Environment

The Government has just overturned a council decision and will allow fracking in Lancashire, regardless of the concerns of the public, and local officials who are against the controversial process. The decision has led to some people saying it signals an attack on local democracy by central government. There are also plans for another site in Doncaster with the decision expected next month. Now a YouGov poll has indicated that support for the energy extraction process is at only 37.3%,...

This isn’t something you see everyday, a daredevil skydiver was able to take pictures as he flew over an entire rainbow. As if that wasn’t exciting enough it was also his FIRST skydive, as he drifted over a circular rainbow in the Bay of Islands at the sub-tropical north of New Zealand on Oct 3rd. 29-year-old, Anthony Kileen has been backpacking since 2011 when he left the UK for a journey of a lifetime, and he says the 16,000 daring...

More worrying news has emerged in post-Brexit Britain, with a 147 per cent rise in homophobic attacks in the UK in the three months since the UK voted to leave the EU. There have already been reports of a rise in racist attacks, but the rise in attacks on the LGBT community is an unexpected development. Many people will believe that the EU vote has unleashed a dark side of some people in the UK, and a rejection of liberal...

Warmer cities could be fuelling climate change by stunting the growth of trees and increasing pests. Replanting tress are often cited as one answer in trying to capture carbon, but new research has found that cities are are reducing the tree's carbon capture capacity by an eighth, because the hotter the urban environment becomes, the more trees become infected with pests which reduces the growth of branches. And even if the trees are pest-free, they still have slower growth and smaller trunks. In the...

This is the cute moment a huge bull elephant tried and failed to play hide and seek with a photographer. Ramona Reichert snapped the playful giant trying to conceal his vast five-tonne frame behind a tree in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania last month. The 36-year-old saw the spectacle while out on safari. She and her husband Ivo Schemionek were watching a family of elephant cows and calves at a watering hole before the male arrived. Ms Reichert said: "When they...

After Lancashire County Council refused to allow permission to take shale gas out of the county, the Government has decided that they will allow it anyway. The council has turned down the request, from shale gas company Caudrilla, because of concerns over traffic and noise pollution. There are also huge concerns about environmental impact and concerns over the power of local councils to stand up to central government. Drilling in the area a few years ago, caused earth tremors and...

A paper written by James Hanson, an ex-Nasa climate scientist, and a number of other leading experts in the field have reported that the earth is now as hot as it has been for 115,00 years. The worrying news is further compounded by their claims that climate change has contributed to this level of heat, not experienced by modern day humans. The problem is that sea levels will rise and huge structural and technological development will be needed to stem...

There were concerns that police officers wearing cameras was turning the nation into a nightmarish vision on 1984, however a new study seems to think the initiative has actually helped with police relations with the public. Researchers have said that when members of the public and police staff are both aware they are being filmed, it increases the accountability on both sides. Their behaviour changes when both parties know that their actions are being documented in real time. Due to...

Ok it is pretty obvious, nobody seems to enjoy living in London, in fact a new study has reported that the capital’s inhabitants have the most anxiety in the UK. The question is where do you go to be happy, blissfully happy all day every day. Well the answer is the Outer Hebrides according to the ONS (Office for National Statistics). It is a long way from Oxford Circus. The research questioned 158,000 people, and asked respondents how satisfied they...