Climate science, earth systems and environmental research.
The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake triggered large sediment flows in Toyama Bay, carrying organic-rich material into the deep sea. The following decomposition was associated with lower oxygen and higher nutrient concentrations, while low-oxygen conditions persisted for at least 152 days.
A study of 407 households in Hamakuya Village, South Africa, found that flooding damaged crops and transport links, disrupting food access. In 2023, 70.3% of households reported some level of food insecurity, while many responded by rationing meals and relying on social networks.
Rainfall-triggered landslides may become more common in part of southern Italy even as climate projections show generally drier soils. Modeling suggests that changes in rainfall intensity and the moisture left by earlier rain could outweigh the drying trend.
Illegal fishing can enter seafood markets through ship-to-ship transfers, weakly regulated ports and false documents. The article estimates that illicit marine wild-fish seafood trade totals 8.4 to 15.4 million metric tons a year and is worth $6.2 billion to $12.2 billion, while noting that proposed solutions still need more research.
Adding hazelnut or sweet chestnut trees to soybean farms reduced their modeled carbon footprint in a study from western Slovakia. But soybean yields fell by 61–83% in the tree-based systems, with chestnut systems showing the largest modeled climate benefit and hazelnut systems retaining higher soybean yields.
In a West Texas field study, alfalfa irrigated with treated oil-and-gas wastewater grew similarly to alfalfa irrigated with groundwater. The water met most irrigation standards, but elevated strontium and the need to track long-term effects remain concerns.
Prescribed burns made the Brazilian Cerrado shrub Macairea radula flower earlier and for longer, but reduced its fruiting period and fruit abundance. The findings suggest that fire management should consider effects on reproduction beyond flowering.
Isotopes preserved in children’s teeth from a prehistoric Chinese site point to several weaning patterns and different life histories. People in more lavish burials had diets richer in high-protein C3 foods, while others mainly ate C4 foods, suggesting that diet and childhood treatment varied with emerging social differences.
A forensic operation after the 2015 Mediterranean migrant shipwreck recovered 528 bodies and about 30,000 commingled remains. Ten years later, 33 victims had been identified and another 40 were being confirmed, showing how detailed records and international cooperation can support identification after a mass disaster.
An open Zenodo working note tracks water use linked to 10 AI data-centre sites and provides code to reproduce its calculations. It finds that closed-loop cooling shifts roughly 92% to 95% of the modelled water footprint to the electricity grid, rather than removing it.
Measurements in Missoula, Montana, found that aged wildfire smoke contained substantially more fine particles, carbon monoxide and chemical pollutants than a widely used atmospheric model predicted. The researchers estimated that an annually recurring 2020-style fire season would raise excess lifetime cancer risk to about 100 in 1 million, while the model understated that risk by about 40 percent.
Two native Amazonian stingless bee species carried microplastics in both urban and rural areas, with most particles attached to their outer bodies. The finding suggests these bees could help monitor pollution, while also raising questions about whether they transport plastic particles into natural areas.
Europe’s forests lost an estimated 6.5 ± 0.8 petagrams of aboveground biomass between 1985 and 2023, with annual losses accelerating after 2018. Harvests caused most of the total loss, while rising natural disturbances in biomass-rich temperate forests helped drive the recent increase.
Iron-rich regions at the boundary between Earth’s core and mantle may store heavy iron isotopes and carry them upward in rising mantle plumes. The proposed deep source could help explain why ocean-island basalts have heavier and more variable iron isotope compositions than mid-ocean ridge basalts.
Ghana’s Keta Lagoon remains ecologically functional, but researchers found signs of nutrient enrichment, organic matter loading and habitat alteration. Water, sediment and bottom-dwelling animal communities varied across the lagoon, with more tolerant species dominant where nutrient and turbidity levels were higher.
