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Environment
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Environment

Year-round edamame: hydroponic LED plant factories redefine sustainable cultivation

Artificial light-type plant factories are an emerging agricultural innovation that enable crops to be grown year-round in precisely controlled environments. By adjusting factors such as light, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and nutrient delivery, these facilities can produce stable yields independent of climate conditions. They offer a promising way to reduce pesticide use and minimize the impacts of climate change. However, legumes like edamame have long been considered difficult to cultivate in such settings because of their long growth periods, short storage periods, complex flowering, and pod-setting processes. Against this backdrop, the research ...

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Environment

Advanced imaging reveals new fungus species in 407-million-year-old plant fossil from Scotland

Researchers from the Natural History Museum and Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) have identified a new species of ancient symbiotic fungus preserved within a 407-million-year-old plant fossil from Scotland. The discovery provides unprecedented three-dimensional insight into one of the earliest known plant–fungus partnerships, known as mycorrhiza. Beyond this discovery, the advanced microscopy techniques used to distinguish the fungus from the surrounding plant cells open a powerful new way to identify fossilised life forms. By analysing their unique ...

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Environment

Narwhals hit moorings—questioning safety assumptions of oceanographic monitoring in the Arctic

Underwater passive acoustic recording is vital for researchers to monitor and study marine animals in their natural environment with minimal disturbance. “Using passive acoustic monitoring to detect acoustically active animals helps to census biodiversity, understand animal behavior and habitat use, and reduce the negative impacts of human-made noise,” said Associate Professor Evgeny A. Podolskiy of the Arctic Research Center at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. “For these reasons, scientists increasingly rely on passive acoustic monitoring to answer fundamental ecological questions and manage conservation.” Endemic Arctic whales, ...

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Environment

The silent threat to our planet that’s easily solved: Light pollution

New research has revealed for the first time the full extent of how Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) is increasing carbon released by plants and animals across continents – without any increase in the carbon they absorb. The result is reduced carbon storage in ecosystems – which has major implications for climate models and global carbon budgets. Artificial light at night is reshaping carbon balance of whole ecosystems Published in Nature Climate Change, the study from researchers at Cranfield University is the first to demonstrate how ALAN is silently reshaping the carbon balance of ecosystems across ...

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Environment

Researchers uncover natural seepage of oil and gas off Northeast Greenland

A large research study by an international team of scientists led by Christoph Böttner from Aarhus University shows clear evidence of extensive natural hydrocarbon seepage along the Northeast Greenland margin — one of the least explored continental margins on Earth. The new discoveries of widespread natural seepage and gas hydrates in NE Greenland represent a significant advance in our understanding of natural seepage across the Arctic. This is important in the light of rapidly changing ...

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Environment

New research reveals path to sustainable rice farming in Myanmar

Scientists have identified practical fertilizer strategies that can help rice farmers in Myanmar boost their profits, protect the environment, and improve food security. Recent research, led by an international team including experts from the University of Melbourne and local partners, provides new recommendations for nitrogen fertilizer use, aiming for a balance between high yields and low environmental costs. Myanmar is one of Southeast Asia’s largest rice producers, yet struggles with low productivity, financial challenges, and food insecurity. Most local farmers rely on ...

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Environment

A novel strategy for highly selective ethanol synthesis from methane driven by light-driven transformation without reliability for reactive oxygen species

Professor Zhongkui Zhao of Dalian University of Technology, in collaboration with Professor Riguang Zhang of Taiyuan University of Technology, Researcher Yuefeng Liu of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Ting Zhang of Qingdao University, and Professor Chunshan Song of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, constructed a single-atom Cu-N2O1 site with axial oxygen coordination on C3N4. Through the polar activation of the CH bond by the polar Cu-O bond, ...

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Environment

New analysis yields clearer picture of toxin-producing blue-green algae blooms

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A long-term analysis shows that a major Oregon reservoir abruptly swapped one type of toxic algae for another midway through the 12-year study period, absent any obvious cause. The project provides a novel look at harmful algal blooms, or HABs, which pose multiple health risks to people and animals worldwide. Harmful algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs are explosions of cyanobacteria, often referred to as blue-green algae. Microscopic organisms ubiquitous in all types of water around the globe, cyanobacteria use sunlight to make their own food and in warm, nutrient-rich environments can quickly multiply, resulting in blooms that spread across ...

