It's time for Big Solar!

High oil prices are making massive scale solar projects look more and more attractive.

For an investment of $400 billion over 30 years, an ambitious solar plan could eventually power Europe plus two-thirds of the MENA countries by 2050, while dramatically cutting C02 emissions and phasing out nuclear power at the same time.

That’s a sizeable chunk of the whole world’s energy needs. And for only $13 billion per year.

Saying Goodbye to BC Salmon

Four years from now wild pink salmon may vanish from Canada's Broughton Archipelago, a new study warns.

The killers, according to the research, are sea lice from fish farms.

Scientists previously demonstrated that juvenile wild pink salmon often catch lethal sea lice infestations when they swim through areas where salmon are raised in open-net farms.

Now for the first time researchers have used a data-driven model to calculate the impact on the wild salmon population.

>> Hey, Lobby to ban open-net farms! Stop eating farmed salmon!

Vote for Mr Splashy Pants!

It's not a name that's going to fit in a Waits track, but "Mr Splashy Pants" is the most popular proposed name for a humpback whale that Greenpeace is tracking. In fact, he's massively ahead in polling with 76% of the vote. A Mr Splashy Pants "T" would be a great Christmas Present (Neal).

James Cameron couldn't do it better.

Now this is an excellent website for both excellent information presentation and marketing messaging -- it's the Governor of California Wildfire Site. The image gallery is fantastic and doesn't Schwarzenegger look the engaged and active leader?

Neal sends an update on California Fires

UN Climate panel win Nobel prize

Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee cited 'their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change'.

Mr Gore said he was 'deeply honoured'.

Bees scare off elephants

The buzz of angry bees could provide some relief for African villagers whose crop fields are regularly pillaged by hungry elephants.

Oxford University researchers found that elephants would quickly vacate a spot after hearing recordings of bees.

The insects are able to inflict painful stings inside the animals' trunks, and it is thought that elephants have learned to avoid them. The research is reported in the scientific journal Current Biology.

Sabretooth had surprising weak bite

The sabretooth tiger may have looked a fearsome sight with its massive canines but its reputation takes something of a knock with a new piece of research.

Scientists who have studied the extinct creature's skull in detail say it had a relatively weak bite compared with a modern lion.

>> I knew it.

Gorillas critically endangered.

The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change among the causes.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for only one.

The IUCN says there is a lack of political will to tackle the global erosion of nature.

The main changes from previous assessments include some of the natural world's iconic animals, such as the western lowland gorilla, which moves from the Endangered to the Critically Endangered category.

Numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20-25 years.