Seoul National University (SNU) College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Professor Jeong Woo Han of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has developed a new nanostructured catalyst with up to 14.4 times higher greenhouse gas decomposition performance compared to conventional commercial catalysts.

The Native Resilience project at DRI is pleased to announce the release of a new eBook, Holding the World in Balance: Indigenous stories of climate, care and continuance. This open-access publication is a collection of journalism, poetry, fiction, and artwork produced by Indigenous writers, artists and storytellers on the topic of climate change. The book includes prompts for creative activities to invite engagement from readers, and a teacher’s guide to provide guidance in how to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and ways of thinking into K-12 classrooms. 

Significance: Empirical evaluations of thermal tolerance for tropical species are sparse, and this reduces our capacity to anticipate the impact of the climate crisis on the undescribed morass of wild biodiversity. While theory predicts that heat tolerances ought to decrease and cold tolerances increase with elevation in the tropics, recent meta-analyses concluded that heat tolerance does not change with elevation. We used more than 100 species of rove beetle from a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and found that heat tolerances decrease and cold tolerances increase with elevation, highlighting the vulnerability of tropical mountain species to increased temperature. Furthermore, our work reinforces the knowledge gaps that exist for diverse tropical species as they experience the complicated impacts of the climate crisis.

Contrary to what is often assumed, the polycrises – from finance to war – did not push the environment off the public agenda over the last decade – quite the opposite. In 2010, Europeans saw the economy and health as the main challenges facing their countries; by 2020, health had become the number one (in the context of COVID), but the environment also moved up and overtook some other topics, even though one might expect it to drop off the agenda in times of crisis.

Wild seabirds that face high energy demands during the breeding season go on to migrate farther and raise more chicks the next year, but at a cost to their own survival. An international team, led by researchers from Nagoya University, raised the energy cost of flight for some birds and tracked them through the next year of their annual cycle. The researchers introduce a concept called "energetic flexibility" and offer rare experimental evidence for how the costs of one season carry over to shape the next. The study appears in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

A localized study in Tiaty, Kenya, shows how climate variability and land-use change are reshaping pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods. Using satellite imagery, climate records, agroecological information, and socioeconomic data, researchers found shifts in vegetation, rainfall seasonality, livestock choices, and settlement patterns. The findings highlight the need for locally tailored adaptation strategies that support resilient livestock systems, sustainable rangeland management, and climate-smart farming.

A new study analyzed data from multiple independent sources, ranging from satellite remote sensing-based machine learning products to state-of-the-art Earth System Models, to reveal how climate change shapes the Northern Eurasian carbon sink. The study confirms that Northern Eurasia accounts for nearly one-third of the global terrestrial carbon sink. It also shows that, despite warming faster than most regions worldwide, the northern high latitudes contribute little to strengthening the Northern Eurasian carbon sink because of their low baseline carbon uptake.

The most severe droughts in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean arose when multiple natural climate cycles coincided, according to a new study from Stockholm University published in Science Advances. The findings shed new light on the climate conditions surrounding the Late Bronze Age collapse and may help improve understanding of future drought risks in a warming world.

The study analyzed data from 514 smallholder farmers involved in Climate-Smart Villages in Guatemala and Honduras. 

The findings show that trust among farmers is a key factor in increasing the likelihood of knowledge sharing about climate-smart agricultural practices. 

The research found that mutual support is particularly important in communities with low levels of trust, helping to sustain the flow of knowledge among farmers.