Research announcements from universities, hospitals and scientific institutions. Explore the stories, people and discoveries behind the headlines.
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A review of emerging polymer adsorbents finds they can remove short-chain PFAS 'forever chemicals' with over 90% efficiency where conventional activated carbon fails - but manufacturing burdens must be addressed before large-scale deployment.
Read the releaseA study in Science modeled population dynamics for 261 bird species across 1,033 routes over 34 years, finding 47% in decline with 63 species deteriorating at an accelerating rate, concentrated in agriculturally intensive U.S. regions.
Read the releaseA newly described fossil site in Newfoundland called Inner Meadow contains Ediacaran organisms 13 million years younger than previously known, dramatically increasing the estimated extinction severity of the Kotlin Crisis to around 80% of species.
Read the releaseA University of Vermont study using eight years of Tanzania panel data finds that major agricultural development programs like AGRA misread how rural households operate, overlooking gender dynamics and labor limits that determine farming outcomes.
Read the releaseA Princeton University study examining 38 countries on five continents found that nations underestimate wastewater greenhouse gas emissions by 19 to 27 percent, primarily due to outdated IPCC 2006 accounting guidelines and excluded systems like latrines and untreated sewage.
Read the releaseIn the most accurate measurement of iron inputs from an Antarctic glacier to date, Rutgers University marine scientists found that meltwater from an ice shelf delivers far less bioavailable iron to surrounding Southern Ocean waters than widely assumed - raising questions about whether glacial iron fertilization provides a meaningful natural buffer against rising CO2.
Read the releaseAnalysis of daily assault reports and air quality data in Seattle from 2013 to 2023 found that wildfire smoke events, which raised PM2.5 levels by an average of 7 micrograms per cubic meter, were associated with a 3.6% increase in violent assaults on smoke-affected days - the first causal evidence linking wildfire pollution to urban violence.
Read the releaseThe EU-funded SUPREME project, led by the University of Southern Denmark with TU Graz and international partners, is developing PFAS-free, iridium-reduced PEM electrolysis technology for green hydrogen production - targeting cost and sustainability barriers that currently prevent the technology from scaling.
Read the releaseDenmark has launched the Civil Engineering and the Green Transition in the Built Environment (CEBE) research program with a billion-DKK grant to develop new materials, methods, and knowledge aimed at reducing the construction sector's climate footprint - targeting an industry currently responsible for 37% of global CO2 emissions.
Read the releaseUniversity of Michigan researchers surveyed over 1,000 households in Malawi over two years and found that while solar technology is spreading rapidly in Africa, high costs, low power capacity, and social barriers prevent many families from getting meaningful energy services - even when systems are physically available.
Read the releaseEnvironmental chemists converted discarded coffee grounds into a metal-free porous carbon catalyst that achieves complete removal of toxic hydrogen sulfide at 180 degrees C, outperforming conventional catalysts while running for over 100 continuous hours.
Read the releaseComputer modeling of climate and milkweed distribution projects an 8-40% decline in suitable monarch butterfly habitat across Mexico by 2070, with the remaining habitat concentrating in southern Mexico and fracturing existing north-south migration corridors.
Read the releaseA Nature Communications study combining climate science, energy modeling and inequality analysis finds air conditioning use will more than double by 2050, potentially adding 0.03-0.07 degrees C warming - equivalent to 74-183 billion transatlantic flights - while regions most affected by heat have least access.
Read the releaseUniversity of Manchester polymer scientists argue in Cambridge Prisms: Plastics that terms like 'upcycling' and 'downcycling' assign assumed value to plastic recycling pathways not supported by lifecycle analysis - sometimes making worse outcomes sound better, and better outcomes sound worse.
Read the releaseA University of Miami meta-analysis of 40+ years of research covering 200+ peer-reviewed studies and 1,900 comparisons finds vessel traffic consistently disrupts feeding, movement, communication, and stress physiology in marine megafauna - with threatened species showing stronger responses.
Read the releaseA MNCN-CSIC study of 33,990 fish populations across 29 years finds chronic ocean warming drives biomass declines of up to 19.8% annually. Marine heatwaves temporarily boost cold-water species by up to 176%, masking the underlying trend and potentially misleading fisheries managers.
Read the releaseA Nature Sustainability study from Chalmers University modeled 700 European water basins and found that siting green hydrogen production near existing industry and renewable energy - the economically rational choice - concentrates water demand in regions already approaching resource limits by 2050.
Read the releaseThe European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts opened Code for Earth 2026 applications covering wildfire rapid response, flood forecasting from 10,000 global stations, and ML anomaly detection. A new fourth stream focuses on climate resilience challenges defined by African partner organizations.
Read the releaseWhen extreme rain triggered flooding in Quebec's Charlevoix region in 2011, courts found municipalities liable for failing to remove beaver dams. New LiDAR-based hydraulic modeling shows the dam failures raised water levels at the damaged property by only 20 centimeters for a few minutes - and the flooding would have happened regardless.
Read the releaseIn a six-year study of 46 Arctic seabird chicks, shorter early-life telomeres predicted a higher probability of returning to the natal colony as adults - the opposite of standard expectations. In competitive sibling conditions, investing in growth appears to beat investing in DNA repair.
Read the releaseExisting climate policies saved 3 billion tons of CO2 in 2022 - roughly the European Union's annual emissions. A new multi-institution study identifies which policy designs worked and which fell short across the world's 43 largest economies.
Read the releaseA study from Florida Atlantic University tracked more than 31,500 behavioral observations and found that oleamide, a chemical shed by common plastics, disrupts chemical communication between octopuses and crustacean prey in ways that persist well after the chemical is removed.
Read the releaseA study of 237 species found that critical flicker fusion rates - a measure of how fast animals process visual information - are tightly linked to ecological lifestyle. Flying animals process visual information roughly twice as fast as non-flyers; sedentary species perceive the world far more slowly.
Read the releaseA study analyzing 1901-2020 climate data found that synchronized droughts affect only 1.8% to 6.5% of global land simultaneously, far below previous estimates of one-sixth of the planet, with ocean temperature patterns acting as the key limiting mechanism.
Read the releaseScientists at iDiv, UFZ, and Leipzig University developed a center-of-mass metric for global vegetation and found that Earth's green center has been drifting northward as Northern Hemisphere greening increasingly outpaces southern vegetation changes.
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