In July 2025, the Mediterranean Sea reached an average water temperature of 80.4°F - the warmest ever recorded. In places such as Spain, Italy, and Greece, waters are now hitting 82°F or even higher - more like a hot tub than a sea.



For swimmers, that might sound like a dream, but for marine life and ecosystems that depend on stable conditions, it’s a serious red flag.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-warning-for-global-oceans">Early warning for global oceans</h2>



Unlike wide-open oceans, the Mediterranean is semi-enclosed. It connects to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cold-spot-in-the-atlantic-could-signal-big-trouble-for-global-climate/">Atlantic</a> through the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, which limits how fast it can exchange water. That means heat, pollution, and acidification build up more quickly here than in most other seas.



Between 1982 and 2019, its surface water temperature rose by 2.3°F. In the same period, the global ocean average went up by just over 1°F. 



That difference matters. It’s why scientists call the Mediterranean a “climate change hotspot.” It’s warming and acidifying faster than most of the rest of the planet.



“What happens in the Mediterranean often foreshadows changes to be expected elsewhere," said Abed El Rahman Hassoun, a biogeochemical oceanographer at the <a href="https://www.geomar.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel</a>. 



"The Mediterranean Sea acts like an early warning system for processes that will later affect the global ocean.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mediterranean-temperature-risk-map">Mediterranean temperature risk map</h2>



A group of researchers considered 131 scientific papers that studied the influence of climate change on marine and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/restoring-coastal-ecosystems-can-mitigate-climate-change/">coastal ecosystems</a> within the Mediterranean. 



The team relied on the data from the IPCC’s climate scenarios to know what will probably occur at various emission levels.



The researchers built a risk map - called a "burning ember" diagram - to visualize how serious the threats are at various temperature increases.



“The diagram clearly shows how strongly climate change threatens key ecosystems," said Meryem Mojtahid, a professor of paleo-oceanography. "I hope our results will help raise awareness and inspire real action to protect these unique ecosystems.” 



The findings are clear: even small temperature increases can lead to major ecological damage.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-small-warming-big-consequences">Small warming, big consequences</h2>



Some people think a fraction of a degree isn’t a big deal. But the research shows that even an additional 0.8°F of warming puts many ecosystems in serious trouble.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/natural-climate-solutions-enhancing-the-role-of-seagrass-meadows/">Seagrass meadows</a> such as Posidonia oceanica - vital to oxygen production and nursery grounds for marine animals - would be reduced dramatically and potentially disappear by 2100. Indigenous seaweeds such as Cystoseira are likely to decrease, and invasive algae will probably dominate.



Fish stocks might fall by 30 to 40 percent. Some will move north into cooler seas, leaving space for newcomers such as lionfish, which disrupt food webs.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-corals-can-survive-high-ocean-heat-which-could-save-reefs/">Corals</a>, surprisingly, are more resistant - but only up to a point. They face moderate to high risk starting at 5.6°F above today’s temperatures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coastal-ecosystems-under-rising-threat">Coastal ecosystems under rising threat</h2>



Warming isn’t the only issue. Sea level rise, including in the Mediterranean, adds another layer of stress, especially for areas up to 30 feet above sea level. Beaches, dunes, and rocky shores are losing ground - literally.



Sea turtle nesting sites are at risk, too. Over 60 percent of them could disappear. And even rocky coasts, which usually resist erosion better than sand, are beginning to lose biodiversity.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wetlands-are-a-hidden-source-of-rising-methane-emissions/">Wetlands</a>, salt marshes, lagoons, and deltas are also feeling the heat. Many are already showing damage at just +0.8°F to +1.0°F. 



Plants are dying off, invasive species are moving in, and water supplies are drying up due to changes in rainfall. Flooding and excess nutrients only make things worse as temperatures climb.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-every-fraction-of-a-degree-counts">Every fraction of a degree counts</h2>



Scientists used two IPCC emissions scenarios to project future outcomes. In the moderate scenario, known as RCP 4.5, emissions level off in the near future.



Even along this more optimistic path, the Mediterranean is expected to warm by a temperature of 1.1°F by 2050 and up to 2.3°F by 2100. In the high-emissions scenario, called RCP 8.5 - where emissions continue to rise without major policy changes - warming could reach between 4.9°F and 6.8°F by century’s end.



The impacts multiply with every increase. More heat means greater acidification, faster sea-level rise, and larger disruptions in food chains.



“These scenarios show we can still make a difference - every tenth of a degree counts,” said Hassoun. “Political decisions made now will determine whether ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea collapse or remain functional, supporting the ecosystem services they provide.”



“At the same time, our study also shows that even with moderate climate protection and an additional 0.8°C warming, we must expect some consequences. Our focus should be on minimizing the impacts as much as possible.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-data-gaps-cloud-mediterranean-future">Data gaps cloud Mediterranean future</h2>



The study also pointed out a big gap in what we know. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-temperature-has-been-steadily-rising-since-the-1850s/">Temperature data</a> is scarce for parts of the Mediterranean, especially in the south and east. That means the risk in those areas might be underestimated.



There’s also a lack of research on how multiple stressors - like pollution, overfishing, and invasive species - combine to make things worse. Deep-sea habitats, salt marshes, and marine megafauna still need more attention.



“We found that Mediterranean ecosystems are remarkably diverse in how they respond to climate-related stress. Some are more resistant than others, but none are invincible,” said Mojtahid. “Only strict climate protection measures can keep the risks at a level to which ecosystems can still adapt."



This isn’t just about saving a few species. The Mediterranean supports millions of people - from fishing to tourism to coastal agriculture. When ecosystems collapse, the damage doesn’t stop at the shoreline. The science is clear. We can slow this down. But only if action is taken now.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-07858-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.



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Mediterranean Sea reaches its hottest temperatures ever recorded

In July 2025, the Mediterranean Sea reached an average water temperature of 80.4°F - the warmest ever recorded. In places such as Spain, Italy, and Greece, waters are now hitting 82°F or even higher - more like a hot tub than a sea. For swimmers, that might sound like a dream, but for marine life and ecosystems that depend on stable conditions, it’s a serious red flag. Early warning for global oceans Unlike wide-open oceans, the Mediterranean is semi-enclosed. It connects to the Atlantic through the narrow...

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, or AMOC, is a giant system of ocean currents that shuttles warm surface water northward and returns cold, dense water to the south at depth. 



For years, climate scientists have worried that rising greenhouse-gas emissions could cripple this "conveyor belt" in the Atlantic Ocean.



A shutdown of the AMOC is prominently featured in worst-case climate scenarios, raising the specter of abrupt cooling in Europe, shifts in African and South Asian monsoons, and faster regional sea-level rise.



However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">California Institute of Technology</a> (Caltech) suggests that while the AMOC is indeed poised to weaken, it is unlikely to experience the dramatic near-collapse forecast by some computer models.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-atlantic-models-re-examined">Atlantic models re-examined</h2>



The study combines a streamlined physical model of ocean circulation with two decades of direct observations collected by trans-Atlantic monitoring arrays.



Lead author Dave Bonan, who completed the work as a Caltech doctoral student, explains that standard climate models differ wildly in how they simulate today’s AMOC and therefore in how they project its future.



Instead of attempting to reconcile all of those complex simulations, Bonan’s team identified a single - but crucial - physical relationship: the link between the current’s strength, its depth, and its sensitivity to surface warming and freshening.



The analysis concludes that by 2100, the AMOC will slow by roughly 18 to 43 percent, depending on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2023-climate-change-report-record-high-temperatures-greenhouse-gases-sea-level-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">greenhouse-gas emissions</a>. That is a significant reduction, but far short of the 60–80 percent declines, or near-total collapses, that some earlier studies implied.



“Our results imply that, rather than a substantial decline, the AMOC is more likely to experience a limited decline over the 21st century - still some weakening, but less drastic than previous projections suggest,” Bonan said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-establishing-the-depth-of-the-amoc">Establishing the depth of the AMOC</h2>



The researchers discovered that present-day model biases stem largely from how deep each model’s AMOC extends.



A stronger, deeper overturning cell allows climatic changes at the surface - warmer temperatures and an influx of freshwater from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrinking-arctic-ice-changing-global-climate-warm-arctic-cold-eurasia/">melting</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrinking-arctic-ice-changing-global-climate-warm-arctic-cold-eurasia/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrinking-arctic-ice-changing-global-climate-warm-arctic-cold-eurasia/">ice</a> - to penetrate farther downward. That penetration erodes the density contrasts that power the circulation, leading to a bigger slowdown.



Models that start with a shallower AMOC simulate less surface-driven change and therefore a milder weakening. Because real-world observations show that the actual AMOC lies somewhere in between those extremes, the team’s new estimate falls in the mid-range as well.



To anchor their model, the scientists drew on 20 years of data from moored instruments that continuously measure temperature, salinity, and current speed along 26.5° N and other latitudes in the Atlantic. 



The records provided a reality check for the model’s present-day state and narrowed the plausible range of future outcomes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-capturing-the-ocean-s-structure">Capturing the ocean's structure </h2>



A weakening of roughly one-fifth to two-fifths still has consequences. Slower heat transport would cool parts of northern Europe, raise regional <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-much-did-sea-levels-rise-after-the-last-ice-age-alarming-new-clues-revealed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sea levels</a> along the U.S. East Coast, and alter precipitation patterns in the tropics.



Yet the new forecast suggests those effects will be less abrupt than feared, giving societies more time to adapt. It also refocuses scientific attention on model fidelity: improving how models capture today’s ocean structure may be as important as tweaking how they respond to greenhouse gases.



Study co-author Andrew Thompson, a professor of environmental science and engineering at Caltech, argued that the work provides a “road map” for testing next-generation, higher-resolution <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-temperature-increase-2023-blew-past-all-climate-models/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate models</a>.



