Every Friday we apply critical attention to things that don’t normally get it. This is an important function that might just hold civilisation together. Or, more likely, not. Drop your suggestions for reviews in the comments or tweet them to @guideguardian Continue reading...

A ‘smart power revolution’ will help Britain meet its 2050 carbon targets, secure future supply and save consumers money, government report findsBritain could save £8bn a year and slash its carbon footprint by using electricity better, a new report says.The National Infrastructure Commission said a “smart power revolution” which improves the storage of power could transform the energy landscape. Its report, Smart Power, looks into ways the UK can better balance supply and demand in the energy market. Continue reading...

From railway rollouts to post-war ‘homes for heroes’, history shows us that societies are capable of great and rapid transition in response to a known challenge with clear targetsEnergy UK, the trade association representing the big six energy suppliers, has in welcome - if belated - fashion come out in favour of a large-scale shift to low-carbon, renewable energy. Continue reading...

January and February have both broken temperature records. Karl Mathiesen examines how much is down to El Niño versus manmade climate changeYet another global heat record has been beaten. It appears January 2016 - the most abnormally hot month in history, according to Nasa - will be comprehensively trounced once official figures come in for February.Initial satellite measurements, compiled by Eric Holthaus at Slate, put February’s anomaly from the pre-industrial average between 1.15C and 1.4C. The UN Paris climate agreement struck in December seeks to limit warming to 1.5C if possible. Continue reading...

Concrete has a crushing environmental impact but Australian-led innovations have the potential to dramatically reduce emissions from its productionThey look like any other footpath snaking across Queensland’s James Cook University (JCU) campus. Yet the two concrete paths leading up to the university’s new Science Place building and the Douglas campus buildings may hold the key to one of the construction industry’s most pressing environmental questions.In December last year, JCU PhD student Shi Yin won the manufacturing, construction and innovation category award at the 2015 Australian Innovation Challenge for his research into using recycled plastic for reinforced concrete applications. Continue reading...

US federal government says recovery of national park population to more than 700 is a ‘historic success’ but conservationists say move is prematureThe federal government is proposing to strip endangered species protections from Yellowstone’s famed grizzly bears, with officials claiming a “historic success” in the recovery of the bear population.Related: Rangers catch grizzly bear suspected in Yellowstone hiker death Continue reading...

A new paper makes Ted Cruz’s favorite chart obsolete, as atmospheric temperatures set a new record

Wolsingham, Weardale The sexual success of thalloid liverworts has ensured their survival for millions of yearsPeering down at the emerald lobes of Pellia epiphylla liverwort covering the sides of the ditch, I could see this had recently been the site of intense sexual activity.On mild, wet days, tiny pockets embedded in the plant’s surface release swarms of swimming male sex cells, each only a few thousandths of a millimetre long. Powered by two lashing flagellae, they gyrate in the surface film of water and swim towards chemical attractants released by egg cells, hidden under a flap of tissue near the tip of the flat green thallus. Most fall by the wayside, exhausted, but a few, perhaps aided by rain splash, reach their destination. The evidence of success – small, round spore capsules resulting from fertilisation – was plain to see. Continue reading...

From Nasa’s experimental X-planes to Google’s airship, there’s plenty of innovation but the emissions-intensive industry has a long way to goInsects may not seem the most obvious problem to tackle when trying to make aviation more sustainable. But avoiding them on takeoff could help cut airlines’ fuel bills and emissions by up to 10%.It’s already an idea that NASA has explored. Last year it tested hi-tech coatings to make dead insects slide off wings, with one design delivering a 40% reduction in insect residue. Continue reading...

Authors of analysis say the rise in global temperatures slowed between 2001 and 2014. Cue misinterpretation from climate science denialistsDid global warming really slow down for a decade or so in the 2000s and does it really matter if it did?New analysis written by a group of well regarded climate scientists appeared in a journal a couple of weeks ago, arguing that global warming did slowdown. Continue reading...

Colonies found by Victorian government but conservationists say sightings ‘don’t change anything on the ground’Reports that more than 200 new colonies of Leadbeater’s possum have been recorded in Victoria have been played down by conservationists, who say the sightings “don’t change anything on the ground” for the critically endangered species.The wild population of the tiny possum has contracted to an estimated 1,500 individuals, driven by the loss of its habitat of old growth mountain ash forests in Victoria’s central highlands by bushfire and logging. Continue reading...

We need to act now to stop the poaching and trafficking driving many species towards extinction. This means increased penalties for criminals as well as reducing demandAnimals, according to many traditions, were once protected from a global flood by entering the shelter of an ark.

A juvenile bull shark was seen by morning walkers while it swam in the shallows of Perth’s Swan river. The video, shot from the foreshore, shows the shark near the Royal Perth Yacht Club marina. The foreshore is a popular picnic area and members of the yacht club were alerted to the shark’s presence. Mature bull sharks are known for their aggressive nature and have used sections of the Swan river as nursing grounds Continue reading...

With Tasmania’s hydropower plants idle due to low rainfall, and a faulty cable connecting the state to the mainland grid, it’s clear a better long-term solution is neededThe timing couldn’t have been any worse. On 20 December 2015, the undersea cable connecting Tasmania with mainland Australia malfunctioned, leaving the island state’s energy infrastructure stranded without help – just when it was needed most.

Utah, Colorado and Texas are being aggressively pumped for oil and natural gas, producing methane leaks in quantities much higher than previously thought – and little is being done to contain the problemWhen Stephen Conley, an atmospheric scientist and pilot, saw an emissions indicator skyrocket in his Mooney TLS prop plane, he knew he had found a significant methane leak. His gas-detecting Picarro analyzer indicated he was flying through a plume of gas escaping at 900kg per hour. The colorless, odorless gas was enough to cover a football field to a height of 20 feet in a single day. But this flight wasn’t over the highly publicized Aliso Canyon in Los Angeles; Conley was circling the Bakken Shale, a rock formation in western North Dakota that has been aggressively pumped for oil and natural gas.Day in and day out, small leaks in oil and gas producing regions like the Bakken Shale are emitting methane in quantities that collectively rival or even exceed Aliso Canyon. New figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last month indicate the potent greenhouse gas is being emitted from leaks across the US in quantities “much larger” than previously thought. Continue reading...