Glacial melting in Switzerland was once again enormous in 2025. A winter with low snow depth combined with heat waves in June and August led to a loss of three per cent of the glacier volume. This is the fourth largest level of shrinkage since measurements began. Consequently, the ice mass reduced by one quarter in the last ten years. This was reported by GLAMOS, the glacier monitoring network in Switzerland, and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere observation (SCC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT).

Human-caused biodiversity loss has accelerated over the past fifty years. An opinion article published September 30^th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by a team of renowned international authors, including Anne Larigauderie, former Executive Secretary of Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), concludes that stopping biodiversity loss is contingent on transformative social and cultural changes across multiple scales.

Air quality in America’s largest cities has steadily improved thanks to tighter regulations. However, increased heat, wildfire smoke and other emerging global drivers of urban aerosol pollution are now combining to create a new set of challenges on the East Coast. Research from Colorado State University published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science begins to unpack and characterize these developing relationships against the backdrop of New York City.

・First field-based evidence: Marimo face severe photoinhibition immediately after ice thaw due to low temperatures and intense light (LT-HL environment).

・Climate Change Risk: Earlier ice melt prolongs Marimo's exposure to damaging LT-HL conditions, threatening their long-term survival in Lake Akan.

・Astrobiological Significance: Marimo's resilience in extreme conditions offers insights into potential life strategies on icy extraterrestrial bodies and how life adapts to planetary environmental changes.

Rising sand temperatures threaten hatchlings by skewing sex ratios and increasing deformities. But could this heat also impair their brains? In a first of its kind study, hatchlings were trained in a maze using visual cues to test their learning and ability. Surprisingly, even those from hotter nests showed no cognitive deficits. In some cases, they adapted to changes faster than they learned the original task. This unexpected behavioral flexibility offers a rare glimmer of hope for their survival in a rapidly changing world.

What processes have regulated climate over the course of Earth’s history? Researchers are addressing this question in the face of anthropogenic climate change. Dr. Dominik Hülse of MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, and Dr. Andy Ridgwell of the University of California (USA) have uncovered a previously missing part of the puzzle in describing the global carbon cycle and climate regulation. In a new issue of the professional journal Science, they introduce an expanded Earth System model that shows how global warming can be overcorrect into an ice age.