After a 16-month COVID-enforced absence, Exeter Vegan Market returns to the Corn Exchange on Saturday 24 July to bring some much-needed cruelty-free cheer to the city.
The market brings together a huge selection of vegan and eco-friendly products, mostly created by small independent South West businesses. Visitors can enjoy a unique range of vegan products including organically grown vegetables, a delicious choice of home-baked cakes and savouries, freshly baked bread, lovingly created cosmetics and toiletries, gifts, cards and environmentally-friendly household cleaners and baby...
What do zoo gardeners get each other for Christmas? A plant, of course – but not just any old plant. Gardeners at Paignton Zoo in Devon have given their colleagues at Marwell Zoo in Hampshire a Titan arum – one of the largest and smelliest plants in the world.
Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) blooms can be up to 3 metres high and 3 metres in circumference and smell like rotting meat. To be honest, this one looks a bit underwhelming right now – there’s no foliage, just the tuber, the swollen food store found underneath the soil. Big plants need big tubers – this one is more than...
The drugs we release into the environment are likely to have a significant impact on plant growth, finds a new study led by the University of Exeter Medical School and Plymouth University.
By assessing the impacts of a range of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the research has shown that the growth of edible crops can be affected by these chemicals – even at the very low concentrations found in the environment.
Published in the Journal of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, the research focused its analysis on lettuce and radish plants and tested the effects of...
Following last week’s steam blowing at the Exeter Energy from Waste plant, which generated significant noise, work is underway to mitigate the sound before the schedule resumes.
Before the plant can go into operation, steam is blown through the pipework to dislodge any grit or dust that could otherwise catch in the turbines. This is a completely safe procedure, and has to happen several times to ensure the pipework is completely clear. It does not form part of normal operating procedures.
Engineers on site are exploring a range of options, with the result that the schedule...
Astronomers from the University of Exeter using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope along with an international team of researchers have, for the first time, determined the true colour of a planet orbiting another star.
If seen up close this planet, known as HD 189733b, would be a deep cobalt blue, reminiscent of Earth’s colour as seen from space.
But that's where the similarities end. This deep blue dot is a huge gas giant orbiting very close to its host star. The planet's atmosphere is scorching with a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, and it rains glass, sideways...
