The Oceanography Society has selected Dr. Zhongping Lee of Xiamen University as the recipient of the 2026 Nils Gunnar Jerlov Medal, recognizing his transformative contributions to understanding how light interacts with the ocean, as well as his sustained leadership in education, interdisciplinary research, and collaborative work with meaningful societal impact. Dr. Lee will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as during the Ocean Optics XXVII Conference in Ghent, Belgium, in September 2026.

Are global forest maps reliable? New research from the University of Notre Dame shows satellite datasets agree only 26 percent of the time, undermining carbon storage estimates and international climate policy.

Large language models (LLM) can generate treatment recommendations for straightforward cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that align with clinical guidelines but fall short in more complex cases, according to a new study by Ji Won Han from The Catholic University of Korea and colleagues publishing January 13^th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.

Clouds, smoke and fog may darken the skies, but sediment, algae blooms and organic matter can turn day into night on the seafloor. That’s why an international team of scientists have created the first framework to identify and compare these marine blackouts. The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, introduces the concept of a marine darkwave: a short-term but intense episode of underwater darkness that can severely impact kelp forests, seagrass beds and other light-dependent marine life.

MIT Energy Initiative researchers calculated the economic and environmental impact of future ammonia energy production and trade pathways.