Infrared small target detection is critical for remote sensing, fire prevention, and surveillance, yet existing methods struggle with tiny, low-contrast targets that lack distinct shape or texture.

A new study presents a mathematical model explaining why trees can support grass growth in dry environments but suppress it as rainfall increases. By separating the effects of canopy shade and tree roots, the researchers show when interactions shift from facilitation to competition, offering practical insights for afforestation, ecosystem restoration and land management.

The Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2026 will be held in hybrid format at the Amare arts venue in The Hague, Netherlands, and online, from 6–11 September 2026. Around 1200 planetary scientists from over 40 countries in Europe and around the world are expected to attend the conference.

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have found a way to make plasma more effective for its wide-ranging uses, from anti-microbial applications to surface conditioning in the semiconductor industry. They mapped the production of atomic oxygen, a key ingredient of oxygen plasma, while a high voltage was put across oxygen gas. They discovered that the amount of atomic oxygen available for reactions was boosted at pressures moderately lower than atmospheric conditions. Their findings promise more energy-efficient, higher performance plasma technologies.

Microplastics are often viewed as pollutants in their own right, but their environmental impact may extend far beyond the plastic particles themselves. A new review shows that microplastics can act as mobile "pollutant shuttles," carrying toxic chemicals, microorganisms and antibiotic resistance genes through water, soil, food webs and even across environmental boundaries.

Heavy metal pollution in farmland creates a problem that does not end when contaminated plants are harvested. Crop residues and plants used to remove metals from polluted soils can themselves contain substantial amounts of mercury, cadmium, lead, nickel and other potentially hazardous elements. If these materials are burned, landfilled or returned directly to farmland, the metals may be released again into the environment.

Three researchers at the Göttingen Campus have been awarded ERC Starting Grants by the European Research Council (ERC): Dr Sophie de Vries, evolutionary biologist at Göttingen University, for “Plant Immune Responses in Perpetual symbiosis (PIRPetum)"; Dr Tristan Stöber, computational neuroscientist at Göttingen University for “World Models in Brains and Machines: From Normative Hippocampus Models to Robust Planning in Artificial Intelligence and Back (WoM-BaM)”; Professor Elisa Oberbeckmann at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), for “A chromosome-wide in vitro reconstitution system to dissect human nucleosome positioning mechanisms (vitroCHROM)”. Projects run for five years and are worth around 1.5 million euros each.

Satellite measurements detected declining photosynthetic activity in Western U.S. forests two years before bark-beetle mortality appeared in aerial detection surveys, according to new University of Utah-led research. The first-of-its-kind study suggests that satellite-observed chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), a measure of plant photosynthesis, could provide an early warning of forest stress. As drought, wildfire and insect outbreaks occur with increasing frequency across the American West, the technology could also help scientists understand how these disturbances affect forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere.