Science

Fossilised seal bone discovered off Beaumaris beach is about six million years old

BRIDIE SMITH It was its odd shape that made the fossilised piece of bone stand out on the sea floor. Seasoned amateur diver Ross Wilkie hadn't seen anything like it before. So he did what any collector would do. He plucked it from its watery world and took it home.

Fire warning as temperatures set to soar Saturday

CAROLINE ZIELINSKI Victorians are being urged to prepare for a dangerous fire day on Saturday, with temperatures predicted to soar to more than 40 degrees in parts of the state.

Love-nest antics downright bizarre

NICKY PHILLIPS Polygamy, orgies and death after five-second sex. Nicky Phillips has seen it all.

Cool, wet weather an eerie reminder of Christmas past

MEGAN LEVY Christmas Day revellers who had hoped to spend a sunny day on Sydney's beaches had their plans thwarted once again this year, with the heaviest rain in more than a month drenching the city on Wednesday.

Sydney weather: rain expected for Christmas Day and Boxing Day

MEGAN LEVY Revellers who are planning to hit the beach or the backyard cricket pitch on Christmas Day have been urged to start the action early.

UN steps up diplomacy ahead of 2014 climate summit

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former Ghana President John Kufuor and former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as special envoys on climate change to drum up support for a planned global conference in September.

Customs ship should be sent to disrupt Japanese whaling: Bob Brown

TOM ARUP An Australian government ship should be sent to disrupt Japanese whaling in a similar fashion to the Sea Shepherd, the environment group's local head Bob Brown says.

Canberra Christmas weather could dampen spirits late in the day

HAMISH BOLAND-RUDDER Canberrans planning a Christmas lunch or dinner outdoors should enjoy perfect temperatures, but might need to have the brollies at the ready as the forecast shows the chance of showers.

Wonders of the water

Kelsey Munro Some magical creatures live in Sydney Harbour.

Anti-whaling group attacks Greg Hunt over breaking election promise

Goya Dmytryshchak Anti-whaling activists have slammed the federal government for breaking an election promise to send a ship to monitor Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.

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Puckapunyal kangaroo cull 'our dirty little secret': Activists

Laura Banks Activists have set up camp outside Puckapunyal army base in a bid to stop the ''slaughter'' of 6000 kangaroos.

Great white hunter the bane of pesky rodents

PETER HANCOCK When it comes to controlling mice and other pests, the black-shouldered kite is an expert.

Comments

2013 Australia's hottest year on record

PETER HANNAM 2013 is the year Australia marked its hottest day, month, season, 12-month period and, by December 31, hottest calendar year.

Records melt in our hottest year

PETER HANNAM Australia's heat maps were literally off the charts.

Simple techniques allow Australian consumers to make large savings on electricity bills

PETER HANNAM For Liz Mahony, it was annoyance over a mounting electricity bill that irked her into action.

Climate policy will cap funds at $1.55bn

PETER HANNAM The Abbott government's hallmark climate change policy to replace the carbon tax highlights the scale of the task to cut greenhouse gas emissions in an expanding economy, with limited funds and many details yet to be settled, according to the green paper on the plan.

Clive Palmer gets green light for China First coalmine

PETER HANNAM Christmas has come early for mining billionaire and newly minted MP Clive Palmer, with the federal government approving his monster China First coalmine in Queensland's Galilee Basin.

Coalition's coal push adds hurdles for its climate plan, green paper reveals

PETER HANNAM The Abbott government's climate change policy to replace the carbon tax highlights the scale of the task to cut greenhouse gas emissions in an expanding economy, with limited funds and many details yet to be settled.

Government approves Clive Palmer's coalmine in Queensland

PETER HANNAM Christmas has come early for mining billionaire and newly minted MP Clive Palmer, with the federal government approving his monster China First coalmine in Queensland's Galilee Basin.

Gladstone Harbour bund wall failures explained

TONY MOORE Two senior engineers have told exactly how the controversial bund wall in Gladstone Harbour leaked in 2011 and 2012, letting dirty dredge spoil flow out to the Great Barrier Reef.

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Sydney weather: second hottest day of the year

PETER HANNAM Many Sydney residents sweltered through their hottest day since last January's record heat and inland suburbs are set to suffer through more days of uncomfortable warmth.

Resident says government either 'hypocrites or liars' over koalas

TONY MOORE Mt Cotton resident Ian Bridge accused the Queensland Government of being either "hypocrites" or "liars" after deputy premier Jeff Seeney approved the giant Barro Quarry development in important koala habitat at Mt Cotton.

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Baby sharks take their first nibble in public

Two whitetip reef shark babies have had their first public feed at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium's new Shark Nursery.

Australia urges safety for whalers and protesters

Australia has joined the Netherlands, New Zealand and the US in urging Japanese whalers and anti-whaling protesters to refrain from dangerous behaviour during the annual hunt.

Friday scorcher: Canberra on track for 37 degrees

Tom McIlroy Canberra is on track to swelter on Friday with forecasters expecting a top of 37 degrees or higher.

Greg Hunt confirms backing for whaling patrol as decision deadline looms

ANDREW DARBY Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has just hours to meet his self-imposed deadline to make a decision on whether the government will send a patrol ship to the Southern Ocean whaling area, but has confirmed his backing for a patrol.

Cool change: Melbourne's weather forecast revised down

Stephen Cauchi Melbourne's forecast top today has been revised down to 26 degrees, eight degrees cooler than what was originally forecast.

