A sticky solution for enhanced pesticide deposition
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 7-Nov-2025 04:11 ET (7-Nov-2025 09:11 GMT/UTC)
With heatwaves among Europe's deadliest climate hazards, a team of scientists led by CMCC has developed a prediction system capable of providing helpful information 4 to 7 weeks before summer, which gives valuable time to improve preparedness.
Trained on data from centuries of climate analysis up to recent years, the machine learning system has demonstrated an increase in forecast efficiency by drastically reducing the computational resources required, making these techniques accessible to a broader number of researchers and institutions.
Beyond the disruption to Ukraine’s food exports, the war is jeopardising the country’s long-term ability to remain the ‘breadbasket of Europe’, because its soils are gradually losing vital crop nutrients. That is the warning issued by researchers from the UK, Ukraine and the Netherlands who say more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium* are now being removed from soils via harvested crops than added back in. This is due to reduced access to fertilisers during the war and inefficient farming practices. Military activity has also exacerbated existing degradation and erosion of soils across Ukraine.
In many parts of the world, staple crops such as maize and wheat are dependent on rainfall recycled from land rather than oceans, making them more vulnerable to drought. Researchers at Stanford and the University of California San Diego identified a critical threshold in atmospheric moisture sources that could help predict and prevent future crop failures.