The drought that lasted through the summer of 2022 was especially intense and caused the soil in many regions of Europe to dry out substantially. Public discussions about the causes repeatedly broached the question of the extent to which climate change intensified this extreme weather event. A research team coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has now discovered that more than 30 percent of the extraordinary intensity and physical extent of the drought can be attributed to human-induced climate change. As they write in an article for Nature Geoscience, this extreme event was exacerbated by the fact that climate change had already caused soil moisture levels to drop continuously over the previous years.

Household food waste is an important contributor to global food loss and waste and greenhouse gas emissions, but not much is known about what types of food are wasted the most and by whom. Now, researchers from Japan investigated the relationship between food waste, food type, and various socioeconomic and demographic factors. Their findings will help us develop sound strategies to minimize food waste in Japan and other aging developed countries.