Those AMOC models resolve smaller eddies and better represent how winds, mixing, and ice melt influence the circulation. The team’s framework can now be used to gauge whether added complexity brings projections closer to observation-anchored reality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-uncertainties-in-climate-simulations">Uncertainties in climate simulations</h2>



Bonan credits the freedom afforded by the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Science Foundation</a>’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program for allowing him to pursue a question that sits at the intersection of theory and observation.



“The NSF-GFRP gave me the freedom to tinker and explore,” he said. By stripping the problem to its physics and cross-checking with real measurements, the team could sidestep many of the uncertainties that plague full-scale climate simulations.



Tapio Schneider, a professor of environmental science and engineering and senior author of the study, notes that fundamental research of this kind complements, rather than contradicts, traditional modeling.



Understanding why models diverge could let us improve them. It also helps policymakers see that while the AMOC is vulnerable, a catastrophic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-tipping-points-how-close-are-we-to-irreversible-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tipping point</a> is not the likeliest outcome this century.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-of-the-atlantic-ocean-current-system">Future of the Atlantic ocean current system</h2>



The authors emphasize that their findings do not reduce the urgency of cutting emissions. A 20–40 percent slowdown in the AMOC would still amplify coastal flooding risks and disrupt weather patterns that billions of people rely on.



Moreover, other climate tipping elements - from West Antarctic ice shelves to Amazon rainforests - remain sensitive to continued warming.



“There is immense value in doing basic research - it can give us a better indication of what the future might look like, as our study shows,” Bonan said.



In short, the Atlantic ocean current system appears sturdier than some dire forecast models suggested, but it is far from immune to the mounting pressure of greenhouse gases.



Better models, grounded in real-world data, now paint a clearer picture of what lies ahead - and underscore the stakes of curbing global warming while there is still time.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01709-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Geoscience</a>.



Image Credit: NOAA



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Atlantic ocean current system will weaken, but is unlikely to collapse

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, or AMOC, is a giant...

A huge mass of ice, rocks, and mud from a glacier collapse swept across part of the Swiss Alps. It came from a section of the Birch Glacier that broke off on May 28, 2025, sending debris barreling into the village of Blatten.



Around 300 people lived in Blatten, which was placed under evacuation orders well before the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/powerful-antarctic-winds-speed-up-melting-of-doomsday-glacier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">collapse</a> took place. One person remains missing, and most of Blatten now lies under rubble.



Dr. Mylène Jacquemart, a researcher at <a href="https://ethz.ch/de.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH Zurich</a> in Switzerland, has spent years studying glacier stability in mountainous regions. She notes that in some circumstances, large portions of glaciers may weaken, leading to ice avalanches and landslides that are hard to predict.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-glacier-collapse-hit-after-warnings">Glacier collapse hit after warnings</h2>



Helicopter and drone footage shows a torrent of ice, rocks, and snow surging down from a steep slope. These materials covered the hillside and much of Blatten, forcing the valley’s population to flee.



Warnings had circulated for weeks after scientists detected cracks in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/current-climate-goals-arent-enough-to-stop-massive-glacier-losses/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glacier</a>’s leading edge.



Local authorities arranged emergency drills and urged livestock owners to move their animals to lower ground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blocked-river-raises-flood-risk">Blocked river raises flood risk</h2>



Satellite images suggest the debris field from the glacier collapse has entered the bed of the <a href="https://rivermap.org/map/?inf=71#lat=46.795900&amp;lng=8.201300&amp;zoom=7.000000&amp;topic=water" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lonza River</a>, raising fears of a backup of water and mud in the newly formed barrier. That blocked flow may pose a flood risk if the obstacle gives way.



Hydrologists are examining the situation around Blatten to figure out how to stabilize the debris or safely divert the river flow. An uncontrolled lake formation could jeopardize other communities along the valley.



“Nature is stronger than man. The mountain people know that. But today, we experienced an extraordinary event. The event has left us speechless, and it’s shocking to see the images,” said Swiss Federal Councilor <a href="https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home/detec/federal-councillor-albert-roesti/personal-details.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Albert Rösti</a> at a press conference on May 28, 2025.&nbsp;



While major disasters like this are not a daily sight in the Alps, they highlight the importance of monitoring <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/half-of-the-worlds-glaciers-can-be-saved-with-strong-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glaciers</a>. Residents in high-altitude regions rely on accurate assessments of unstable ice zones.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-factors-in-the-alps">Climate factors in the Alps</h2>



Warmer summer seasons have led to increased glacier melt, which can loosen the ice that holds rocky slopes together. 



Researchers say this type of process often causes rockfalls and ice avalanches across glaciated regions.



Data collected by <a href="https://www.glamos.ch/#/B45-04">Glacier Monitoring Switzerland</a> indicates that Swiss glaciers lost around 10% of their volume between 2022 and 2023. Many scientists associate these losses with rising air temperatures.



“Clearly, events like the one in Blatten - at this point a complex process cascade - are incredibly rare, and so quantifying the changes to them is no easy feat,” said Dr. Jacquemart.



She highlights that the frequency of large-scale glacier collapses has always been irregular. Unstable ice, rising temperatures, and increased meltwater all complicate predictions, especially in areas with tall, steep mountains.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-glacier-collapsed">Why the glacier collapsed </h2>



A collapse often stems from fractures in the ice, but the sudden size of this release may involve water pressure beneath the glacier. 



Engineers suspect that meltwater can work its way between the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mountain-glaciers-face-centuries-of-irreversible-loss-if-warming-surpasses-1-5c/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ice</a> and the rocky ground. In Blatten, entire swaths of forest have been flattened. Hillsides stripped of vegetation raise concerns about greater erosion. 



Local roads remain impassable, and relief teams have been setting up temporary routes for heavy machinery.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-some-areas-are-more-at-risk">Some areas are more at risk</h2>



Parts of the Swiss Alps are known for their narrow valleys. A large landslide or avalanche can accumulate in channels where the terrain prevents debris from dispersing widely.



Experts note that repeated melting and refreezing in cracks within the bedrock can destabilize slopes. This effect might explain why certain peaks, such as the <a href="https://peakery.com/kleines-nesthorn-switzerland/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kleines Nesthorn</a> near Blatten, show fresh signs of debris movement.



“But would this have happened without climate change? Quite possibly so. The fundamental question for hazard management is whether there is a significant shift in how often certain events happen,” said Dr. Jacquemart.



Her recent <a href="https://ica-abs.copernicus.org/articles/9/41/2025/ica-abs-9-41-2025.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> explores the link between glacial retreat and slope stability. She remarks that scientists do not yet see a clear indication these large events are becoming a near-annual problem.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-aftermath-of-the-glacier-collapse">Aftermath of the glacier collapse </h2>



Researchers from various Swiss institutions plan to measure how much <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/glacier-melting-threatens-global-water-supplies-and-coastal-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ice</a> and rock broke away from the glacier. They will evaluate conditions along the glacier’s remaining shelf, checking for more cracks or hidden cavities.



Local geology labs intend to collect samples of the rubble to help identify sudden changes in ice composition and see if any geological factors contributed to the event. These findings may guide updates to hazard mapping and early warning systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-local-recovery-efforts">Local recovery efforts</h2>



Evacuated families have set up temporary living arrangements in nearby towns. The community is working with regional authorities to coordinate relief, though it is uncertain when it will be safe to return.



Many villagers worry about the long-term impacts on livelihoods tied to agriculture and tourism in this mountainous part of Valais. 



Insurance companies and government offices will likely assess property loss as soon as conditions allow.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-improving-glacier-collapse-monitoring">Improving glacier collapse monitoring</h2>



Despite the scale of destruction, local authorities are collaborating with scientists to strengthen glacier surveillance in the coming years.



Some propose extended deployment of radar and thermal cameras that scan high-risk zones.



Many in the region hope these methods will provide faster alerts, giving residents extra time to leave if a slope threatens to collapse. Such action might help avert future tragedies in remote Alpine communities.



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Glacier collapse buried a village in the Swiss Alps

A huge mass of ice, rocks, and mud from a...

A recent study has found that efforts to restore forests in the Peruvian Amazon after gold mining are failing - not only because of toxic soil, but because the land has lost its water.



A popular method called suction mining reshapes the landscape so dramatically that it strips away moisture and traps heat, creating extreme conditions that young trees cannot survive.



The study was led by Abra Atwood of the <a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Woodwell Climate Research Center</a>, alongside collaborators from <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Columbia University</a>, <a href="https://www.asu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arizona State University</a>, and Peru’s <a href="https://www.unsaac.edu.pe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-dry-and-damaged-landscape"><a></a>A dry and damaged landscape</h2>



These findings help explain why reforestation in Peru’s Madre de Dios region has seen little success.



One of the co-authors, Josh West, a professor of earth sciences and environmental studies at <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USC Dornsife College</a>, has spent years examining the effects of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lithium-brine-discovery-has-vast-implications-for-future-mining-operations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mining</a> on ecosystems.



“We’ve known that soil degradation slows forest recovery,” he said. “But this is different. The mining process dries out the land, making it inhospitable for new trees.”



The researchers studied two abandoned Amazon mining sites in Madre de Dios, near the borders of Brazil and Bolivia.



Using drones, underground imaging, and soil sensors, they tracked the effects of suction mining - a technique often used by small-scale or family-run miners. In this method, water cannons blast soil apart, and the resulting slurry is filtered to extract <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-learn-how-gold-and-other-precious-metals-get-to-earths-surface/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gold</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-topsoil-no-forest">No topsoil, no forest</h2>



The powerful streams also carry off the nutrient-rich topsoil. What’s left behind are still ponds and massive sand piles, sometimes up to 30 feet tall.



Unlike excavation mining, which can leave parts of the topsoil intact, suction mining strips the land bare. This not only removes vital <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-nutrient-loss-due-to-heavy-rainfall-threatens-agriculture/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nutrients</a> but also changes how water behaves in the soil.



To investigate this, the team used electrical resistivity imaging, a technique that measures how moisture travels underground.



