In Nature, 21 leading scientists today prescribe ways to use food systems to halt and reverse land degradation, underlining that doing so must become a top global priority to mitigate climate change and stop biodiversity loss. 

The article breaks new ground by quantifying the impact by 2050 of reducing food waste by 75% and maximising sustainable ocean-based food production, measures that alone could spare an area larger than Africa. 

A team led by researchers from the University of Washington used a fiber-optic cable to capture calving dynamics across the fjord of the Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat glacier in South Greenland. Data collected from the cable allowed them to document — without getting too close — one of the key processes that is accelerating the rate of glacial mass loss and in turn, threatening the stability of ice sheets, with consequences for global ocean currents and local ecosystems.  

Electric and hybrid propulsion systems are developing rapidly, but they do not yet offer a practical alternative for the high-power engines used in marine and off-road applications. Therefore, more climate-friendly solutions must be developed within the constraints of the current engine fleet. A new doctoral dissertation from the University of Vaasa, Finland, investigates how renewable naphtha, derived from crude tall oil, and marine gas oil refined from recycled lubricants, can serve as alternative fuels. 

Scientists from Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural history, in collaboration with partners in Greenland and Canada, have identified a previously undocumented class of PFAS* in the blubber of killer whales.

The new study, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, reveals the presence of five fluorotelomer sulfones—highly fluorinated, lipophilic (fat-loving) chemicals never before reported in wildlife. Unlike well studied PFAS, which typically accumulate in protein-rich tissues such as liver and blood, these new substances accumulate in fat-rich blubber.

Rising sea levels could cause seasonal waves to reach Ahu Tongariki, the iconic ceremonial platform that is part of the Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site by 2080, according to a study published recently by a team of researchers from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. This coastal flooding also threatens to impact up to 51 cultural assets in the area, including Rapa Nui’s world renowned moai statues. 

A research team from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) has published a study in Communications Biology showing how ocean acidification and warming — two of the main consequences of global climate change — can simultaneously affect the structure, mineral composition, and microbiome of bryozoans, colonial invertebrates crucial for forming marine habitats. The findings point to potentially serious ecological consequences under a scenario of accelerated climate change.