SCIENCE

The failure by the timber industry and environmental groups to reach an agreement on Monday would result in the Tasmanian government stepping in to resolve the impasse. The battle over the largest temperate rainforest in the region has extended to mining in the Tarkine wilderness.

The Liberals in Canberra promised to repeal the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) ban on free plastic bags if they grab the territory's political leadership after the October ACT polls. The position is a U-turn from the previous stand taken by the Libs in 2004.

"Grids supplying electricity to half of India's 1.2 billion people collapsed on Tuesday," reports Reuters. "The outage was the worst to hit India in more than a decade and embarrassed the government, which has failed to build up enough power capacity to meet soaring demand."

Nature is returning to Australians the trash they carelessly leave behind in the country's beaches. Reports said that over 4,500 pieces of rubber footwear were washed up in a Queensland beach.

The cat is out of the bag, as more evidence continues to emerge proving that clean-up workers at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan deliberately covered up high radiation readings at the order of their superiors.

The Blue Moon in August brings to mind the frequently asked questions about the cosmic event. Along with the questions come tales of love and deadly tragedies, and this is the case every two or three years, when there is an extra full moon in a year.

Using the half glass point of view, Opposition leader Tony Abbott insisted on Monday that despite recent survey results showing more acceptance of the carbon tax, many Aussies still dislike the $23 per tonne carbon price.

The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is expected to peak through the last nights of July, with the best time to look up to the sky before dawn. Here are ten things to know about the spectacular cosmic trails of light for stargazers.

UFO watchers gathered Saturday at a historical crash site in Kecksburg, PA as part of the ceremonies for an annual festival celebrating UFOs and other unusual sightings in the area.

Residents of South Canberra are opposing the moves of the National Capital Authority (NCA) to create an embassy row at a parkland in the suburb of Yarralumla. The NCA is eyeing the land on Stirling Park near the Old Canberra Brickworks, which residents said should be preserved.

A second survey in less than one week and barely a month since the Gillard government started to collect the controversial carbon price of $23 per tonne would put a smile on Prime Minister Julia Gillard's face and a frown on Opposition leader Tony Abbott's. The report by Nielsen, released Monday and two days short of the one-month mark of the levy, said opposition to the carbon tax has been easing. Similar findings were reported by the Climate Institute last week.

Four witnesses from two neighboring northeastern Texas counties have reported seeing UFOs within 48 hours. Three of the witnesses described the perceived aircraft to be triangular in shape. The four reports are seen at the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) reporting database.

A study of unidentified flying objects in Canada shows a record high number of sightings in 2011, prompting researchers to suggest further studies into the subject. In Australia, there appears to be a rise in the number of UFO sightings, too.

Western Australia (WA) banned on Wednesday coalmining in the wine and tourism region of Margaret River. The prohibition was made by WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore who declared a no coalmining zone which covers 230 square kilometers.

More information is the key for the federal government of Australia to reverse the voter dislike for the carbon tax, a study by the Climate Institute said.

The city sees its new program as a way to help animals and people, but critics say dogs are being put at risk.

The wet weather conditions in the summer months at UK are filling the countryside with some amazing splendor, but at the expense of the failing crop harvests.

Huge chunk of Greenland glacier breaks off and poses major environmental challenges.

Paris is a city full of ideas. Concrete. Crystallized. Petrified. Brought forth from the minds of great men and women long since departed from this world. What we see around us today is the past writ large, realized, built of stone and cast in steel.

While a new report released on Monday acknowledges that the carbon trading scheme is needed for Australia to meet long-term targets that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is not sufficient to cut the cost of clean technologies to generate sufficient electricity and replace coal.

Los Angeles Zoo officials insist that when a big male chimpanzee killed a three-month-old baby chimp last week, it was just, so to speak, one of those things.

Many Australian businesses, particularly those outside the resources sector, are suffering from revenue and profit squeeze due to increasing cost of energy, expected to worsen with the imposition of the carbon tax on July 1 and huge investments in energy networks.

While more Australian men are shifting to careers within the lucrative resources sector, there are also a rising number of Aussie women who are venturing into Outback jobs.

Virgin Australia owner Richard Branson revealed on Friday that his space tourism program, Virgin Galactic, will lift off as planned in the last quarter of 2013, with him and his family as among the first passengers.

South Korea earned praises this time as it hinted the likelihood of backing down from its earlier announced plan of resuming whale hunting in pursuit of scientific research.

Planning to quit smoking? Be advised that there may be subsequent gain in weight in the process, according to results by a comprehensive study conducted by British and French experts.

On the second week of the implementation of the carbon tax, Treasurer Wayne Swan said the $23 per tonne carbon price is now a reality which Australians would have to judge its impact on their lives.

An unidentified flying object remains a mystery, according to an Australian UFO investigator. A curious flying object was spotted over Batemans Bay on the early hours of June 21. A man from Eurobodalla filmed the object for over eight minutes, saying he was “amazed” by the peculiar brightness of the orb-like object.

Despite the threat of a $1.1 million fine from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), some Aussie entities continue to gouge residents by blaming the two-week-old carbon tax for large increase in prices.