A new paper published in Nature Scientific Reports finds that in order to keep people safe, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale should be replaced with the Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale, which incorporates storm surge and rainfall in addition to wind.

Cities are particularly vulnerable to heat stress because paved and densely built-up areas tend to store the heat. More frequent and intense heatwaves are a growing challenge for public health and urban infrastructure. A new deep-learning based model developed by the University of Freiburg and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) calculates for the first time how heat stress will develop on each square meter of a city in the future. The model supports cities in their efforts to adapt to the climate change and provides stimuli for climate-friendly urban planning. Published in Urban Climate.  (DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102564)

A previously untapped source of data sheds new light on the climate of the early Earth: fossilized dinosaur teeth show that the atmosphere during the Mesozoic era, between 252 and 66 million years ago, contained far more carbon dioxide than it does today. An international research team at the Universities of Göttingen, Mainz and Bochum made this discovery by analysing oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel. They used a newly developed method that opens up opportunities for research into the Earth's climate history. In addition, the researchers found that total photosynthesis from plants around the world was twice as high as it is today. This probably contributed to the dynamic climate during the time of the dinosaurs. The results were published in the journal PNAS.