Welsh plan to reopen stores offers hope for UK-wide industry closed in prime sales season

Garden centres are preparing for a surge in plant and flower sales that could help salvage a catastrophic year for the horticulture industry.

The UK’s 2,000 garden centres and nurseries were forced to close in March because, unlike DIY chains such as B&Q and Homebase, they were not granted “essential” retailer status. The shutdown came at a critical time of year, with 70% of sales rung up in spring, forcing devastated growers to throw away millions of plants.

There are all sorts of ways the home cook can help conserve precious energy, this recipe for vegan coconutty ‘cheesecake’ being a case in point

Reducing waste in the kitchen isn’t just about saving food: the time and energy it takes to cook food are also important resources that are easily squandered.

The best way to save energy, besides loving your leftovers, is by cooking less: swap out a cooked element of your meal for a nutritious vegetable salad or raw dish (such as today’s coconut and lemon “cheesecake”); or make one-pot wonders that don’t use multiple cooker rings. And when you do need to cook more, make extra portions for the freezer.

Planet of the Humans film has had 5m views on YouTube and has enraged renewable energy experts who are demanding an apology

Planet of the Humans is an environmental documentary that has enraged renewable energy experts and environmentalists, with some calling for its high-profile executive producer, Michael Moore, to apologise.

It was released for free less than two weeks ago, and at the time of writing had had close to 5m views on YouTube.

Investment mandate of the Clean Energy Financing Corporation will be changed, but no guarantee hydrogen will be produced from renewables

The Morrison government will change the investment mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, directing it to make up to $300m available for a new Advancing Hydrogen Fund as part of the national hydrogen strategy.

The Coalition’s move to create a dedicated hydrogen financing fund will be confirmed on Monday, and comes ahead of other changes the government intends to make to the CEFC’s investment program, including requiring it to support new investments in grid reliability.

El confinamiento y la caída del precio del petróleo ponen en juego el futuro de un enorme yacimiento petrolífero argentino

• Read this article in English here

En las próximas semanas, se esclarecerá si el mundo vuelve a los combustibles fósiles tras la pandemia o si da un paso adelante hacia una economía limpia, mientras el FMI (Fondo Monetario Internacional) y Argentina deciden si van a continuar ofreciendo su apoyo a los inmensos yacimientos de petróleo y gas de Vaca Muerta, en Patagonia.

El objetivo del proyecto es explotar el segundo depósito más grande de esquisto del planeta (después de la Cuenca Pérmica, en Texas), pero su futuro es incierto debido al confinamiento forzoso provocado por COVID-19, que ha causado el descenso más drástico en el precio del crudo de los últimos treinta años.

Plan would help Trump administration advance projects held up over global heating concerns such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline

The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, road expansions and bridges.

Related: How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation

The oil industry saw its opening and moved with breathtaking speed to take advantage of this moment

I’m going to tell you the single worst story I’ve heard in these past few horrid months, a story that combines naked greed, political influence peddling, a willingness to endanger innocent human beings, utter blindness to one of the greatest calamities in human history and a complete disregard for the next crisis aiming for our planet. I’m going to try to stay calm enough to tell it properly, but I confess it’s hard.

The background: a decade ago, beginning with indigenous activists in Canada and farmers and ranchers in the American west and midwest, opposition began to something called the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to carry filthy tar sands oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. It quickly became a flashpoint for the fast-growing climate movement, especially after Nasa scientist James Hansen explained that draining those tar sands deposits would be “game over” for the climate system. And so thousands went to jail and millions rallied and eventually Barack Obama bent to that pressure and blocked the pipeline. Donald Trump, days after taking office, reversed that decision, but the pipeline has never been built, both because its builder, TC Energy, has had trouble arranging the financing and permits, and because 30,000 people have trained to do nonviolent civil disobedience to block construction. It’s been widely assumed that, should a Democrat win the White House in November, the project would finally be gone for good.

Lawsuits are pending from groups who have challenged the constitutionality of shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante

Plans finalized on Thursday for two national monuments in Utah downsized by Donald Trump would ensure that lands previously off-limits to energy development will be open to mining and drilling.

The move comes despite pending lawsuits from conservation, tribal and paleontology groups, who have challenged the constitutionality of the president’s action. The Trump administration slashed the size of Bears Ears national monument by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument by nearly half in December 2017, in what represented the largest elimination of public lands protections in US history.

Conservation groups criticized the Trump administration on Thursday for spending time on management plans they believe will become moot when the court sides with their assertion that Trump misused the Antiquities Act to reverse decisions by previous presidents.

Warming springs can cause plants to bloom earlier, alter hibernation times and locations for migrating animals, and increase insect populations

Across the south-eastern US, trees are unfurling their clouds of leaves after winter. Yet this picturesque and usually welcome development is this year cause for consternation.

New data from the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) shows that in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and northern Florida, spring has arrived more than three weeks earlier than average, and earlier than at any point in the last 39 years it has been tracked.

Planned sale of land to fossil fuel, mining and and timber concerns mirrors rollback of Obama-era pollution regulations

The Trump administration has ratcheted up its efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic to overhaul and overturn Obama-era environmental regulations and increase industry access to public lands.

The secretary of the interior, David Bernhardt, has sped efforts to drill, mine and cut timber on fragile western landscapes. Meanwhile, the EPA, headed by the former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, has weakened critical environmental laws and announced in March that it would cease oversight of the nation’s polluters during the Covid-19 crisis.