The researchers discovered that water drains through the sand piles as much as 100 times faster than in untouched forest soil. These piles also lose water about five times faster after rainfall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-amazon-heat-stops-forest-recovery">Amazon heat stops forest recovery</h2>



To better understand the conditions in deforested areas, the scientists placed sensors across various environments - sand and clay zones, pond edges, and natural forests.



The results were consistent: areas in the Amazon impacted by suction mining were hotter and drier. On exposed sand piles, ground temperatures reached up to 145°F (60°C), far higher than in shaded forest areas.



“It’s like trying to grow a tree in an oven,” West said. Thermal imaging from drones showed how barren areas absorb and radiate heat, while nearby forests and pond edges remained cooler. Without moisture or shade, young trees have little chance to survive.



“When roots can’t find water and surface temperatures are scorching, even replanted seedlings just die,” Atwood said. “It’s a big part of why regeneration is so slow.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gold-rush-worsens-deforestation">Gold rush worsens deforestation</h2>



Despite some regrowth near ponds and in low-lying areas, the team found that much of the land - especially where sand piles dominate - remains barren.



These spots are far from the water table and lose moisture quickly, making <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planting-trees-is-important-but-reforestation-can-help-too/">refores</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planting-trees-is-important-but-reforestation-can-help-too/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">t</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planting-trees-is-important-but-reforestation-can-help-too/">ation</a> extremely difficult.



From 1980 to 2017, small-scale gold mining wiped out over 95,000 hectares of rainforest in Madre de Dios - an area more than seven times the size of San Francisco.



Even today, operations are expanding around the Tambopata National Reserve, posing serious risks to biodiversity and nearby Indigenous communities. Across the wider Amazon basin, gold mining now contributes to nearly ten percent of deforestation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trees-alone-can-t-heal-the-amazon">Trees alone can't heal the Amazon</h2>



To improve recovery efforts, the scientists suggest going beyond planting trees. One proposed solution is reshaping the land itself - flattening sand piles and filling in ponds to bring new roots closer to underground water sources.



This could help retain moisture and improve survival rates for new vegetation. Though natural erosion could eventually help, the researchers stress that it’s happening far too slowly to match the urgency of the crisis.



“There’s only one <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-amazon-rainforest-is-approaching-widespread-collapse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon rainforest</a>,” West said. “It’s a living system unlike anything else on Earth. If we lose it, we lose something irreplaceable.”



The experts hope their findings will guide new strategies to restore life to damaged parts of the Amazon. Without dramatic changes to current practices - and a commitment to reshape the land, not just replant it - millions of acres may remain lost to gold and drought.



 The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02332-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>.



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Gold mining causes long-lasting damage in the Amazon rainforest

A recent study has found that efforts to restore forests...

Replanting the world’s forests could significantly reduce global warming, particularly in tropical regions, according to a new modeling study.



But even if every tree lost since the 19th century were replaced, the cooling impact would still fall short of reversing the full effects of human-caused <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-foundation-of-life-is-at-risk-from-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate change</a>. Emissions cuts, the authors stress, remain essential.



The study, led by researchers at the <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Riverside</a>, shows that restoring global forests to their preindustrial extent could lower average global temperatures by 0.34 degrees Celsius. That’s about one-quarter of the warming the planet has already experienced.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-climate-strategy-with-limits"><a></a>A climate strategy with limits</h2>



The modeling is based on a hypothetical increase in forest cover of 12 million square kilometers&nbsp;- about 135% the size of the United States. That estimate is roughly equivalent to the widely discussed goal of planting one trillion trees.



Scientists estimate that the Earth has lost nearly half of its trees - about three trillion - since the dawn of industrial society.



“<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reforestation-cannot-offset-carbon-emissions-from-harvesting-wood/">Refores</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reforestation-cannot-offset-carbon-emissions-from-harvesting-wood/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">t</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reforestation-cannot-offset-carbon-emissions-from-harvesting-wood/">ation</a> is not a silver bullet,” said Robert Allen, a climate scientist at UC Riverside and the study’s lead author. “It’s a powerful strategy, but it has to be paired with serious emissions reductions.”



While earlier studies have focused mostly on how trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, this research broadens the lens.



It accounts for chemical processes triggered by trees. These include the release of naturally occurring compounds called biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) that can enhance cooling in other ways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forests-help-cool-the-atmosphere">Forests help cool the atmosphere</h2>



Trees, especially those in tropical regions, release BVOCs that interact with atmospheric gases to create particles that reflect sunlight and promote <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fire-and-ice-volcanic-ash-plays-a-surprising-role-in-cloud-formation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cloud formation</a>. Both effects have a net cooling influence on the planet’s climate. However, most climate models do not factor in these chemical interactions.



“When you include these chemical effects, the net cooling impact becomes more significant,” Allen said. “It’s a crucial part of the picture.”



The researchers found that tropical forests in particular offer a stronger cooling effect than those in other regions.



In the tropics, trees absorb more carbon, emit more BVOCs, and contribute less to the surface-darkening effect. When dark tree canopies replace snow-covered ground in high-latitude forests, this darkening effect actually increases warming.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-change-close-to-home">Climate change close to home</h2>



In addition to influencing global temperatures, planting trees has implications for local <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-are-changing-the-quality-of-our-air/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">air quality</a> and regional climates.



The team found that their restoration scenario led to a 2.5% reduction in atmospheric dust across the Northern Hemisphere. In tropical areas, BVOC emissions produced mixed air quality results - contributing to an increase in fine particles associated with poor health outcomes, while also reducing harmful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-ozone-layer-took-more-than-two-billion-years-to-stabilize/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ozone</a> levels.



These findings suggest that smaller-scale, localized reforestation efforts can still yield meaningful environmental benefits.



Antony Thomas is a graduate student in UC Riverside’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and co-author of the study.



“Smaller efforts can still have a real impact on regional climates,” he said. “Restoration doesn’t have to happen everywhere at once to make a difference.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-forests-and-farmland"><a></a>Balancing forests and farmland</h2>



Despite the model’s optimistic numbers, the researchers acknowledge that reforesting all previously wooded areas is highly unlikely. Much of that land is now used for farming, ranching, or urban development, raising difficult questions about land use and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vaccinating-plants-could-boost-global-food-security/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">food security</a>.



“There are eight billion people to feed,” Allen said. “We have to make careful decisions about where trees are planted. The best opportunities are in the tropics, but these are also the areas where deforestation continues today.”



The team cites Rwanda as a case study for how conservation can coexist with development. In Rwanda, tourism revenues tied to forest protection are reinvested in local communities, giving people a financial incentive to preserve forests instead of cutting them down.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-classroom-to-climate-research"><a></a>From classroom to climate research</h2>



The idea for the study began in a graduate-level climate modeling course at UC Riverside and eventually grew into a full-scale research project.



Using Earth system models and global land-use data, the team set out to evaluate just how much planting trees could move the needle on climate change.



The findings are cautiously hopeful: forest restoration is a valuable part of the climate solution, but it can’t do the job alone.



“Climate change is real,” Thomas said. “And every step toward restoration, no matter the scale, helps.”



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Trees are part of the climate solution - but not the whole answer

Replanting the world’s forests could significantly reduce global warming, particularly...

In coastal waters, hidden beneath the surface, seagrasses quietly play a vital role. They trap carbon dioxide more efficiently than tropical rainforests, acre for acre. 



Professor Ken Dunton, a marine biologist at <a href="https://www.utexas.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UT Austin</a>, has spent decades studying these coastal meadows. He noted that most of the biomass of a seagrass plant is below ground. "That’s where all the tissues store carbon."



The carbon is stored in roots and rhizomes buried in sediment. This makes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-plays-a-major-role-in-global-carbon-storage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seagrasses</a> natural carbon banks, especially useful in a world heating up from excess atmospheric carbon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-seagrass-carbon">Measuring seagrass carbon </h2>



To harness the carbon storage power of seagrass, we need accurate ways to measure it. Right now, measuring how much carbon seagrasses trap takes time and labor. 



Researchers must dig up sediment, haul it to a lab, and analyze it. It is expensive and cannot scale easily.



But there's good reason to want that data. Knowing how much carbon each <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-meadows-still-thrive-on-floridas-nature-coast/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seagrass</a> bed stores could influence how governments and businesses manage these ecosystems. In the future, they might even earn carbon credits for maintaining or restoring seagrass meadows.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-simpler-method-emerges">A simpler method emerges</h2>



With help from ARPA-E, Dunton and engineering professor Preston Wilson are trying something novel. They’re listening to bubbles. As seagrasses photosynthesize, they release oxygen, some of which forms bubbles. More bubbles mean more photosynthesis and more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/natural-climate-solutions-enhancing-the-role-of-seagrass-meadows/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carbon</a> storage.



“So just like us in air, if I breathe out… you can hear me. Well when the seagrass breathes out under water, it makes bubbles, and the bubbles make noise,” Wilson explained.



This noise offers a clue. With underwater microphones, called hydrophones, scientists can record these tiny bubble sounds. Then, they use sound levels to estimate how much carbon the seagrasses are locking away.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-collecting-mud-to-test-a-new-idea">Collecting mud to test a new idea</h2>



At East Flats near Port Aransas, Texas, the research team works waist-deep in water. They collect sediment cores using a tool called a vibracore. It takes several people to push a long plastic tube into the mud and pull it back up.



Once back at the lab, the team slices these cores into hockey puck-sized disks. Each disk undergoes detailed analysis, acoustic scanning, drying, grinding, burning, and chemical testing. These methods reveal how much carbon each layer holds.



“What we want to learn out of these cores is: ‘What are the relationships between organic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-meadows-and-climate-change-an-uncertain-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carbon</a> in the sediment and the acoustic properties of the sediment?’” said Kevin Lee, from UT’s Applied Research Laboratories.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bubble-sounds-and-seagrass-carbon">Bubble sounds and seagrass carbon</h2>



The lab work helps link bubble sound levels to carbon content. The sound profile of each core becomes a blueprint. Over time, scientists will calibrate models that predict carbon levels from sound alone.



