What’s the best way to manage a forest? Australians have argued about this for decades. The debate is often framed as binary: do we protect forests entirely, or harvest trees to support local economies and communities? The reality is more interesting, as our new research on a long-forgotten experiment in Victoria’s mountain ash forests reveals. […]
Researchers at Oregon State University have created a new class of materials that can use light to produce hydrogen from water, offering a potentially cleaner way to convert solar energy into fuel. The work was led by Kyriakos Stylianou of the OSU College of Science. His team developed a photocatalyst capable of producing hydrogen quickly […]
Anyone who has ever heated a pot of water knows that temperature depends on more than how hot something gets. Time matters too. Yet marine heatwaves (MHWs) have traditionally been studied as distinct events with clearly defined beginnings and endings. New research led by William & Mary’s VIMS & Batten School suggests that approach may […]
Researchers have created a simpler and less expensive way to measure a biologically active form of phosphorus in soil, a development that could help scientists better understand how this essential nutrient moves through ecosystems and supports agriculture. Phosphorus is critical for plant growth and food production, but the world’s natural phosphorus reserves are limited. Learning […]
The Arabian Sea humpback whale’s unique song has long led scientists to believe that the animal was a subspecies of its own. Now, genetic research shows that the endangered mammal is distinct from other whale populations. The study led by the US’s Wildlife Conservation Society and the Environment Society of Oman (ESO) compared genetic samples […]
Young people will be encouraged to be the voices of change and promote environmental action under programmes designed to keep the memory of conservationist Jane Goodall alive in the UAE. Dr Goodall died at the age of 91, on October 1, 2025, while on a speaking tour in the US. To mark the one-year anniversary […]
The Zayed Sustainability Prize has announced its 2027 finalists after a record 10,233 entries from 177 countries, a 32 per cent increase on last year and the most competitive cycle in the award’s history. The shortlisted innovators include AI that predicts pregnancy complications months in advance, robots that inspect water pipes and heat-resilient corals that […]
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new way to transform polyethylene, one of the world’s most common plastics, into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. Polyethylene is widely used in products such as shopping bags and white plastic cutting boards, and large amounts of it ultimately end up as waste. […]
Plants have evolved several ways to use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into energy-rich sugars and oxygen (photosynthesis). But when water becomes scarce, that process can become much more difficult. Researchers led by Wolfram Weckwerth at the University of Vienna have now uncovered how one especially water efficient form of photosynthesis (CAM) evolved […]
An amateur astronomer searching satellite maps for possible camping locations in Quebec ended up spotting something far more unusual: evidence of a previously unrecognized impact crater. Earth has only about 200 confirmed impact structures, although geologists believe hundreds more have yet to be identified. One of those hidden structures now appears to have been found, […]
