NZ air passes carbon dioxide milestone and other top stories.

• NZ air passes carbon dioxide milestone

  

  An air monitoring station in New Zealand has passed a climate change milestone which one scientist describes as "a bit like turning 40 and realising you haven't started saving for your retirement".Carbon dioxide readings from The Baring Head clean air monitoring station near Wellington this week officially passed 400 parts per million, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research says.It follows the mark being passed at Hawaii's Mauna Loa station in November and Tasmania's Cape Grim ..

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• “Like an email from the Roman world”

  

  More than 400 Roman writing tablets have been unearthed in the heart of London, shedding light on the commerce-driven life in what would become the City of London financial hub, archaeologists said on Wednesday.The wooden tablets contain the earliest surviving written reference to London, and the earliest dated handwritten document from Britain: January 8, 57 — less than 14 years after the Roman invasion.The tablets reveal correspondence requesting payments, boasting of money-lending, asking fa..

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• Turnbull government promises new $5 million fund for threatened species

  

  Environment Minister Greg Hunt will make the Threatened Species Recovery Fund promise as part of World Environment Day. A re-elected Turnbull government would establish a new fund to help local communities from the Top End to Tasmania protect Australia's most vulnerable wildlife.Environment Minister Greg Hunt will make the $5 million Threatened Species Recovery Fund promise as part of World Environment Day on Sunday. The fund would provide seed money and commu..

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• Young Fish Get Hooked On Plastic Microbeads

  

  European researchers have discovered that larval fish love to gobble up plastic microbeads, which stunts their growth and makes them more vulnerable to predators. It’s yet another reason to ban these awful materials and to limit the amount of plastic entering into our lakes and oceans. Damselfish larvae that has ingested microplastic particles (Image: Oona M. Lönnstedt) As reported in a new Science study, developing fish that are exposed to high concentrations of microplastic particles exhibit..

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• The Sun may have stolen “Planet 9” from another system

  

  The Sun may have stolen “Planet 9” from another systemPosted on June 4, 2016 by Kathy Fey Image showing the possible theft of planet 9 from another star from article interview. Image-Lund University Recent observations of the outer solar system have revealed evidence that a ninth planet may be circling the Sun in a very wide orbit.  To explain observations of outer solar system space objects’ movements, scientists estimate that a planet with about ten times the mass of Earth is affecting the o..

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• Birth of baby 'dragons' in ancient cave in Slovenia

  

  Dragons are still the stuff of legend. But in Slovenia, a bizarre, cave-dwelling olm salamander serves as a worthy, real-life stand-in.For the past four months, biologists have been closely watching a clutch of "dragon" eggs at the Postojna Cave in southwestern Slovenia. No one had ever witnessed the birth of an olm outside of a lab until Wednesday, when two baby olms emerged from their eggs, to researchers' delight."Our first dragon literally shot itself out of the egg in a single attempt," Po..

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• NASA probe captures Pluto in twilight

  

  New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back a stunning image of the planet. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back a stunning image of Pluto, showing sunlight filtering through and illuminating the icy dwarf planet’s complex atmospheric haze layers. The image was captured by the New Horizons minutes after its closest approach on July 14 last year, NASA said.Sputnik Planum, Norgay Montes The southern portions of the nitrogen ice plains informally named Sputnik Planum, as well as mountains ..

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• Swarm of honey bees covers parked car in BC

  

  A group of beekeepers in Nanaimo, B.C. were called in after a swarm of honey bees covered a parked vehicle. The insects swarmed an SUV parked outside a local Value Village on Friday afternoon. Mark Schilling, an executive member of the Nanaimo Beekeepers Club, said swarms usually happen when a queen bee leaves her colony. Workers bees will follow her and surround her wherever she lands. But in this case, the beekeepers didn’t find the queen bee. “What I heard is the swarm started to s..

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Red carpet welcome in Cairns for giant Dawn Princess cruise ship .	Jawai to return to Cairns Taipans .
Paid ads no longer allowed on Microsoft's Minecraft gaming platform .	Minecraft has banned advertisers from building attractions inside the game .