Plastic pollution is a growing problem in Japan, prompting cleanup efforts to recover plastic litter from water bodies. However, research on recovery rates from different river basins remains limited. In a recent study, researchers from Japan conducted a nationwide analysis of plastic litter recovery in over 100 river basins, shedding light on the impact of climate change, population density, and natural disasters. Their findings will help inform future cleanup strategies and improve plastic management.

Diverse and inclusive teams are not merely a moral imperative but also a catalyst for scientific excellence in robotics, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems point out in a study. The team now published an article in which they outline how a scientific community can benefit if its leadership fosters an environment of diversity and inclusion, and propose a leadership guide for roboticists to help reap these benefits.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that long-term exposure to air pollution contributes to millions of deaths in India. The research, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, emphasises the need for stricter air quality regulations in the country.

In tourism and elsewhere, the term polycrisis has been used to describe the simultaneous occurrence of disparate crises in which the temporal dimensions of the past, present and future become mutually implicative. From this point of view, critical reflection on the role of tourism planning in building the future is essential since our decisions in the present have the power to shape the tourism of tomorrow. Tourism planning specifically is dedicated to the design and management of the future of tourist destinations. This study argues that beyond a strategic and efficient design and management of destinations, planning can become an ethical practice that aspires to build more desirable, fair and sustainable tourism futures