An alga that threatens freshwater ecosystems and is toxic to vertebrates has a sneaky way of ensuring its success: It suppresses the growth of algal competitors by releasing chemicals that deprive them of a vital vitamin.
The finding was reported in a new study from Cornell University, describing how the cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa manipulates its environment to give itself advantages to take over the water column, leading to harmful algal blooms and mats in lakes during hot summers.
“Microcystis seems to be able to dominate more and more in the changing climate,” said Beth Ahner, professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and corresponding author of the paper.
2024 was one of the wettest years on record, witnessing record-breaking extreme precipitation events across the globe, several of which were compound events. Extreme rainfalls were unprecedented in arid regions and parts of the Global South, with severe monsoon rains and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones causing severe casualties and economic losses.
A team of UCLA engineers and researchers has developed a new technique to make it feel up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler outside while preserving a sense of safe and open space.
Featured in Nature Sustainability, the UCLA-led study demonstrated a new way to harness radiant cooling. Instead of relying on dark and windowless spaces, such as a tunnel, to create radiant cooling that raises safety concerns for public outdoor spaces, the new approach combines water-cooled aluminum panels and see-through, infrared-reflective thin polymer film, which allows both efficient cooling and visibility—a top priority, especially for residents in urban communities.
As climate change accelerates, extreme heat events are occurring with greater intensity and frequency, threatening the safety of people who spend significant time outdoors.
Demand for air conditioning will only grow as temperatures rise, sending energy consumption soaring. But there are some interesting ways to deal with the issue, finds Graham Lawton
For a decade, scientists have believed that plants sensed temperature mainly through specialized proteins, and mainly at night when the air is cool. New research suggests that during the day, another signal takes over. Sugar, produced in sunlight, helps plants detect heat and decide when to grow.
The study shows that plants rely on multiple heat-sensing systems, and that sugar plays a central and previously unrecognized role in daytime temperature response. The findings, published in Nature Communications, reshape a long-standing view of how plants interact with their environment and could influence future strategies for climate-resilient agriculture.
“Our textbooks say that proteins like phytochrome B and early flowering 3 (ELF3) are the main thermosensors in plants,” the senior author said. “But those models are based on nighttime data. We wanted to know what’s happening during the day, when light and temperature are both high because these are the conditions most plants actually experience.”
As the push for sustainable transportation intensifies globally, a new study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) reveals that battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in Europe are becoming significantly cleaner at a pace faster than previously anticipated. This development comes as the continent’s electricity mix transitions toward more renewable sources, providing a profound climate advantage over traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Key Findings of the Study
Released on Wednesday, the ICCT study highlights that BEVs sold in Europe today produce 73 percent fewer life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to ICE vehicles. This figure marks a noteworthy 24-percent improvement from the organization’s prior estimates in 2021, emphasizing the rapid progress of BEVs as Europe enhances its renewable energy initiatives.
For years, scientists have debated whether a giant thick ice shelf once covered the entire Arctic Ocean during the coldest ice ages. Now, a new study published in Science Advances challenges this idea as the research team found no evidence for the presence of a massive ~1km ice shelf. Instead, the Arctic Ocean appears to have been covered by seasonal sea ice—leaving open water and life-sustaining conditions even during the harshest periods of cold periods during the last 750,000 years.
The paper is titled “Seasonal sea ice characterized the glacial Arctic–Atlantic gateway over the past 750,000 years.”
This discovery gives insights crucial for our understanding of how the Arctic has responded to climate change in the past—and how it might behave in the future.