It is like tuning a sensor. If a certain sound intensity equals a known amount of carbon, then future recordings can be read like a meter, with no digging needed.



“And to make a market, you need a meter. We would be the meter in a future global carbon market," noted Professor Wilson.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-global-carbon-storage">Tracking global carbon storage</h2>



The ultimate goal of the research is to create low-cost hydrophone systems. These can stay underwater and record data continuously. The recordings could then be sent to computers onshore.



Study co-author Megan Ballard envisions a time when no one will need to visit the site just to check data.



“The whole goal of the project is to develop a low-cost network of sensors. We imagine something that can telemeter data back to shore,” said Ballard.



This would save time, reduce costs, and open the door to tracking carbon storage on a global scale.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seagrass-and-the-future-of-carbon-markets">Seagrass and the future of carbon markets</h2>



Imagine a future where a company restores a seagrass bed and gets credit for every ton of carbon stored. That future needs tools. Dunton, Wilson, and their team are building one, quietly listening to nature’s own signals.



The research might soon turn seagrasses into verifiable, scalable allies in the fight against climate change. Hidden under the waves, a bubbling meadow might someday power a carbon market.



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Seagrass bubble sounds can be used to measure carbon storage

In coastal waters, hidden beneath the surface, seagrasses quietly play...

Young,Woman,Drinking,Water,From,Outdoor,Stream,With,Her,Hands

Waterways support everyday activities like washing clothes or watering vegetables. Yet many of these rivers now carry a hidden burden that may influence future health crises. An international study has brought attention to antibiotic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-antibiotics-detected-in-hundreds-of-rivers-worldwide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">residues</a> that slip into river systems in massive amounts. 



These residues come from human consumption and pass through wastewater treatment or end up in the environment with minimal filtration.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humans-antibiotics-and-river-systems">Humans, antibiotics, and river systems</h2>



“While the amounts of residues from individual antibiotics translate into only very small concentrations in most rivers, which makes them very difficult to detect, the chronic and cumulative environmental <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-in-glacier-meltwater-reveals-pollution-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exposure</a> to these substances can still pose a risk to human health and aquatic ecosystems,” said Dr. Heloisa Ehalt Macedo, a postdoctoral fellow at <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">McGill University</a>. 



According to new modeling data, antibiotic molecules can pass through people, slip by wastewater treatment, and arrive in rivers with the potential to affect both wildlife and communities. 



Researchers discovered that humans collectively emit thousands of tons of antibiotic residues each year. In some areas with limited wastewater treatment, levels are high enough to spark concern about resistant bacteria.



A 2018 <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1717295115" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">publication</a> found that antibiotic consumption soared by 65% between 2000 and 2015, driven largely by growing populations and increased access to health services. 



This spike parallels the concerns raised by researchers who see patterns of resistant bacteria rising in the same period.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dangers-of-antibiotics-in-rivers">Dangers of antibiotics in rivers</h2>



“This study is not intended to warn about the use of antibiotics - we need antibiotics for global health treatments - but our results indicate that there may be unintended effects on aquatic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-day-2025-our-power-our-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">environments</a> and antibiotic resistance,” said Bernhard Lehner, a professor in global hydrology at McGill.



Those effects include heightened risk for local wildlife and possible spillover of resistant microbes into drinking water.



One recent worldwide <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2113947119" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a> revealed that antibiotic pollution touched rivers on every continent, with Asia showing the highest levels. Concern arises when these drugs spark bacterial survival tactics that block treatments.



<a href="https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/amoxicillin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amoxicillin</a> ranks among the most widely consumed antibiotics, raising alarms over its presence where treatment options are scarce. 



Streams in several nations without robust sanitation systems show elevated concentrations that may feed new waves of drug-resistant infections.



Some scientists warn that antibiotic-laden water may hamper <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/beneficial-plant-bacteria-likely-to-decline-due-to-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">beneficial microbes</a> that break down pollutants and recycle nutrients. 



Others note that once resistance genes emerge in a waterway, they can move into bacteria that infect humans or farm animals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-antibiotic-pollution-in-rivers-threatens-health">Why antibiotic pollution in rivers threatens health</h2>



Drug-resistant bacteria can spread between humans, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-face-serious-threats-from-chemical-pollution-and-ocean-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a>, and the surrounding environment, making water sources a key crossroads for these bugs. 



Repeated exposure to low levels of antibiotics in rivers may set the stage for more stubborn infections.



Some individuals rely on untreated river water for household needs, increasing their vulnerability to any resistant organisms present. 



Although advanced water systems remove or dilute many chemicals, older infrastructure can allow antibiotic residues to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-plays-an-overlooked-role-in-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remain in circulation</a>.



Economic strains can also mount when common treatments lose effectiveness against bacterial infections. 



Hospitals may spend more on stronger drugs, while individuals face longer recovery times and heightened risks of complications.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-can-be-done-to-control-antibiotic-pollution">What can be done to control antibiotic pollution</h2>



“Monitoring programs to detect antibiotic or other chemical contamination of waterways are therefore needed, especially in areas that our model predicts to be at risk,” said <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/civil/jim-nicell-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Jim Nicell</a>, an environmental engineering expert at McGill. 



He highlights that untracked residues could turn into a global hazard if left unchecked.



Researchers are now urging governments to explore stricter guidelines for wastewater disposal, along with better testing systems for emerging contaminants. 



Others point toward balanced antibiotic use in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-antibiotic-found-in-soil-has-potential-to-fight-superbugs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">human medicine</a>, reducing unnecessary prescriptions without restricting access.



Specialized filtration systems are under development to capture antibiotic residues before they reach rivers and open water. 



Alongside these technical fixes, many experts promote antibiotic stewardship campaigns to guide proper usage in clinics and communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-communities-can-reduce-contamination">Communities can reduce contamination</h2>



Health authorities, including the <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/antimicrobial-resistance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Health Organization</a>, emphasize a One Health viewpoint that ties human, animal, and environmental health together. 



This perspective encourages cooperation among various sectors to address drug resistance on multiple fronts.



Local communities can play a part by learning how to dispose of unused medications properly. 



Some researchers suggest stronger public awareness campaigns to ensure antibiotics remain effective for serious infections instead of seeping unchecked into waterways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-steps-to-prevent-antibiotic-resistance">Steps to prevent antibiotic resistance</h2>



Public health relies on safe water, yet the steady trickle of antibiotic residues in rivers raises new challenges for everyone. 



By taking precautionary steps now, societies can reduce risks, protect river ecosystems, and keep these lifesaving drugs effective for generations.



Experts hope this new evidence sparks broad changes in how wastewater is handled and how antibiotics are prescribed. Efforts to strengthen oversight may offer a path to healthier communities and cleaner rivers.



The study is published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/4/pgaf096/8113371?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PNAS Nexus</a>.



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Human antibiotics are polluting Earth's rivers, helping bacteria develop the resistance they need to then kill humans

Waterways support everyday activities like washing clothes or watering vegetables....

Rising heat, relentless drought, violent downpours and a steadily thickening blanket of carbon dioxide are reshaping the planet on which agriculture depends.



In a recent review, <a href="https://illinois.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a> plant biologist Stephen Long has surveyed that changing landscape and the research aimed at ensuring <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/critical-food-crops-are-threatened-by-rising-temperatures-globally/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">food crops</a> can still thrive.



The picture he paints is sobering, yet not without hope, pointing to genetic discoveries that could keep crops productive even as the climate veers into unfamiliar territory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-agriculture-is-strained-by-climate-shifts">Agriculture is strained by climate shifts </h2>



Long pointed out how quickly the air around us is changing. “By 2050-60, crops will experience a significantly different environment from today,” he said.



A key driver is <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-carbon-dioxide-makes-crops-grow-bigger-but-less-nutritious/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carbon dioxide</a>, whose concentration has climbed far beyond the levels in which modern agriculture evolved. From a pre-industrial baseline near 280 parts per million, “atmospheric CO2 reached 427 ppm in 2024 and is projected to be about 600 ppm by 2050.”



That shift alone would alter plant metabolism, but it arrives alongside <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-weather-is-pushing-nature-toward-a-breaking-point/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extreme weather</a>. Intensifying heat waves can sterilize pollen or wither seedlings, while droughts cut yields outright. Swollen rivers drown fields, and storms topple grain at harvest.



Long noted that those converging stresses will reduce harvests across much of the world unless crops themselves change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seeds-hold-key-to-resilience">Seeds hold key to resilience</h2>



Plant breeders have responded by scouring global seed vaults and wild relatives for crop varieties already carrying some climate resilience. 



For instance, the experts identified <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-quietly-making-rice-more-dangerous/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rice</a> lines that survive two weeks of total submergence, an asset in flood-prone deltas. They also found wheat strains that set grain under heat spikes that would devastate ordinary cultivars.



The underlying genes, once identified, can be bred into elite varieties or added directly with genome-editing tools.



Such work is painstaking. Researchers must link each trait to its genetic signature, cross or engineer it into agronomic lines, then test performance across years and regions. Even so, Long argued that tapping this standing diversity is one of the surest ways to buffer global harvests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-taming-the-plants-thirst"><a></a>Taming the plants’ thirst</h2>



As temperatures climb, the atmosphere’s capacity to pull water from foliage rises too, forcing plants to close tiny pores called stomata to conserve moisture. That tactic, however, also limits the intake of CO2 for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/revealing-the-secrets-of-photosynthesis-through-pep/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photosynthesis</a>.



Several laboratories have engineered climate-resilient crops to finesse the trade-off. By boosting a sensor protein that tunes stomatal opening, field-grown tobacco cut water loss but maintained growth.



Separate experiments in rice and wheat reduced stomatal density, improving water-use efficiency by up to one-fifth without penalty to yield.



