EurekAlert! Climate Change - Latest News Releases

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Jun-2026 23:16 ET (15-Jun-2026 03:16 GMT/UTC)

Vast botanical data help solve Darwin’s puzzle of why some exotic plants become pests

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

There’s a conundrum that has perplexed biologists since Charles Darwin himself. Why do some exotic species take off as invasive pests while others don’t?

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Distant winds can drive massive tropical warming deep below the ocean surface

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Against the backdrop of a rapidly warming climate, it’s become vital to better understand the mechanisms behind heat uptake and transfer into the deep ocean. Data show that between 1970 and 2020, approximately 89% of the excess heat from climate change was absorbed by the oceans, not the atmosphere.

Journal: Geology

Which shocks pose the biggest risks to global food systems?

University of Oxford
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Oxford study develops model to help countries identify vulnerabilities and outline measures to help strengthen resilience against food crises.

Journal: PLOS Climate

Beyond fences: Africa’s biodiversity depends on working landscapes, not just protected areas

South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study argues that protected areas alone cannot safeguard Africa’s biodiversity, urging a shift to inclusive, community-centered conservation across human-managed landscapes.

Journal: Biological Diversity

Oceanic Regime shifts affect subarctic moth communities — Impacts divide species into winners and losers

University of Turku
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate change is causing a worldwide decline in biodiversity, but it is also altering energy flow between trophic levels in both brackish waters and the subarctic region. In Lapland, changes in the biomass of small herbivores are rapidly reflected in the reproductive success of the larger animals that feed on them. A recently published longitudinal study conducted at the northernmost region of Finland shows how the biomass of moths, which are a vital food source to insectivorous birds, has changed over the past few decades.

Journal: Insect Conservation and Diversity

Impact of climate change on mental health: webinar by the German and South African national academies on an emerging field of research

Leopoldina
Meeting Announcement

Extreme heat, natural disasters, food insecurity: climate change is known to have serious consequences for human physical health. In many places, scientific findings are being used to develop adaptation strategies and to mitigate the consequences of climate change for human health. But what about mental health? Research in this field is still in its early stages. As a result, climate, health and development policy also lacks strategies for prevention and treatment. To draw attention to this area of research, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) are opening the discussion in an international virtual panel discussion on Tuesday, 9 June.

Arctic Ocean food chain disrupted as key tipping point passed

University of Edinburgh
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An irreversible shift in the chemical make-up of the Arctic Ocean driven by climate change is disrupting the region’s food chain, a study suggests.

Journal: Communications Earth & Environment

Sensitivity of Antarctic ice to climate change sharply increased after Ice Age shift 1 million years ago

Institute for Basic Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience [1] by researchers at the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea shows that the Antarctic ice sheet became more sensitive to climate forcing following a major shift in Earth’s ice age cycles about one million years ago, providing new insight into how ice sheets respond to long-term climate change.

Journal: Nature Geoscience
Funder: Institute for Basic Science

A new approach to urban planning with less car traffic and lower carbon emissions

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Urban planning needs to tackle greenhouse gas emissions – and an important way to achieve this is by reducing the number and length of car commutes. This can be achieved primarily by ensuring that homes are located close to city centres and workplaces, so well-targeted building densification becomes a critical lever. City-wide population density and transport links are of secondary importance. These are the findings of a new study in Environmental Research Letters, led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Sussex and other partners.

Journal: Environmental Research Letters

Good Vitamin D status among most young children in Sweden

University of Gothenburg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The majority of young children showed good vitamin D status, no child had indications of deficiency, but among some intake was too low. This is the result of a study encompassing over 1,800 infants in Sweden. Foods providing children with vitamin D also contributed to greenhouse gas emissions.

Journal: Nutrition Journal

4
5
6
7
8