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Tonya Lopez, Вулиця Госпітальна, 4, Kyiv (2025)

27/11/2024

Loved-up owls 'move in together' at nature reserve

Everyone knows the plot. Boy meets girl. They date. And then they move in together and live happily ever after.

Except at Maiden Erlegh Nature Reserve in Earley, Berkshire, the characters in the love story are a pair of tawny owls.

Affectionately named Romeo and Juliet, the couple's romance began when they started calling to one another from their separate owl boxes on opposite sides of the nature reserve.

And now they have been pictured snuggled up together in one box, with hopes their next chapter could see the arrival of some owlets.
Mr Brown said park rangers teamed up with tree surgeons in September to reinstate owl boxes that had fallen into disrepair.

Nine days later, their "first inhabitant" - a male tawny owl - moved in, followed by a female across the reserve.

"They then started calling to one another," said Mr Brown.

"At the beginning of November one of our residents comes running up to us with a picture on his phone... of both the owls in the same box."

He said the team was "over the moon", especially because it happened so quickly.

Mr Brown said the reinstatement of the owl boxes was just one project being rolled out across the nature reserve in efforts to improve habitat and biodiversity.

The owl activity was "really good feedback", as it showed they were creating a healthy environment with the right balance of natural factors and human interaction, he said.

And he added that he hoped the future would bring even more exciting developments for Romeo and Juliet.

"From what I gather, they go into their mating pattern and then in spring you start to see the offspring," he said.

"We are very hopeful for that... there's never any guarantees in nature but fingers crossed we will get lots of little owlets a some point."

21/10/2024

Sydney reopens beaches after tar ball mystery

Beaches in the Australian city of Sydney have reopened for swimmers after being closed earlier this week when thousands of mysterious black tar-like balls washed ashore, prompting health concerns.

Officials say tests found the balls to be formed from chemicals similar to those in cosmetics and cleaning products but it is still unclear where they came from.

Eight beaches including Bondi - the city's most famous - were closed and a massive clean-up ordered amid fears the black deposits were toxic.

New South Wales's Environment Minister, Penny Sharpe, said investigations were continuing to establish the source of the pollution and who was responsible.

The state's maritime authority said the balls were not highly toxic to humans but should not be touched or picked up.

"Based on advice from the Environment Protection Authority, we can now confirm the balls are made up of fatty acids, chemicals consistent with those found in cleaning and cosmetic products, mixed with some fuel oil," said New South Wales Maritime Executive Director Mark Hutchings.
The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) said laboratory testing was continuing, to try to determine where the balls came from, Reuters news agency reports.

"It is still somewhat of a mystery and may take a few more days to determine origin," said EPA Executive Director Stephen Beaman.

The tar balls were "not harmful when on the ground but should not be touched or picked up", Mr Hutchings was quoted as saying by Australian broadcaster ABC.

"If you see these balls, report them to a lifeguard. If you or your family accidentally touches one, wash your hands with soap and water or baby oil."

05/10/2024

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was not alone

The huge asteroid that hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was not alone, scientists have confirmed.

A second, smaller space rock smashed into the sea off the coast of West Africa creating a large crater during the same era.

It would have been a “catastrophic event”, the scientists say, causing a tsunami at least 800m high to tear across the Atlantic ocean.

Dr Uisdean Nicholson from Heriot-Watt University first found the Nadir crater in 2022, but a cloud of uncertainty hung over how it was really formed.
Now Dr Nicholson and his colleagues are sure that the 9km depression was caused by an asteroid hurtling into the seabed.

They cannot date the event exactly, or say whether it came before or after the asteroid which left the 180km-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico. That one ended the reign of the dinosaurs.

But they say the smaller rock also came at the end of the Cretaceous period when they went extinct. As it crashed into Earth's atmosphere, it would have formed a fireball.

“Imagine the asteroid was hitting Glasgow and you’re in Edinburgh, around 50 km away. The fireball would be about 24 times the size of the Sun in the sky - enough to set trees and plants on fire in Edinburgh,” Dr Nicholson says.
An extremely loud air blast would have followed, before seismic shaking about the size of a magnitude 7 earthquake.

Huge amounts of water probably left the seabed, and later cascaded back down creating unique imprints on the floor.

It is unusual for such large asteroids to crash out of our solar system on course for our planet within a short time of each other.

But the researchers don’t know why two hit Earth close together.
The Nadir asteroid was about the size of Bennu, which is currently the most hazardous object orbiting near Earth.

Scientists say the most probable date that Bennu could hit Earth is 24 September 2182, according to Nasa. But it is still just a probability of 1 in 2,700.

There has never been an asteroid impact of this size in human history, and scientists normally have to study eroded craters on Earth or images of craters on other planets.

To further understand the Nadir crater, Dr Nicholson and team analysed high-resolution 3D data from a geophysical company called TGS.

Most craters are eroded but this one was well-preserved, meaning the scientists could look further into the rock levels.

“This is the first time that we've ever been able to see inside an impact crater like this - it’s really exciting,” says Dr Nicholson, adding there are just 20 marine craters in the world but none have been studied in detail like this.

30/09/2024

UK to finish with coal power after 142 years

The UK is about to stop producing any electricity from burning coal - ending its 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel.
The country's last coal power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, finishes operations on Monday after running since 1967.
This marks a major milestone in the country's ambitions to reduce its contribution to climate change. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel producing the most greenhouse gases when burnt.
Minister for Energy Michael Shanks said: "We owe generations a debt of gratitude as a country."
The UK was the birthplace of coal power, and from tomorrow it becomes the first major economy to give it up.
"It's a really remarkable day, because Britain, after all, built her whole strength on coal, that is the industrial revolution," said Lord Deben - the longest serving environment secretary.
The first coal-fired power station in the world, the Holborn Viaduct power station, was built in 1882 in London by the inventor Thomas Edison - bringing light to the streets of the capital.
The growth of renewables has been so successful that the target date for ending coal power was brought forward a year, and on Monday, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, was set to close for the last time.
Chris Smith has worked at the plant for 28 years in the environment and chemistry team. She said: "It is a very momentous day. The plant has always been running and we've always been doing our best to keep it operating....It is a very sad moment."
Lord Deben served in former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's government when many of the UK's coal mines were closed and thousands of workers lost their jobs. He said lessons had to be learnt from that for current workers in the fossil fuel industry.
"I'm particularly keen on the way in which this Government, and indeed the previous Government, is trying to make sure that the new jobs, of which there are very many green jobs, go to the places which are being damaged by the changes.
"So in the North Sea oil areas, that's exactly where we should be doing carbon capture and storage, it's where we should be putting wind and solar power," he said.
Although coal is a very polluting source of energy, its benefit has been in being available at all times - unlike wind and solar which are limited by weather conditions.
Kayte O'Neill, the chief operating officer at the Energy System Operator - the body overseeing the UK's electricity system - said: "There is a whole load of innovation required to help us ensure the stability of the grid. Keeping the lights on in a secure way."
A crucial technology providing that stability Kayte O'Neill spoke of is battery technology.
Dr Sylwia Walus, research programme manager at the Faraday Institution, said that there has been significant progress in the science of batteries.
"There is always scope for a new technology, but more focus these days is really how to make it more sustainable and cheaper in production," she said.
To achieve this the UK needs to become more independent of China in producing its own batteries and bringing in skilled workers for this purpose, she explained.

Tonya Lopez

27/11/2024

21/10/2024

05/10/2024

30/09/2024

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