Although these demonstrations involve genetic engineering, Long noted that parallel gains might be possible through conventional breeding once the relevant genes are flagged.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-co2-fuels-growth-and-pests">CO2 fuels growth - and pests</h2>



Higher carbon dioxide, the very gas driving the crisis, can stimulate photosynthesis - up to a point. Yet it also upsets the balance of enzymes, sometimes depressing protein content or encouraging <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pests-are-moving-to-cooler-regions-due-to-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pest</a> outbreaks.



Scientists have begun tweaking the regulators of rubisco, the key enzyme that captures CO2, so photosynthesis keeps pace with future atmospheres without unintended side effects.



Such molecular fine-tuning illustrates how adaptation must occur on several fronts at once: shielding plants from heat and drought, refining how they handle surplus CO2, and safeguarding nutritional quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-funding-gaps-threaten-agriculture-gains">Funding gaps threaten agriculture gains</h2>



Long cites U.S. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/maize-plant-genetics-shape-root-health-and-growth/">mai</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/maize-plant-genetics-shape-root-health-and-growth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">z</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/maize-plant-genetics-shape-root-health-and-growth/">e</a> as proof that breeding investments pay off. “Between 1980 and 2024, U.S. maize yields doubled while sorghum improved just 12%,” he said.



Maize benefited from vast private-sector spending on hybrid development, biotechnology, and agronomy. Sorghum, largely a public-sector crop in lower-income countries, lacked equivalent support.



That disparity, Long warns, could repeat across other staples - rice, wheat, cassava, legumes - unless governments and philanthropies step in. 



Private companies may not devote the required resources to crops grown mainly by smallholders or in poor regions, yet those crops undergird food security for billions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crop-innovation-vs-climate-clock">Crop innovation vs. climate clock</h2>



Even with ample funding, adapting crops is slow. A promising gene identified today may take a decade to reach farmers’ seed bags after regulatory review, field trials, and scale-up. 



That timeline collides with climate models showing sharp crop stress intensification in the 2030s and 2040s.



Long’s review thus serves as both roadmap and alarm, underscoring the urgency of accelerating research pathways and streamlining approval processes without compromising safety.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hope-inside-the-genome"><a></a>Hope inside the genome</h2>



Despite the formidable challenge, Long’s synthesis is not fatalistic. It catalogs concrete advances - heat-tolerant rice, drought-savvy <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-bread-wheat-gave-rise-to-civilization/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wheat</a>, water-frugal tobacco prototypes - that could be transferred across crop species.



With sufficient investment and international collaboration, the same engineering mindset that transformed maize could be deployed where it is now most needed.



The task, Long concluded, is to harness biology faster than climate pressures dismantle current production systems. His review makes clear that the science exists to do so. 



The remaining question is whether society will commit the resources and political resolve to bring those discoveries to scale before the planet’s pantries feel the full heat of global change.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2024.0229">Philosophical Transactions </a><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2024.0229" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">o</a><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2024.0229">f the Royal Society B</a>.



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Genetic fixes may save crops from climate stress

Rising heat, relentless drought, violent downpours and a steadily thickening...

Several moments in Earth’s distant past help answer two fundamental questions: How did we get here? And where are we headed? These turning points reveal how life adapts to environmental changes. 



One event, known as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/it-took-200-million-years-for-earth-to-get-its-oxygen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Great Oxidation Event</a> (GOE), was especially significant. Over two billion years ago, oxygen began to accumulate in the atmosphere for the first time. This shift made complex life, including humans, possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-earth-before-oxygen">The Earth before oxygen</h2>



Before the GOE, Earth’s environment was almost completely anoxic - lacking oxygen. Life was limited to anaerobic organisms that thrived without it, relying on fermentation to survive. 



Even today, similar life forms inhabit extreme places like acidic hot springs and deep-sea hydrothermal vents.



The GOE triggered a dramatic change. It transformed Earth from a planet devoid of atmospheric oxygen into one capable of supporting the diverse biosphere we know. 



Scientists have long sought to understand exactly when and how this shift happened. In a recent study, researchers from <a href="https://www.syracuse.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Syracuse University</a> and MIT uncovered new clues by examining ancient rock cores from South Africa.



The research provides a clearer timeline of how rising oxygen levels fueled biological evolution and paved the way for the first <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-microbes-may-have-given-rise-to-complex-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eukaryotes</a> - organisms with complex cells.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digging-into-the-deep-past">Digging into the deep past</h2>



The team analyzed sedimentary rocks that are between 2.2 and 2.5 billion years old. These rocks, collected from carefully chosen sites in South Africa, preserve chemical evidence from the time of the GOE. 



By studying stable isotopes embedded in these rocks, the researchers found signs of nitrate, a chemical marker that suggests more oxygen was present in ancient oceans.



The study was led by Benjamin Uveges, who earned his Ph.D. at Syracuse University and later completed the project as a postdoctoral associate at MIT. 



Uveges collaborated closely with Christopher Junium, an associate professor of Earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, whose lab focuses on reconstructing past environmental conditions. The chemical analyses were performed using state-of-the-art instruments housed at Syracuse.



“The rocks that we analyzed for this study had very low <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nitrogen-was-plentiful-for-early-life-on-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nitrogen</a> concentrations in them, too low to measure with the traditional instrumentation used for this work,” said Uveges. 



“Chris has built one of only a handful of instruments in the world that can measure nitrogen isotope ratios in samples with 100 to 1,000 times less nitrogen in them than the typical minimum.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-research-was-conducted">How the research was conducted </h2>



In the lab, the team used an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) to examine the nitrogen isotopes. First, they crushed the rock samples into powder and chemically treated them to extract specific elements. 



The material was then turned into gas, ionized, and separated based on mass. Measuring the ratio of nitrogen isotopes - ¹⁵N to ¹⁴N - helped reveal how microbes processed nitrogen long ago.



A key part of the IRMS is the cryotrapping/capillary-focusing module, which allowed for precise measurements even with extremely low nitrogen levels. The equipment is one of only a few of its kind and plays a vital role in studies like this.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decoding-earth-s-oxygen-timeline">Decoding Earth's oxygen timeline</h2>



But how does nitrogen unlock secrets about ancient oxygen levels? <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microbes-found-alive-sealed-inside-rock-after-2-billion-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microbes</a> left chemical signatures in sediments that later hardened into rock. These signatures preserve a record of how nitrogen was cycled in ancient oceans. 



By tracing changes in nitrogen isotope ratios, scientists can reconstruct how oxygen levels shifted over time.



The team’s findings suggest that aerobic nitrogen cycling started about 100 million years earlier than previously thought. This means oxygen-sensitive processes in the oceans were already happening long before oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere.



“All of this fits with the emerging idea that the GOE was a protracted ordeal where organisms had to find the balance between taking advantage of the energy gains of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-investigate-the-origin-of-photosynthesis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">oxygenic photosynthesis</a>, and the gradual adaptations to dealing with its byproduct, oxygen,” said Junium.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-rise-of-oxygen-on-earth">The rise of oxygen on Earth</h2>



The slow rise in oxygen levels set off a cascade of changes. As oxygen began to build up in the atmosphere, many anaerobic organisms were driven to extinction. In their place, organisms capable of using oxygen for respiration began to thrive. 



This process, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oxygen-may-have-come-from-ancient-rocks-of-early-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aerobic respiration</a>, provides the energy needed for complex life processes such as muscle movement, brain function, and cell maintenance.



“For the first 2 plus billion years of Earth’s history there was exceedingly little free oxygen in the oceans or atmosphere,” said Uveges. “In contrast, today oxygen makes up one fifth of our atmosphere and essentially all complex multicellular life as we know it relies on it for respiration."



"So, in a way, studying the rise of oxygen and its chemical, geological and biological impacts is really studying how the planet and life co-evolved to arrive at the current situation.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-chapter-in-earth-s-story">A new chapter in Earth's story</h2>



These results reshape how we understand Earth's oxygenation. They show that the journey toward an oxygen-rich atmosphere - and the complex life it enabled - was even slower and more intricate than once believed.



“I hope our findings will inspire more research into this fascinating time period,” said Uveges. “By applying new geochemical techniques to the rock cores we studied, we can build an even more detailed picture of the GOE and its impact on life on Earth.”



The research gives us a clearer view of how life and Earth’s environment have shaped each other through deep time. It’s a reminder that big changes don't happen overnight - and that the air we breathe today is the result of billions of years of slow, steady transformation.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423481122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



Image Credit: Benjamin Uveges



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Rocks reveal the turning point when oxygen changed Earth forever

Several moments in Earth’s distant past help answer two fundamental...

South Florida’s sprawling mangrove forests, famed for their tangled roots, play a critical role in buffering storm surge. However, they have long been viewed as vulnerable to the growing punch of hurricanes intensified by climate change.



Yet new research from the <a href="https://environment.yale.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yale School of the Environment</a> paints a far more optimistic picture, showing that Everglades mangroves can replace all the carbon they lose to powerful storms in just a handful of years.



The findings come from an unprecedented long-term analysis of carbon dynamics before and after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Hurricane Irma in 2017.



By combining ground-based sensors with satellite imagery and years of ecological field data, the research team calculated each forest’s “recovery debt.” This represents the sum of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mangroves-and-saltmarshes-are-much-better-at-storing-carbon-than-previously-believed/">car</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mangroves-and-saltmarshes-are-much-better-at-storing-carbon-than-previously-believed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">b</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mangroves-and-saltmarshes-are-much-better-at-storing-carbon-than-previously-believed/">on</a> lost during a storm and the time the ecosystem needs to rebuild that stock.



The study revealed that four years after both storms, the mangroves’ carbon balance was back as it was before.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-mangrove-climate-resilience">Measuring mangrove climate resilience</h2>



“Many people frame disturbance research in terms of how much initial loss there was,” said lead author David Reed, an associate research scientist at Yale. “That’s part of the story, but it’s really about how long it takes to recover from that loss.”



