Keeping the lights on: Could the UK be plunged into darkness? - Telegraph

There’s no shortage of power capacity on the system - in fact margins are some of the healthiest ever. There is almost 89 gigawatts (GW) on the grid, National Grid data show, and even in the peak of winter, usage barely exceeds 60GW.

But that’s all about to change as Britain attempts to become greener, and old, polluting fossil fuel-fired power stations are being shut down to comply with emissions regulations. Adding to that, all but one of the UK’s nine ageing nuclear power stations are, officially, due to be switched off between 2014 and 2023. Most of them are, in reality, expected to gain life extensions, of seven years on average, but that still leaves the prospect of closures looming next decade.

With UK electricity demand forecast to double by 2050, Britain needs an energy policy to replace what’s being lost - and then some.

Underwater 'umbrellas' should be used to protect Great Barrier Reef says report - Telegraph

The shade cloths proposed in the report would be anchored with ropes and float on the water surface to protect the corals from sunlight.

Zabulon Skipper: Butterfly harbinger of climate biodiversity DOOM? • The Register

Walters and his colleagues found that once the effect of evolution is allowed for, the apparent menace to the global ecology is found to have been overstated.