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Environment

Innovation turns building vents into carbon-capture devices

A nanofiber air filter developed by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) could turn existing building ventilation into carbon-capture devices while cutting homeowners’ energy costs. In a paper recently published in Science Advances, researchers from the lab of UChicago PME Asst. Prof. Po-Chun Hsu developed a distributed carbon nanofiber direct air capture (DAC) filter that could potentially turn every home, office, school or other building into a small carbon-capture system working toward the global problem of airborne CO2. A ...

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Environment

Non-native plant species adapt to natural ecosystems faster than expected

For a long time, scientists assumed that newly established plants in Europe served less often as food or hosts for native animals and fungi, since they share no common evolutionary history with local fauna and could therefore spread particularly aggressively. According to Staude, the study confirms this initial phase. However, the study also showed that this changes over time: after a few centuries, many of these plants are increasingly used by plant parasites. Unlike pollinators, plant parasites are usually highly specialised in native plants – which makes the findings all the more surprising, according to Staude. “We also observe in this context that ...

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Environment

Continents peel from below, triggering oceanic volcanoes

Earth scientists have discovered how continents are slowly peeled from beneath, fuelling volcanic activity in an unexpected place: the oceans. The research, led by the University of Southampton, shows how slivers of continents are slowly stripped from below and swept into the oceanic mantle – the hot, mostly solid layer beneath the ocean floor that slowly flows. Here, the continental material fuels volcanic activity for tens of millions of years. The discovery solves a long-standing geological mystery: why many ocean islands far from plate tectonic ...

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Environment

COP webpages emit seven times more carbon than average sites

Websites produced for COP conferences emit up to seven times more carbon than average internet pages, new research suggests. Ahead of this year’s United Nations climate summit, COP30, researchers have revealed a sharp increase in the carbon emissions generated by the conference’s websites over time. Analysis indicates that between 1995 – when the first Conference of the Parties (COP) was held – and 2024, average emissions from COP conference websites have risen by more than 13,000%. While ...

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Environment

Devilishly distinctive new bee species discovered in WA Goldfields

A new native bee species with tiny devil-like “horns” named Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer has been discovered in Western Australia’s Goldfields, highlighting how much remains unknown about Australia’s native pollinators. The striking new bee was found during surveys of a critically endangered wildflower Marianthus aquilonarius that grows only in the Bremer Range region, which is between the towns of Norseman and Hyden. Lead author Curtin Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Kit Prendergast, from the Curtin School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said the female bee’s unusual ...

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Environment

A novel climate biostress model and sentinel system seeks to track global climate impacts

NEW YORK, NY, November 10, 2025 – An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) has unveiled a groundbreaking conceptual model and integrative monitoring framework designed to reveal how climate change is stressing life across the planet. Their study, published this week in Cell Reports Sustainability, introduces the concept of the Climate BioStress model and proposes the adoption of an integrative Climate BioStress Sentinel System (CBS3), which could transform how researchers, policymakers, ...

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Environment

Billions live in environments that violate human rights

More than 99% of the world’s 7.7 billion people have one or more of their environmental rights threatened, according to new research. In the most comprehensive analysis of inequality in environmental conditions to date, CU Boulder researchers revealed that nearly half of the global population lives in regions facing three or more environmental problems. Those include polluted air, unsafe water, extreme heat, food insecurity and biodiversity loss. The analysis was published September 25 in Environmental Research Communications. It provides strong ...

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Environment

COP30: Global nature goals at risk as conservation projects quietly fail

As world leaders begin COP30 climate negotiations in Brazil this week, an international team co-led by a University of Sydney researcher has warned of a hidden crisis undermining global biodiversity and carbon targets: the quiet abandonment of conservation projects. The comment paper, ‘Conservation abandonment is a policy blind spot’, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, was co-led by Dr Matthew Clark, a postdoctoral researcher in the Thriving Oceans Research Hub at the University of Sydney and an honorary research associate in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College ...

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Environment

How plastics grip metals at the atomic scale

What makes some plastics stick to metal without any glue? Osaka Metropolitan University scientists peered into the invisible adhesive zone that forms between certain plastics and metals — one atom at a time — to uncover how chemistry and molecular structure determine whether such bonds bend or break. Their insights clarify metal–plastic bonding mechanisms and offer guidelines for designing durable, lightweight, and more sustainable hybrid materials for use in transportation. Combining the strength of metal with the lightness and flexibility of plastic, polymer–metal hybrid structures are emerging as key elements for building lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. ...

