Researchers might have just found the "missing" braincase of the giant predatory dinosaur Siamraptor, with two Thai fossils representing the first known examples for this species

Sequencing environmental DNA – or eDNA – from the East River in New York City can effectively monitor human diets and local wildlife, as well as the river’s fish populations, report Mark Stoeckle and Jesse Ausubel of The Rockefeller University, U.S., in study publishing April 29, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One.

An international team of earth scientists led by Utrecht professor Douwe van Hinsbergen has developed an online tool that allows you to see, for any given location on Earth, what latitude it occupied in the distant past, right back to the heyday of the supercontinent Pangaea 320 million years ago. The basis for this is the Utrecht Paleogeography Model, which enables by far the most detailed reconstruction of complex mountain ranges and vanished tectonic plates. The unprecedented accuracy of this tool offers countless possibilities, such as for reconstructions of the development and resilience of biodiversity and lays the foundation for our understanding of climate evolution. “Next time you go on a trip, take a look at Paleolatitude.org to see the journey your destination has taken itself.”

A new study led by the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich reveals that a key part of the climate system - the large-scale wind patterns that determine where rain falls – can be underestimated by current climate models, helping explain why forecasts of regional rainfall remain uncertain. Ultimately, this insight could enable more confident projections of future rainfall patterns, supporting better preparation for floods and droughts.

Salmon are becoming river ‘ghosts’ as brutal droughts and violent floods cause unprecedented losses on their treacherous journey to the Pacific Ocean, scientists say.

Scientists at TU Wien have uncovered a surprisingly fast way for rocks to lock away CO₂: a thin layer of water on mineral surfaces can activate CO₂ and trigger its direct conversion into solid carbonate—without the slow dissolution steps long thought necessary. Using atomic-scale microscopy, they provide the first direct evidence for this mechanism. The finding helps explain why CO₂ can mineralize much faster in nature than expected—and could inform more efficient carbon storage technologies.

After nearly four decades, the world’s longest-running soil warming experiment is revealing a surprising result: even ‘stable’ carbon in forest soils can break down as temperatures rise, releasing more CO₂ into the atmosphere.