Waging war on the environment does not add up

Dugald Murray In the closing days of this year, Australia's unique and fragile environment is under attack like never before. After just 100 days in government, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has waged a war on environmental programs.

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Heatwave hits Sydney

PETER HANNAM Summer's first burst of heat will send the mercury soaring across Sydney on Friday.

Canberra weather forecast for warm nights, hot days

TOM MCILROY Canberra is set to swelter through its hottest nights since last summer, with the city's nighttime lows staying above 17 degrees on Thursday and Friday.

State on way to hottest December day in three years

Caroline Zielinksi, Stephen Cauchi Melburnians are sweltering through the hottest December day in three years with the city hitting the forecast top of 40 degrees.

State on way to hottest December day in three years

Stephen Cauchi Victoria is on track for its hottest December day in three years with most of the state – bar Gippsland – hitting temperatures in the 30s before midday.

Freed Australian Greenpeace Arctic 30 activist tells of amnesty relief

ANDREW DARBY Australian Greenpeace activist Colin Russell has told of his relief after an amnesty led to his freedom from three uncertain months under the weight of the Russian judicial system.

Science

Neanderthal toe points to history of incest

BRIDIE SMITH The fossilised toe of a 50,000 year-old Neanderthal woman shows inbreeding was not uncommon in our nearest extinct relatives.

Renewable energy target faces cut by Abbott

TOM ARUP Prime Minister Tony Abbott has signalled his government is preparing to slash Australia's renewable energy target citing 'changed circumstances' and a desire to be an 'affordable energy superpower'.

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3D titanium shoes may save horses from euthanasia

Lydia Hales Shoes are always a nice Christmas present, especially when they reduce pain from a serious inflammatory disease.

Amnesty for Greenpeace Arctic 30

Andrew Darby Three months after their ship was seized and they were arrested, Greenpeace's Arctic 30 have been granted an amnesty in a vote of the Russian parliament, the environmental organisation said.

Warning issued over handling Canberra bats

Unusually high numbers of people requiring anti-rabies treatment has prompted a renewed government warning about the handling of bats.

Heat wave rolls in

Tom McIlroy, Peter Hannam Australia is in the grip of its first heatwave of the summer

Santos faces fines for Pilliga coal seam gas salt spill

Gas giant Santos' NSW branch could be slapped with hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after it admitted to failing to report contamination and excessive salt levels at a drilling site in the state's northwest.

Question mark over Australian government's whaling conflict zone patrol

ANDREW DARBY Pressure is rising on the Federal Government to clarify its plans to monitor the Antarctic whaling conflict, with a key government patrol ship seen near Christmas Island, thousands of kilometres away from the whaling area.

Global water scarcity predicted to rise by 40%

Lydia Hales Global water scarcity already on the rise due to exploding global populations may be amplified by up to 40 per cent due to climate change.

Shade sails over pools 'may only provide partial protection' for children

DEBORAH GOUGH Shades over toddler pools provide only partial sun protection and children may be exposed to more ultraviolet radiation than the parents watching over them.

Warning for holidaymakers as summer warms up

PETER HANNAM Australia is in the grip of its first heatwave of the summer with the Bureau of Meteorology warning holidaymakers to stay hydrated and to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun.

Energy

Coal 'prime culprit' behind climate change but can we live without it?

John Kemp "There is no denying the controversial reality of coal," Maria van der Hoeven, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), wrote in its annual report on the coal industry, published on Monday.

Energy

UK to open region as big as Wales for shale exploration

The U.K. government is ready to open an area the size of Wales for shale drilling next year, doubling the space available for exploration.

Christmas beetle numbers on the decline as imposter numbers grow

JULIE POWER Just like Santa Claus, when it comes to Christmas beetles the real thing is bigger, rarer and shinier than the fakes that abound in Sydney's centre at this time of year.

Bankstown residents accuse Sydney Water over sewage overflow plan

PETER HANNAM A plan by Sydney Water to shift its sewage overflow problem up the Georges River is "a disgrace" that treats Bankstown residents "like second-class citizens", mayor Khal Asfour said.

Australian government cuts billions of dollars from social programs

Gareth Hutchens, Peter Hannam The federal government has cut billions of dollars from programs ranging from the environment to health and indigenous legal aid.

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Evidence mounting small dogs suffer small-man syndrome

Small dogs suffer from a canine equivalent of short-man syndrome, researchers believe, making them more aggressive.

Science society urges governments to axe cattle grazing trial in Victorian Alps

Tom Arup Victoria's leading scientific society has called on the state and federal governments to abandon plans for a cattle grazing trial in the Alpine National Park, saying peer-reviewed evidence shows it would fail to cut fire risk.

Chained protesters arrested at NSW mine

Two protesters who chained themselves to a truck to try to stop work at the controversial Maules Creek coal mine project in northwest NSW have been cut free and arrested by police.

Abbott government strips environmental legal centres of federal funding

TOM ARUP Australia’s environmental legal centres have lost their federal funding in a move that could see the closure of some of the nine offices around the country.

Protestors vow to save 'beautiful forest' from Whitehaven coal mine

Opponents of a northwest NSW coal mine vow to continue protesting, after human barricades stopped tree-clearing bulldozers entering the site.

Energy

Germany shifts priority to economy ahead of renewables

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new cabinet sends a message on her priorities: Nurturing Germany’s economy takes precedence over the drive to renewables.

Markets

EU passes law to mop up carbon permit glut

The European Union adopts an emergency law change to alleviate a record glut of emission permits in the region’s carbon market and help prices recover from near all-time lows.