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Environment

Human impact on Amazon forests is transforming its ecological functions and evolutionary history

A new study reveals that the impact humans are having on the Amazon rainforest is so profound it is even changing the evolutionary history and functionality of the forests. As the world gathers at COP30 to discuss climate in the world’s largest rainforest, the focus is often on the carbon that these forests either store or sequester. However, tropical forests are much more than just carbon: they are among the biggest reservoirs of biodiversity on the planet. For example, the Amazon holds up to 16,000 species of tree alone, with a single hectare frequently holding more than 300 species. In comparison, the UK has just 32 species of ...

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Environment

Scientists unveil new strategies to balance farming and ecological protection in Northeast China

As China’s most important grain-producing region, Northeast China plays a vital role in safeguarding national food security. Yet this agricultural powerhouse faces a growing dilemma: how to maintain high crop yields while protecting the fragile ecosystems that sustain long-term productivity. A new study published in Agricultural Ecology and Environment identifies the key conflicts between agricultural expansion and ecological protection in the region and proposes integrated strategies to achieve a more sustainable balance. Over the past four decades, Northeast China’s farmlands ...

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Environment

Rising nitrogen and rainfall could supercharge greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s largest grasslands

As the planet warms and rainfall patterns shift, new research suggests that the world’s largest grassland region may become a growing source of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. A team of scientists led by Dr. Shuping Qin from the Chinese Academy of Sciences examined how soil and climate conditions control the process of denitrification, a key microbial pathway that converts nitrogen compounds in soil into gases including nitrous oxide (N₂O) and nitrogen gas (N₂). Their study, recently published in Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes, is the first to map how denitrification responds ...

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Environment

Saturn’s icy moon may host a stable ocean fit for life, study finds

New findings from NASA’s Cassini mission show that Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons and a top contender for extra-terrestrial life, is losing heat from both poles – indicating that it has the long-term stability required for life to develop. The findings have been published today (7 November) in Science Advances. A new study led by researchers from Oxford University, Southwest Research Institute and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona has provided the first evidence of significant heat flow at Enceladus’ north pole, overturning previous assumptions that heat loss was confined ...

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Environment

A conservative dialysis strategy and kidney function recovery in dialysis-requiring acute kidney injury

About The Study: A conservative dialysis strategy in dialysis-requiring acute kidney injury resulted in a shorter time to and higher rates of recovery of kidney function in the unadjusted analysis. Given uncertainty regarding the estimated effect size, this approach should be tested in a larger study population. Author Contact Information: The Corresponding Authors of the study are Kathleen D. Liu, MD, PhD, MAS, and Chi-yuan Hsu, MD, MSc. Suzanne Leigh, Senior Public Information Representative at UCSF, can assist with scheduling interviews. Suzanne can be reached at suzanne.leigh@ucsf.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

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Environment

Antarctic ice melt triggers further melting: Evidence for cascading feedbacks 9,000 years ago

A recent study published in Nature Geoscience has revealed that the substantial retreat of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) approximately 9,000 years ago was driven by a self-reinforcing feedback loop between ice melt and ocean circulation. The research team, led by Professor Yusuke Suganuma from the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), found that the inflow of warm deep water into coastal East Antarctica caused the collapse of ice shelves, which in turn accelerated inland ice loss. The discovery indicates that Antarctic ice ...

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Environment

Enhancing ocean wind observation accuracy: New rain correction approach for FY-3E WindRAD

Satellite scatterometers play a crucial role in monitoring ocean surface winds, with their accuracy directly impacting weather forecasting and climate research. However, rainfall has consistently challenged precise wind measurements, as Ku-band radar signals are much affected by rain clouds. A recent collaborative study involving researchers from the China Meteorological Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute has led to the development of an innovative rain conceptual model using dual-frequency measurements from the WindRAD instrument aboard China’s FengYun-3E (FY-3E) ...

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Environment

Engineered biochar emerges as a powerful, affordable tool to combat water pollution

A new comprehensive study highlights the remarkable potential of engineered biochar, a carbon-rich product derived from plant and waste biomass, for addressing one of the world’s most stubborn environmental problems: the co-contamination of water by heavy metals and organic pollutants. This joint effort, led by researchers at Guizhou University with collaborators from across China, reveals how strategic modifications to biochar’s structure dramatically expand its ability to capture and remove hazardous substances from wastewater, making it a viable, sustainable solution ...

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