IT IS time to take back the night for wildlife. That was the rallying call from a landmark session on light pollution at the Society for Conservation Biology on 4 July in Edmonton, Canada. The disruptive effects on animals of our penchant for bright lights has rarely impinged on public consciousness.

We've found lots of it, we're learning how to get it and we think we can clean it before we burn it. Is natural gas the secure answer to our energy woes?

Conventional wisdom says that wave farms must be more than 2 kilometres away from the coast, but a new analysis suggests otherwise.

The north of Scotland has been described as the Saudi Arabia of marine power

The industry most often accused of being responsible for the excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is, strange as it may seem, desperate to buy more of the stuff. Oil companies are paying industrial plants and natural gas processing facilities to bottle their waste CO2, and are then pumping it underground.

There is a way of returning to nuclear while overcoming safety and waste concerns: hybrid nuclear fusion. The concept has been around for decades, and has been discussed in the technical literature and at the International Atomic Energy Agency. But it has not yet been explained to governments, industry, researchers and the public.

Eighty-five million barrels. That's how much oil we consume every day. It's a staggering amount - enough to fill over 5400 Olympic swimming pools - and demand is expected to keep on rising, despite the impending supply crunch.

Cheap oil has been the driving force behind the phenomenal economic growth of the past century, at least in the west. Oil is the lifeblood of the modern world. If we were to remove it tomorrow, it is no exaggeration to say that civilisation would collapse. (Editorial)

Bags of cash are being thrown at high-risk, high-reward research by the Department of Energy. New Scientist takes a look at the lucky recipients.

Giant electricity plants in the Sahara desert could provide 15 per cent of Europe's power. But there may be better solar solutions closer to home.