The concept of recovery debt, he explained, offers a clearer gauge of resilience than raw damage totals alone. If forests regain their carbon quickly, they can keep functioning as long-term carbon sinks despite periodic hits.



The study focused on two Everglades towers measuring mangrove-atmosphere gas exchanges related to climate for nearly two decades.



Those records are “a good sign that mangroves in the Everglades are and will continue to be relatively resilient to the types of disturbances we know they’re going to experience in the future,” said co-author Sparkle Malone, an assistant professor at the <a href="https://naturalcarboncapture.yale.edu/">Yale Center for N</a><a href="https://naturalcarboncapture.yale.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a</a><a href="https://naturalcarboncapture.yale.edu/">tural Carbon Capture</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hurricanes-carbon-and-timing"><a></a>Hurricanes, carbon, and timing</h2>



Mangroves draw CO2 from the air and store it in trunks, roots, and underlying soil. When hurricanes hit, branches break, trees topple, and carbon washes back into the atmosphere.



If another intense storm arrives before the forest has recovered, the ecosystem can slip progressively further behind.



Reed likens the cycle to a sudden financial shock. A household facing an unexpected bill might use savings but recover if its income stays stable.



Stretch that bill across multiple emergencies, however, and the family’s finances spiral. By tallying carbon in the same way, the researchers concluded Everglades mangroves need roughly four storm-free years to “earn back” the carbon they lose.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mangrove-data-and-satellite-images">Mangrove data and satellite images</h2>



Such precise accounting required long, continuous records seldom available in coastal wetlands.



In collaboration with <a href="https://www.fiu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florida International University</a>, the team tapped the <a href="https://fcelter.fiu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research program</a> (FCE LTER). This program has monitored forest structure, soil chemistry, and gas fluxes in the region since 2004.



“There have been a lot of resources and instrumentation put in this area, and so you can study processes that you can't do on the landscape scale anywhere else in the world,” Malone said.



Tower data were paired with high-resolution satellite images, allowing researchers to scale their measurements across vast swaths of shoreline.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-policy-lessons-from-mangroves">Policy lessons from mangroves</h2>



The Everglades are the focus of one of the largest wetland recovery efforts on the planet, and Malone believes the new findings validate that investment.



“We know that it's in the millions, maybe even billions, of dollars of resource protection that mangrove forests provide, and so this confirms with all of the funding and effort put into Everglades restoration, that it's worth it,” she said.



Mangroves limit flooding and protect infrastructure, so their quick rebound could save public funds from storm damage. Meanwhile, the mangrove forests’ carbon storage capacity makes them a natural ally in climate mitigation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-storm-risk-looms-ahead">Storm risk looms ahead</h2>



While the results bode well for Everglades mangroves, Reed cautions that the four-year recovery window is a threshold, not a guarantee. 



Should future <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-hurricanes-help-oceans-fight-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hurricanes</a> strike more frequently than that, the recovery debt could start compounding.



That prospect underscores the importance of climate action, since warmer oceans can supercharge hurricanes and alter their recurrence patterns. Even resilient mangroves may falter if storm intervals shrink below their recovery debt time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-blueprint-for-other-coastlines">A blueprint for other coastlines</h2>



Although this study centered on southern Florida, the methods can be applied worldwide. With mangroves buffering coasts from Florida to Fiji, the authors hope recovery debt will become a common metric for gauging ecosystem health under climate stress.



Because it measures recovery, it could help conservationists prioritize areas for the fastest carbon payback.



For Malone, the take-home message is clear: “Mangroves have the capacity to capture carbon lost due to hurricanes relatively quickly,” she said.



Given the twin threats of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-heat-of-2024-triggered-a-surge-in-sea-level-rise/">sea lev</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-heat-of-2024-triggered-a-surge-in-sea-level-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">e</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-heat-of-2024-triggered-a-surge-in-sea-level-rise/">l rise</a> and stronger storms, that resilience is highly important. It could be a linchpin in global strategies to protect coastlines and curb greenhouse gases - provided society gives these forests the breathing room they need between climatic shocks.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.70124" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Change Biology</a>.



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Mangroves can quickly recover carbon lost to climate extremes

South Florida’s sprawling mangrove forests, famed for their tangled roots,...

Earth’s glaciers are shrinking, and current climate pledges are not enough to stop this. A new international study warns that even if today’s promises hold, glaciers could lose 76% of their 2020 mass.



This extent of glacier loss would come with severe consequences - a 9-inch rise in sea levels, disrupted ecosystems, and an increase in the frequency of natural hazards.



The temperature rise associated with the current pledges could push global averages to as much as 4.9 degrees Fahrenheit (2.7 degrees Centigrade) above preindustrial levels.



Alaska, which is home to the third-largest glacier mass outside of Greenland and Antarctica, would lose 69% of its glaciers under these conditions.



The research comes from a team led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.uaf.edu/uaf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Alaska Fairbanks</a> Geophysical Institute and the University of Oslo.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-glaciers-remember-climate-change">Glaciers remember climate change</h2>



“This is the whole point: When you stop <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alpine-glaciers-will-lose-half-of-their-volume-by-2050/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate change</a>, glaciers don’t stop losing mass,” said Professor Regine Hock, a co-author of the study. 



“Glaciers have a memory. They continue losing mass for tens, hundreds, or even thousands of years until they retreat to high elevations where it’s colder.”



This study takes a new approach. Previous research typically stopped at the year 2100. But glaciers don't follow calendars. Instead of an arbitrary end date, this study estimates how long it will take glaciers to reach equilibrium - the point at which gains from colder months balance losses from warmer months.



Scientists project that in Alaska, glaciers will reach this balance in about 330 years under the low-end <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/paris-agreement-which-countries-are-honoring-their-pledges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paris Agreement</a> target of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Centigrade) warming.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordwide-effort-to-understate-glaciers">Wordwide effort to understate glaciers</h2>



Hock emphasized the scale of the effort behind the research. "This is not a single study by one researcher; it’s an internationally coordinated effort. It was four years and brought together the entire community to work on global glacier modeling.”



The team included 21 scientists from 10 countries, using eight different glacier models. They focused on more than 200,000 glaciers, excluding the vast ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. 



Scientists assumed constant temperatures for thousands of years in each scenario to give a clearer picture of the long-term future of glaciers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-warming-levels-change-the-story">How warming levels change the story</h2>



The researchers looked at various levels of warming. Even if temperatures stay at the current 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Centigrade) above preindustrial levels, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/glacier-melt-in-alaska-is-accelerating-at-an-alarming-rate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alaska</a> would still lose 37% of its glacier mass. 



As average temperatures rise in the coming years, scientists expect Alaska’s glaciers to lose more mass, predicting that a 7.2-degree Fahrenheit (4-degree Centigrade) increase will cause an 80% loss in glacier mass.



For the planet as a whole, glacier mass losses are projected to reach 39% at the Paris Agreement's lower average temperature increase target (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit or 1.5 degrees Centigrade). The predicted loss reaches a staggering 86% globally if the average temperature increase reaches 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Centigrade).



Scientists associate current <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emissions-gap-report-paris-pledges-are-not-enough-to-avoid-catastrophe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate pledges</a> - aiming to restrict average temperature rise to 4.9 degrees Fahrenheit (2.7 degrees Centigrade) - with a predicted 63% loss of glacier mass globally.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-every-degree-counts">Why every degree counts</h2>



"Our study makes it painfully clear that every fraction of a degree matters,” said Harry Zekollari from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. “The choices we make today will resonate for centuries, determining how much of our glaciers can be preserved.”



Lilian Schuster from the University of Innsbruck noted that glaciers are good indicators of climate change because their retreat allows us to see with our own eyes how climate is changing.



“However, since they adjust over longer timescales, their current size vastly understates the magnitude of climate change that has already happened. The situation for glaciers is actually far worse than visible in the mountains today," said Schuster.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-action-needed-to-save-glaciers">Action needed to save glaciers</h2>



The research highlights that glaciers are slow to respond to change, but once triggered, the losses are difficult to stop. Even ambitious efforts to limit <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/limiting-global-warming-to-1-5-degrees-celsius-would-save-billions-of-lives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warming</a> won’t halt glacier retreat entirely - but they can slow it down.



If nations strengthen their climate commitments, they can limit glacier loss and mitigate the worst impacts on sea level rise and biodiversity. The choice is clear: reduce emissions now, or face centuries of rising seas and shrinking ice.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu4675" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Current climate goals aren't enough to stop massive glacier losses

Earth’s glaciers are shrinking, and current climate pledges are not...

Climate change research often paints a grim picture. Rising temperatures, vanishing forests, and escalating carbon dioxide (CO2) levels dominate headlines. But new research published in the journal Science offers a reason for cautious optimism. 



An international team of scientists has uncovered findings that could change how we understand tree responses to warming temperatures.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-trees-decide-between-growing-and-breathing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trees</a> play a huge role in managing Earth's CO2 levels. They absorb carbon during photosynthesis and release some of it back through respiration. 



It has long been assumed that as the climate warms, tree respiration and the resulting CO2 emissions would sharply increase. That increase would then add more carbon to the atmosphere and fuel more warming.



This cycle, known as a positive climate feedback, has been a key concern for climate scientists. But according to a global study led by experts at <a href="https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tsinghua University</a>, trees may not release as much carbon as we once feared.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-trees-release-carbon">How trees release carbon</h2>



The study focuses on a specific type of carbon release: the respiration from tree stems. When trees grow, they use energy, and this process emits carbon dioxide. While photosynthesis captures CO2, respiration does the opposite. 



Understanding this balance is essential to predicting how ecosystems respond to climate change.



Scientists have believed that warmer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-are-losing-the-battle-against-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climates</a> would naturally speed up respiration. That belief was based on short-term experiments, where researchers exposed plants to heat and recorded quick increases in CO2 emissions. These tests, though useful, do not reveal how trees behave over years or decades of warming.