An oil fire burned for more than three weeks next to a freshwater lake in Vaca Muerta, Argentina, one of the world’s largest deposits of shale oil and gas and home to the indigenous Mapuche people. In collaboration with Forensic Architecture, this video looks at the local Mapuche community’s claim that the oil and gas industry has irreversibly damaged their ancestral homeland, and with it their traditional ways of life

• Indigenous Mapuche pay high price for Argentina's fracking dream
• with thanks toO11CE (Arena Documenta + m7red, Comunidad Mapuce Campo Maripe, Confederación Mapuce del Neuquén, Observatorio Petrolero Sur and Jorgelina Villarreal
  

Asian giant hornet, which became more active in the state in April, is the world’s largest and can kill humans with multiple stings

• Alarm over deaths of bees from rapidly spreading viral disease
  

Researchers and citizens in Washington state are on a careful hunt for invasive “murder hornets”, after the insect made its first appearance in the US.

The Asian giant hornet is the world’s largest and can kill humans. But it is most dangerous for the European honeybee, which is defenseless in the face of the hornet’s spiky mandibles, long stinger and potent venom.

Crowds are coming to see the light show as beaches begin to reopen after an almost month-long closure due to coronavirus

Mother nature has provided a radical gift to nighttime beach-goers in southern California, in the form of bioluminescent waves that crash and froth with an otherworldly light.

Related: California surf shimmers with bioluminescence – in pictures

Nuclear Regulatory Commission keen to allow material to be disposed of by ‘land burial’ – with potentially damaging effects

The federal agency providing oversight of the commercial nuclear sector is attempting to push through a rule change critics say could allow dangerous amounts of radioactive material to be disposed of in places like municipal landfills, with potentially serious consequences to human health and the environment.

Related: Coca-Cola and Pepsi falling short on pledges over plastic – report

नये साल के लिए यह सबसे अच्छा वेट लॉस टिप्स है.

स्किन केयर का यह सबसे अच्छा टिप्स है. हल्दी का उबटन चेहरे की चमक बढ़ा देता है.

Canadian Football League Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the most likely scenario is to cancel the season because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mike Storen, a former ABA commissioner and multisport marketing whiz and the father of ESPN broadcaster Hannah Storm, died Thursday. He was 84.

Tottenham forward Son Heung-min finished his three-week military training in South Korea on Friday and was right near the top of the class.

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker complained about being “harassed” and said Friday his family has been “torn apart” after admitting to breaking social-distancing rules again during the coronavirus pandemic.

While NBA teams are slowly gearing up to return to training facilities this week, the league has reportedly issued a memo prohibiting those with elevated temperatures from participating.  

Former Los Angeles Lakers player Shannon Brown was arrested last week for allegedly firing a gun at two people who entered his Georgia home that was listed for sale.

The Washington Capitals announced Friday that forward Brendan Leipsic was placed on unconditional waivers after his private messages were leaked on social media Wednesday.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been the most outspoken figure in the NBA to push for the season to resume but he made it clear on Thursday that he won’t even consider opening the team’s training facility until everyone is able to get tested for coronavirus. 

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill stepped up for a teammate who was in need.

Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas appears to have reconciled with his wife after reports emerged earlier this week that she held him at gunpoint last month after discovering an alleged affair. 

Vanessa Bryant, the widow of late NBA star Kobe Bryant, filed a legal claim Friday against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department over graphic photos that deputies allegedly took and shared of the helicopter crash scene where her husband, 13-year-old daughter, Gigi, and seven others were killed in late January.

Historically, recessions have hit men harder. This time it's different, economists say.

For years, those living and working in nursing and retirement homes across the country have struggled as overburdened caregivers tried to maintain a basic level of care and dignity for aging and ailing Canadians.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government will cover fixed operating costs and waive all fees related to licensing applications, renewals and revisions.

Studying how bats behave when they’re feeling ill could help researchers better understand how pathogens move through close-knit populations

In a famous 1970 teach-in demonstration, prosecutors hammered away at the nation’s most powerful defendant

These scientists and inventors set out to change the planet with these out-of-the-box ideas

Deepen your understanding of the natural world with these free resources

The renewable energy source has never quite lived up to its potential, but a new experiment in Nova Scotia could flip the script

The outbreak, and the travel bans and fears that come with it, have endangered long-running research projects

The green-and-white banner from an Illinois high school recalls the first Earth Day 50 years ago

Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Alfred "Al" Worden, an aviator, engineer and storyteller passed away on March 18, 2020

With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing a global pandemic, a look back at the scientists who figured out viruses and their relationship to disease

The curious set of numbers shows up in nature and also in human activities.

It’s been 180 years since Charles Wilkes voyaged to the Antarctic continent and his journey has never been more relevant

An early childhood education expert provides tips about how to explain the ongoing pandemic to children

Though COVID-19 likely makes recovered patients immune, experts aren't sure how long protection lasts

Find a hobby, for starters, and don't forget the mission, say scientists who have worked at remote research stations

Researchers see promise in recruiting red siskin pet traders as conservation partners

The Smithsonian's Earth Optimism Summit will now stream online starting this Earth Day; tune in and be inspired

These letters and journals offer insights on how to record one's thoughts amid a pandemic

The SARS-CoV-2 virus endures for days on plastic or metal but disintegrates soon after landing on copper surfaces. Here’s why

As a biological anthropologist focused on health, diseases are part of Sabrina Sholts' specialty

From teaching curious museumgoers to adding creativity to the scientific process, art thrives at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History