In a review in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Stephen Long, a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, describes research efforts to “future-proof” the crops that are essential to feeding a hungry world in a changing climate. Long, who has spent decades studying the process of photosynthesis and finding ways to improve it, provides an overview of key scientific findings that offer a ray of hope.

New archaeological findings along a little-known medieval wall in eastern Mongolia reveal that frontier life was more complex than previously believed. Excavations show evidence of permanent habitation, agriculture, and cultural exchange, suggesting that these walls were not solely defensive structures but part of a broader system of regional control and interaction during the Jin dynasty.

Forest-based agroforestry can restore forests, promote livelihoods, and combat climate change, but emerging agroforestry initiatives focusing only on tree planting is leading to missed opportunities to support  beneficial outcomes of forest management, a Yale-led team of scientists found.

Cats spend longer sniffing the odor of a stranger than that of their owner, suggesting that they can identify familiar humans based on smell alone, according to a study publishing May 28, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Yutaro Miyairi and colleagues at Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.

Researchers from the University of Kansas, with support from the KansasView and AmericaView programs, have created a web-based app for the public that provides free satellite monitoring and analysis of vegetation and crop health across Kansas and the nation, called the Sentinel GreenReport Plus.

A new study shows how using drones with advanced cameras, ones that detect both heat and light, can help scientists better measure how field-grown wheat plants cope with climate change. By flying these drones over hundreds of wheat varieties, researchers could estimate key traits like how efficiently the plants breathe through their leaves, how leafy they are, and how much chlorophyll they have. They then matched these traits to specific genes in the wheat, identifying genetic markers linked to better performance under normal and dry conditions. This approach makes it easier to find and develop wheat varieties that are more resilient to climate challenges, helping to secure future food security.

A study published in Forest Ecosystems reveals that bark beetle-induced logging in Central Europe follows a 9 to 12-year cycle tied to solar activity and weather patterns. Researchers analyzed nearly 50 years of forestry and climate data from Austria, Czechia, and Slovakia, linking low solar activity to hotter, drier weather and severe beetle outbreaks, with implications for climate-informed forest management.