Environment

Environment

Fears that 'significant' coral mortality is still to come

Eyes are on us: Coral bleaching has returned to the Great Barrier Reef - and other reefs - in 2017.

The world is 33 months into its biggest recorded coral bleaching event with little sign of it ending, raising the prospect that coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef will increase "significantly" from the quarter already lost in the past year, scientists say.

Lost and found

Thought to be extinct for almost 200 years, the newly-named Hibbertia Fumana makes a comeback.

Claims of a cover-up as a plant lost for two centuries turns up on a development site.

Shark!

There has been a spate of shark attacks off the north coast of NSW this year.

Have a spate of bites and sightings up and down the NSW coast raised the odds that an attack awaits beachgoers this summer? Peter Hannam investigates.

The next major Australian city in a cyclone's path

A shift in the cyclone prone region of just three degrees would see the full force of Cyclone Debbie hit the Gold Coast.

A cyclone the size of Debbie would have catastrophic consequences on the Gold Coast, new modelling has shown, as climate change pushes cyclones further south and building codes fail to keep up on the high-rise strip.

Japan kills 333 whales in Antarctic

Japan's giant abattoir ship Nisshin Maru with a harpooned minke whale on the deck in January.

Japan's whaling fleet has returned from its Antarctic hunt in the name of scientific research with 333 minke whales, despite international criticism.

Snakes alive: plan to stop snakes at the border

When snake catcher Barry Goldsmith saw the two-metre-long boa constrictor in a shed in Seaford, he "just picked her up, ...

Increasing numbers of exotic snakes, many poisonous, are slipping unseen into Australia by plane, ship and the mail, prompting a new plan to stop more coming before they threaten native flora and fauna. 

Battle for the balance of power after Hazelwood

Airconditioner use stretches the electricity at peak times in summer.

What can be done to make sure the national electricity grid runs smoothly, not just next summer but in future summers as more coal plants inevitably shut and we move to a cleaner electricity grid?