Aviation’s climate impact extends beyond carbon dioxide emissions. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Imperial College, UK, reveals that contrails can represent a significant portion of aviation’s overall climate cost. The study also shows that climate impact can be reduced by optimising flight routes.

In a new article in Nature Communications, The social costs of aviation CO₂ and contrail cirrus, the researchers demonstrate that both CO₂ emissions and contrail formation contribute materially to aviation’s climate impact – and that the associated societal costs differ substantially depending on weather patterns and routing decisions. They find that, at the global level, contrails account for about 15 percent of aviation’s climate impact when measured in economic terms.

Intense storms that sweep over the Southern Ocean enable the ocean to absorb more heat from the atmosphere. New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that today’s climate models underestimate how storms mix the ocean and thereby give less reliable future projections of our climate.

How much longer will glaciers survive? A new study from ETH Zurich researchers offers the first detailed projection of how many glaciers could vanish by the year 2100 due to global warming – and why regions such as Switzerland will be most affected. This approach could also help policymakers, the tourism industry and natural hazard management plan for the future.

To address the global environmental and climate crisis and advance the UN SDGs, it is essential to fully leverage Earth observations (EO) through the integration of atmospheric, hydrological, cryospheric, lithospheric, ecological, and socio-economic data. Based on discussions from the 2023 “Towards Global Earth Observatory” workshop, this paper highlights the fragmented nature of current EO and data repositories and emphasizes the need for a more coordinated global Ground-Based Earth Observatory (GGBEO). We summarize the status of key in-situ and ground-based remote sensing systems and outline the actions required to build an integrated GGBEO with interoperable data repositories, unified observation networks, and sustainable long-term support.

A new paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution reports that Italian bears living in areas with many villages evolved and become smaller and less aggressive.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers enhanced Saccharomyces cerevisiae to increase its tolerance for high 2,3-butanediol concentrations. This was achieved by introducing mutations into the genomic DNA and successfully obtaining a mutant strain that proliferates 122 times more than the parent strain.

New research reveals a link between rising temperatures and changes in polar bear DNA, which may be helping them adapt and survive in increasingly challenging environments. 

The study by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) discovered that some genes related to heat-stress, aging and metabolism are behaving differently in polar bears living in southeastern Greenland, suggesting they might be adjusting to their warmer conditions. 

The finding suggests that these genes play a key role in how different polar bear populations are adapting or evolving in response to their changing local climates and diets.