A new study published in the journal People and Nature reveals a significant gap in public awareness regarding one of the world’s most widespread invasive species: the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii. Despite being present on six continents and well-documented by scientists in Europe, this unnoticed invader remains largely unknown to the public, a factor that researchers say may be hindering the development of early warning systems and effective environmental policy. To assess how the public perceives this invasion, an international team of researchers conducted a multilingual survey across 17 European countries.

The effects of the Iran war on the oil market have brought renewed attention to the EU’s plans for domestic production of fossil-free aviation fuels. But EU rules for synthetic aviation fuels risk steering development towards production pathways that are both more expensive and more energy-intensive than necessary – making it harder to meet climate targets. This is shown in a recent study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, that has analysed different methods for producing synthetic methanol.