"This is likely true, but this latest research reveals that carbon fluxes under warmer future climates will not increase as much as currently thought," said Professor Ian Wright of <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Western Sydney University</a>, co-author of the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-trees-adapt-to-warming">How trees adapt to warming</h2>



To dig deeper, the team built a dataset of thousands of stem respiration measurements from hundreds of tree species. The trees came from all major climate zones: tropical, temperate, arid, and boreal. 



The data included samples from Australian savannas, woodlands, and rainforests collected over the past decade by Professor Wright’s team.



This vast dataset allowed the researchers to test how tree respiration changes not just during sudden heat but over long periods. The results suggest that trees adapt to higher temperatures in ways that slow down CO2 release.



"Short-term, temperature-driven <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-have-unique-fungi-partnerships-that-help-them-survive/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">changes</a> in plant respiration rates are measured in seconds, minutes and hours. Due to the quick-acting enzymatic processes in plant tissues, the changes in plant respiration are very fast, and predictable," explained Professor Wright.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trees-release-carbon-differently">Trees release carbon differently</h2>



Professor Wright pointed out that long-term changes behave differently. Plants may quickly ramp up CO2 release in hot weather, but this response does not last forever.



"This contrasts with the long-term, temperature-driven changes in respiration rates that are measured in months, years and decades. Most global ecosystem models in the past have assumed that the same short-term behavior in plants also applies over a longer time period, but this is not the case,” said Professor Wright.



"We now know that thermal acclimation over long timescales will dampen the positive feedbacks between climate warming and carbon emissions from plants."



Thermal acclimation refers to the process where plants adjust their internal systems to handle rising temperatures. This ability could be a hidden strength in forests worldwide.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-climate-models-for-better">Changing climate models for better</h2>



The research could ultimately reshape climate modeling. Existing global models often assume that tree respiration continues to rise sharply with temperature. That assumption might now be too simplistic. With better data on long-term plant responses, climate scientists can update their predictions.



The study’s lead authors, Dr. Han Wang and Han Zhang from Tsinghua University, noted that only recently has the global scientific community had enough consistent data to challenge the old assumptions.



The team's research has caught the attention of top vegetation modelers. Professor Sandy Harrison from the <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Reading</a> believes the implications are broad.



"These findings give scientists a new approach for assessing the degree to which ecosystems around the globe can slow the rate of warming," said Professor Harrison.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trees-may-naturally-limit-carbon-emissions">Trees may naturally limit carbon emissions</h2>



The potential for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planting-new-trees-brings-hope-for-healthier-babies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trees</a> to adjust and regulate their CO2 release adds a layer of resilience to Earth’s systems. Although humans continue to emit carbon at alarming rates, nature may not always respond in a way that intensifies the damage.



Professor Wright highlighted the practical importance of these results, especially in a world already experiencing frequent climate disruptions.



"We're already seeing that play out both here in Australia and around the world. However, these new findings suggest that, to some extent, ecosystems globally will slow the trends in one key driver of these changes, elevated atmospheric CO2," he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-data-reshapes-carbon-forecasts">New data reshapes carbon forecasts</h2>



The research on trees and carbon brings cautious hope. It does not cancel out climate risks. However, it shows that ecosystems might absorb some shocks more gently than expected. 



With new data, improved models, and a clearer picture of plant behavior, scientists can build better forecasts and solutions.



Nature’s processes are complex. Trees do not simply react, they adjust. This long-term adjustment could be one of the quiet forces helping the planet endure in the face of climate change.



Other institutions involved in the study include <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Imperial College London</a> and <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Berkeley</a>. For background on climate-carbon feedbacks, visit the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IPCC Working Group I</a> report.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr9978" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Climate models may overestimate how much carbon trees release

Climate change research often paints a grim picture. Rising temperatures,...

Heat records fall so often now that most people barely look up from their phones when the news flashes across the screen. Yet every fraction of a degree matters, because hidden in that extra warmth are hair-trigger switches built into Earth systems that are critical for all life on our planet.



Push them too far and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-polar-ice-sheets-cant-withstand-1-5c-warming-target/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enormous ice sheets</a>, ocean currents, and forests may snap into a new state - one that pulls polar bears, fishers, and farmers down a road none of them chose.



Scientists call those switches “tipping points.” Cross one and the change races ahead on its own. Glaciers speed up, rainforests dry out, and deep-sea conveyors stall.



The concern is no longer for some distant era. The time is now, as global temperature average already exceeded the 1.5 °C line in 2024 - the line that years of diplomacy drew in the sand has already been crossed.



The <a href="https://wmo.int/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Meteorological Organization</a> now expects the planet to spend its second full year above 1.5 °C of warming in 2025, turning a once-distant red line into an imminent test of global resolve.



That prospect has moved tipping points from academic debate to kitchen-table worry, sparking renewed interest in what overshooting the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paris Agreement</a> limit would actually mean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-systems-reach-the-tipping-point">Earth systems reach the tipping point</h2>



Earth’s big stabilizers - <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-of-lakes-in-greenland-have-crossed-a-tipping-point/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greenland’s ice</a>, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-ice-sheet-past-present-and-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">West Antarctic Ice Sheet</a>, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/collapse-of-main-atlantic-ocean-circulaton-current-amoc-is-already-happening/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atlantic overturning circulation</a>, and the Amazon rain forest - behave much like the keystones in an arch. Dislodge one and the entire structure can shift. 



When warming pushes any of these elements beyond a point of no return, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-warming-fuels-dangerous-methane-feedback-loop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">self-reinforcing feedbacks</a> kick in. 



Ice retreats faster than it can regrow, forests lose moisture until they dry out, and currents stall because the density differences that power them weaken.



The danger grows because these systems interact with one another. Fresh water from melting ice can slow Atlantic currents, which in turn changes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-amazon-rainforest-is-approaching-widespread-collapse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rainfall over the Amazon</a>, which then stores less carbon. 



Scientists call that domino effect a tipping cascade, and it means one regional change can snowball into worldwide trouble in a geological blink.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-overshoot-the-hidden-tripwire">Overshoot: the hidden tripwire</h2>



Most conversations about climate targets focus on the final destination, but the journey matters just as much. 



A temporary spike above 1.5 °C, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2024-confirmed-as-earths-hottest-year-in-recorded-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as we had in 2024</a>, can still light the fuse on irreversible change. This is called an "overshoot." 



Even if humanity later reins temperatures back, the damage may be locked for centuries because the feedback loops that drive a tipping event rarely work in reverse at the same speed.



Researchers explore these possibilities with simplified computer models that strip the planet down to its most sensitive gears.



Those models show that the combination of a high peak and a long stay above the threshold raises the odds that at least one major system fails. Push the peak past 2 °C and the odds rise sharply.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-four-giants-on-the-edge">Four giants on the edge</h2>



That grim arithmetic sits at the heart of a new study led by scientists from multiple organizations.



The team linked four equations - one for each of the giants mentioned earlier - so they could watch how Earth systems lean on one another as temperatures swing. 



“Our results show why reducing emissions this decade is crucial for the state of the planet. Failing to reach the Paris Agreement target risks reshaping the Earth’s systems for centuries to come," explained co-author Dr. Robin Lamboll, from the <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/environmental-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Center for Environmental Policy</a> and the <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Grantham Institute</a> at Imperial College.



Their experiments show how an overshoot can tip Greenland into a rapid melt, loosen the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, rob the Amazon of its rain, and weaken the Atlantic conveyor that keeps Europe mild. 



Because each element amplifies the others, the researchers warn that avoiding overshoot is less a nice-to-have and more a safety requirement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-risk-rises-each-tenth-degree">Risk rises each tenth-degree</h2>



“With every tenth of a degree above 1.5 °C, the risk of tipping points increases,” explains Annika Ernest Högner from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (<a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PIK</a>). 



“If global warming were to exceed 2 °C, those risks would rise even more sharply. That’s deeply troubling, especially since current climate policies are projected to lead us to about 2.6 °C of warming by the end of the century.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-facing-a-stark-reality">Facing a stark reality</h2>



When the research team modeled a scenario where temperatures never dropped back below 1.5 °C by 2100, they found that at least one of Earth’s four major systems, or tipping elements, was triggered in roughly 24% of simulations. 



That's nearly a one-in-four chance of crossing a threshold that’s hard to reverse.



An even grimmer scenario - where temperatures peaked near 3 °C before gradually declining - resulted in a 45% chance of triggering a permanent shift by 2300.



“Our results show that to truly minimize tipping risks over the coming centuries and beyond, we must not only reach but sustain net-zero greenhouse gas emissions,” said Tessa Möller, co-lead author and a researcher in the IIASA <a href="https://iiasa.ac.at/programs/ece" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Energy, Climate, and Environment Program</a> and at PIK. 



“Sticking to current policies could lock us into a 45% chance of triggering irreversible changes by 2300 - even if we later bring temperatures back below 1.5 °C after a temporary overshoot.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-vital-systems-need-fast-action">Earth's vital systems need fast action</h2>



Speed matters. The Atlantic overturning circulation already shows early warning signs of slowing, hinting that its safety margin is thinner than once believed (<a href="https://www.realclimate.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RealClimate.org</a>). 



Avoiding further stress means flattening emissions in the 2020s, not the 2040s. Every year of delay nudges the peak higher and lengthens the overshoot, stacking the odds against a stable future.



Cutting pollution today offers an immediate bonus: less warming buys time to develop cleaner technology and sturdier infrastructure. It also keeps the climate’s tightrope walker from swaying so far that balance becomes impossible. 



Slowing the wobble now leaves the next generation with a stage that is still walkable instead of a wire that has already snapped.



