted rising greenhouse gases, marking their ‘widespread and unprecedented’ impacts by 2014
IPCC report delivers ‘final warning’
Analysis: Humanity at the crossroads
We were warned. From the “certainty” of rising greenhouse gas emissions in 1992 to “widespread” and “unprecedented” impacts on humanity by 2014, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been the beacon of climate science for the world.
There were earlier warnings. Even oil giants such as ExxonMobil made predictions in the 1970s and 1980s for global heating that proved “breathtakingly” accurate – before embarking on decades of damaging denial.
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