News
February 4, 2025
The day before, US President Donald Trump expressed interest in Ukraine's rare-earth metals, demanding that Kiev provide guarantees for their extraction and supply. In particular, Trump stressed that the United States is investing heavily in support of Ukraine, but wants to receive guarantees for rare earth metals, which are in large reserves on Ukrainian territory.
January 31, 2025
Shell boss vows to take Jackdaw gasfield battle to UK’s highest court. Developers of fossil fuel fields barred from starting production until consent decisions are reconsidered
Shell boss Wael Sawan said he would fight all the way to the UK Supreme Court to develop the North Sea’s Jackdaw gasfield after a court revoked permission for the project and another fossil fuel scheme.
Sawan told the Financial Times on Thursday he would “absolutely” go to the UK’s highest court if necessary to secure the Jackdaw project, on which Shell has already spent £800mn.
January 31, 2025
The oceanic plate between Arabian and Eurasian continental plates is breaking away. An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has investigated the influence of the forces exerted by the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan region of Iraq on how much the surface of the Earth has bent over the last 20 million years.
January 30, 2025
NASA Juno Mission Spots Most Powerful Volcanic Activity on Io to Date. Even by the standards of Io, the most volcanic celestial body in the solar system, recent events observed on the Jovian moon are extreme. Scientists with NASA’s Juno mission have discovered a volcanic hot spot in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter’s moon Io. The hot spot is not only larger than Earth’s Lake Superior, but it also belches out eruptions six times the total energy of all the world’s power plants.
January 29, 2025
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have blown up a coking coal mine in Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian name - Pokrovsk) on the orders of the Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. This was stated by military-political expert Yan Gagin, RIA Novosti reports.
"Yes, indeed, there was information about the mine explosion. This mine belongs to Akhmetov's Metinvest company. It was on his orders that it was blown up," he said.
January 24, 2025
Scientists have warned that Africa is breaking apart faster than previously thought. A 35-mile-long fissure in Ethiopia’s desert emerged in 2005 but has since been widening at a rate of half an inch per year. Researchers previously believed the split would take tens of millions of years, but Ken Macdonald, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, that it would likely happen within one to five million years.
The separation would also create a new ocean and continent on Earth.
January 23, 2025
The coal industry in Russia and around the world will come out of the crisis no earlier than 2027, and only if production is reduced and, as a result, the supply of energy (cheap) coal is reduced. Kommersant writes about this with reference to the NEFT Research review.
January 22, 2025
Germany may need to keep its fleet of mothballed coal-fired stations available for longer than expected as a drive to build new gas plants is severely behind schedule, grid operator Amprion GmbH warned.
After Europe’s biggest economy shut its last nuclear plant in 2023, its power generation margin has shrunk. The coal plants are there to help keep the lights on if needed and can be started up on short notice.
January 22, 2025
Oil spills worsen soil fertility in Siberia. Russian scientists have assessed the impact of oil pollution on the soil in the middle taiga of Western Siberia. The presence of petroleum products reduces the soil's ability to retain water and nutrients and leads to serious changes in soil pH. Podzolic soils are particularly affected by oil pollution. Deterioration of soil quality can lead to nutrient imbalances and adverse effects on plant growth.
January 17, 2025
Moon added to list of threatened cultural sites for first time. Potential looting and commercial trips pose risk to artefacts left by lunar landings, says World Monuments Fund.
The moon has been placed on a list of threatened heritage sites, owing to fears of potential looting and destruction caused by planned commercial trips.