Soybean acreage in Europe has been increasing continuously for the past 20 years, but imports still account for the majority of the continent's consumption. AgroParisTech and INRAE teamed up to assess the capacity of the European continent to become self-sufficient in soybeans, taking into account climate change. Their scientists developed projection models based on global agronomic and climate databases. The results, published on 7 April in Nature Food, show that Europe could achieve 50% to 100% self-sufficiency if 4% to 11% of European cropland were devoted to soybeans. Such an expansion would have significant economic and environmental benefits and reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizers.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed an innovative and first-of-a-kind theoretical model that sheds light on the mystery. The model is designed to explain the process of wave formation, and has been tested in a series of complex experiments that have been performed over an extended period of time. The researchers are Prof. Lev Shemer and Dr. Meital Geva of the Water Wave Laboratory at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering. The study was published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.

An iridium and ruthenium-based material with a porous structure and a series of ‘atomic steps’ at its surface has produced a radically more efficient electrode for use in the production of hydrogen gas from water—an essential chemical process for the clean transition in the struggle against climate change.

UNC School of Medicine researcher Jerry Guintivano, PhD, led a first-of-its-kind transcriptome-wide association study looking at the biological differences of women with postpartum depression to find significant changes in B-cells, with pathway analyses implicating altered B-cell activation and insulin resistance.

One of the most contentious questions in evolutionary biology is, how did the Amazon become so rich in species? A new study focused on birds examines how the movements of rivers in the Amazon have contributed to that area’s exceptional biological diversity. The researchers found that as small river systems change over time, they spur the evolution of new species. The findings also reveal previously unknown bird species in the Amazon that are only found in small areas next to these dynamic river systems, putting them at high risk.

Large jumps within the last ice age between cold and warm climate periods in the Northern Hemisphere may have occurred because the climate system became unstable when atmospheric CO2 levels were between approximately 190 and 225 parts per million.

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University have produced a comprehensive genome of the false clownfish, which could be used to answer a myriad of biological questions.