-----



Special thanks to the scientists and researchers at at the <a href="https://iiasa.ac.at/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis</a> and the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a>, with colleagues from <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Imperial College London</a>.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49863-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Scientists determine that major Earth systems are on the verge of total collapse

Heat records fall so often now that most people barely...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the opposite.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-contrasting-climate-response">A contrasting climate response</h2>



Most coastal towns are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sinking-land-will-intensify-the-effects-of-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing for higher sea levels</a>, but <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-no-longer-has-to-worry-about-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greenland presents</a> a different scenario during climate change. The ground there is rising at a remarkable rate. Over the past decade, some areas have lifted about 20 centimeters, which translates to roughly 2 meters per century. This rate significantly exceeds current projections for sea level rise.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geological-rebound-process-through-climate-change">Geological rebound process through climate change</h2>



The mechanism behind this phenomenon is straightforward. As the ice sheet melts, the immense weight is removed from the bedrock, causing the land to rebound upward. This process resembles the way compressed material springs back when pressure is released.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-monitoring-networks">Scientific monitoring networks</h2>



Researchers at the <a href="https://www.dtu.dk/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Technical University of Denmark</a> are documenting this uplift using the GNET network, consisting of 61 GPS stations positioned around Greenland's coast. These sensors can detect movement with millimeter precision, providing detailed measurements of the ongoing changes.



The data reveal that current uplift rates exceed the gradual rebound occurring since the last ice age ended approximately 12,000 years ago. This acceleration corresponds directly with increased ice sheet melting rates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coastal-transformation">Coastal Transformation</h2>



This uplift is actively reshaping Greenland's coastline. New islands and rocky formations, called "skerries," are emerging as previously submerged land surfaces rise above the water level. This represents a notable contrast to global concerns about rising seas.



The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, demonstrates the varied regional impacts of climate change. While many locations face rising water levels, Greenland's bedrock is literally rising above the surrounding seas.



The full study was recently published in <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023GL104851" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



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Greenland's ground rises while coasts worldwide face higher seas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to implement the latest AI Agent building platform.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-agent-training-transforms-the-workplace-fear-factor-into-a-competitive-advantage">AI agent training transforms the workplace 'fear factor' into a competitive advantage</h2>



Organizations that offer comprehensive artificial intelligence training to their workers find remarkable value that extends well beyond basic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mind-wandering-might-be-more-productive-than-you-think/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">productivity improvements</a>. Emerging research demonstrates that carefully crafted AI training programs <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-does-not-replace-human-creativity-but-enhances-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enhance</a> corporate performance, lower operational costs, and dramatically improve employee psychological well-being by turning workplace uncertainty into professional empowerment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-addressing-the-widespread-ai-anxiety-crisis-among-us">Addressing the widespread 'AI anxiety' crisis among us</h2>



A staggering 53% of employees expressed concern that the use of AI tools to automate work tasks could make them appear disposable to their employers, according to <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microsoft</a>'s 2024 workplace survey. Such pervasive worry about being substituted by machines has caused what researchers have termed "AI technostress" – a psychological state that can result in occupational burnout and poorer mental well-being.



Data published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a> showed that belief in AI learning ability was a moderator in the link between technology adoption and work pressure, and higher confidence significantly lowered negative psychological responses. Workers provided ample training to become competent with AI software have significantly lower stress.



Companies like <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a> have platforms for building what are known as "AI Agents". In essence, AI Agents are simply tools that employees can build for themselves or their teams quickly and inexpensively. MindStudio will even train entire companies, from the CEO on down, at no cost. By letting MindStudio empower employees, companies avoid hiring more IT staff, buying more software, and implementing solutions to problems that do not exist.



MindStudio even has partners locally for companies, like <a href="http://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dominnus</a> with offices in the Carolinas, California, and Denver, to help build AI Agents and support employees as they become resident AI experts for their organization. The training provided by MindStudio is applicable across other AI Agent building platforms as well.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-productivity-through-focused-learning">Revolutionary productivity through focused learning</h2>



Organizations that implement large-scale AI training programs achieve dramatic outcomes. Employees performed tasks significantly better when they utilized AI support compared to when they didn't, according to <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nielsen Norman Group</a> research findings. Their study documented productivity increases of 66% for a variety of professional tasks.



Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis research finds workers record 33% higher productivity in time working with generative AI tools. The benefit is equivalent to 5.4% of work time savings for AI users – around 2.2 hours per week for full-time workers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psychological-well-being-benefits-through-ai-competence">Psychological well-being benefits through AI competence</h2>



The emotional transformation when employees are provided with proper technology training is a fundamental transformation from fear to professional confidence. A survey of 600 employees across industries, carried out by ScienceDirect, proved that AI capabilities strengthen work environment commitment and improve job satisfaction.



A <a href="https://www.lut.fi/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LUT University</a> study discovered that AI adoption has no direct effect on workers' well-being but does so indirectly through working conditions like task optimization and safety protocols. Strategically deployed AI that involves correct training can actually increase workplace mental well-being.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-replacement-anxiety-to-partnership-confidence">From 'replacement anxiety' to 'partnership confidence'</h2>



Although 35% of those interviewed in recent McKinsey studies were concerned about workforce displacement, firms with large-scale training initiatives witness such fears dissipate quickly. The World Economic Forum found that two out of three respondents believe AI competencies will enhance their career prospects and job marketability.



This shift from fear to trust has measurable implications for job satisfaction. Applied Sciences research indicates AI can create tailored wellness programs based on individual employee requirements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-financial-benefits-of-increased-retention">Financial benefits of increased retention</h2>



The mental health advantages of AI learning have a direct impact on organizational bottom lines in the form of a positive feedback cycle with high retention of employees. Recent ROI research validates that artificial intelligence learning has a beneficial impact on employee turnover and satisfaction levels.



PriceWaterhouseCoopers' research documents 20% to 30% improvements in productivity, market speed, and revenue in organizations that attempt systematic AI adoption through comprehensive training.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-environmental-advantages-of-ai-enabled-teams">Environmental advantages of AI-enabled teams</h2>



AI training has unforeseen environmental benefits as it makes the work environment more efficient. According to a study in Scientific Reports, the carbon footprint in writing and illustrating work is significantly lower when AI performs it compared to humans. AI software produces 130 to 1,500 times less CO2 equivalent per page of text created than human authors.



In addition, AI-driven remote work functionality significantly reduces environmental impact. Research by Cornell University and Microsoft indicates that remote workers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 54% by not commuting daily to offices. Hybrid workers working remotely two to four days a week can reduce their carbon footprint by 11% to 29%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cumulative-organizational-advantages">Cumulative organizational advantages</h2>



The compounding gains of better mental well-being, reduced turnover, increased productivity, and environmental benefits flow to enterprises from the pairing. McKinsey analysis estimates the long-term AI potential at $4.4 trillion in incremental productivity growth opportunity from business use cases.



As of now, 75% of knowledge workers globally utilize generative AI, mirroring widespread adoption patterns. Organizations that provide organized training and assistance see the most favorable results in productivity, worker satisfaction, and ecological sustainability.



The research overwhelmingly indicates that companies that invest in proper AI education, like that offered through <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a>, establish win-win scenarios where employees are both more empowered and less stressed, and companies enjoy the gains of increased productivity, reduced turnover, and improved mental health outcomes throughout their workforce.



For more on MindStudio's free AI training for companies, visit the website's of MindStudio and Dominnus from the links below.



The research was published across a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence</a>, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci">Applied Sciences</a>.



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MindStudio.AI: <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.mindstudio.ai</a>



Dominnus: <a href="https://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.dominnus.com</a>

AI agent training boosts mental health and profits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-natural-solution-to-disease-through-crop-modification">A natural solution to disease through crop modification.</h2>



The agricultural industry stands at a crossroads between productivity and environmental responsibility, and crop modification often carries a negative connotation. While chemical pesticides have long been the go-to solution for crop protection, their harmful effects on ecosystems and human health have prompted scientists to seek alternatives. The recent breakthrough by <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Southampton</a> researchers offers a promising path forward through the precise manipulation of plant-associated microbial communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-science-behind-microbial-partnerships">The science behind microbial partnerships</h2>



Plants naturally harbor diverse ecosystems of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that function as biological allies. These microscopic partners contribute to disease resistance, nutrient absorption, and stress tolerance. However, until now, scientists lacked the tools to deliberately reshape these communities to enhance crop protection.



The Southampton team's approach centered on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/engineered-plant-microbiomes-the-future-of-crop-protection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modifying lignin biosynthesis genes in rice plants</a>. This strategic intervention altered the plant's metabolic output, creating conditions that favored beneficial bacterial populations while suppressing harmful ones. The result was a living defense system embedded within the plant itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-global-food-security">Implications for global food security</h2>



The successful demonstration against Xanthomonas oryzae, the pathogen responsible for bacterial blight in rice, represents more than a laboratory achievement. Rice feeds nearly half the world's population, and bacterial blight causes devastating crop losses annually. Traditional control methods rely heavily on pesticides that contaminate soil and water systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-beyond-disease-resistance">Looking Beyond Disease Resistance</h2>



While disease protection represents the immediate application, the research framework opens doors to broader agricultural improvements. Future developments could engineer microbiomes to enhance nutrient uptake, reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers. This dual benefit addresses both crop productivity and environmental sustainability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-path-forward">The path forward</h2>



As this technology advances from laboratory to field applications, it promises to reshape sustainable agriculture. The ability to program plants with their own biological defense systems could herald a new era where crops protect themselves naturally, reducing chemical inputs while maintaining yields necessary for global food security.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44335-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Revolutionizing agriculture through microbiome engineering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4 Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease A natural...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

[sendtonews key="fxH3eJHEkQ-2010196-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Saturn,-,High,Resolution,3d,Images,Presents,Planets,Of,The

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

[sendtonews key="Ccjk8KEMzv-2550719-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Closeup,Of,Fresh,Green,The,Napier,Bush,Grass,As,Animal

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

[sendtonews key="6SdlLLbt0t-1988946-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NTU...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

[sendtonews key="gRpsplpwpe-2251464-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

[sendtonews key="eAVLRk51oJ-1826888-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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